The Evolution of Webmail

Posted on 2nd April 2016 Under Product

The Evolution of Webmail

The idea of a web based mail client was first introduced in the mid-1990s when Europe saw three implementations, Soren Verjrum’s Webmail, Luca Manunza’s Webmail and Remy Wetzel’s Webmail. Since then, the email web application idea has gone from strength to strength and powerful webmail providers now include AOL Mail, Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo! Mail. All of these allow users to access their mail and other information from a web based application from anywhere in the world as long as they have an internet connection. This is webmails main advantage over the use of a desktop email client, such as Microsoft Outlook.

As of early 2012 over 350 million people use the Gmail application worldwide, indicating the staggering rate at which webmail usage is continuing to grow. Recently, their competitors have taken note of the level of growth at which Gmail is growing and Yahoo! have decided to redesign their webmail application so it looks almost identical to that of Googles Gmail. Yahoo!s second major redesign in less than a year shows a Gmail like tool that threads together emails related to specific topics so they appear as a succession of messages. Another popular theme of the Gmail client is the ability to design your own background theme, either a picture of your choice or a default theme that Google offers you. Yahoo! have decided to also go with this option and the same picture or theme chosen will appear on the mobile email applications that the company provides to their customers.

Size is also a factor. Since 2004, Gmail has expanded its storage offering to its customers, starting at 1GB to now 15GB. To beat this, Yahoo! have decided that they will be offering 1 Terabyte of storage, about 1000GBs. Yahoo!s desire to become the market leader in online email activities is clear; but whether or not they will have enough to persuade people from using Gmail is another task altogether.

GMS Webmail

At GMS, we follow these patterns with interest, especially as we have our own Webmail offering. For us, it is important to ensure that User Experience is smooth and our client is easy and simple to navigate. Over the last year, our Webmail component has been completely re skinned to keep it up to date with brand evolution and to keep in contention with our market rivals.

Over the next few months, we will be releasing our latest version of Webmail which is even cleaner and user friendly than our current instalment. As well as being a separate module for GMS, our Webmail application is an integral part of our Cloudline solution and is the the primary aggregator of information for cloud users.

As well as that, as part of our rebranding process, we have also decided to include Webmail as part of the Baseline and Keyline bundle, allowing customers to access their mail through a mail client, but also allow them to see their mail away from their desk. We understand that updating our products on a regular basis will be beneficial to our existing customer base and provides them with an easier experience when viewing their mail through a web browser. If you are a new customer and would like to speak to a sales representative about our Webmail offering in further detail, You can call us on +441275 345100 (UK)/ 877 292 1142 (US).