Email battle has changed. Its not about storage anymore

At around 2003, Email providers realized that the only way to win people over other Email providers was to offer more storage. Hotmail used to boast only 2.5mb of storage. Now we have Email providers such as Googles Gmail, which provides a single user with over 7gb of storage. But today, in the year of 2008, people aren't so easily won by more storage, what do Email providers offer new?

Follow up:

How did Gmail do it with storage?

Gmail did a great job in attracting people to sign up. Even with the Beta status, and no direct registration offered, the service still flourished. Customers could watch their storage expanded in front of their eyes giving people the impression of “I will never run out of storage at this rate”. Considering no one else offered as much storage, let a lone let it grow, Gmail attracted lots of customers.

But today is different. Even if an account would receive 1000 legitimate emails per day, it would take at least a year to fill up 7gb of space, considering they would have attachments. No one, including companies, is capable of filling up that much space. What is interesting, is that the storage is still expanding. Many people have gotten over their storage obsession and besides, Gmails neighbors offer just as much storage.

So, if not storage, what now?

There isn’t much more that can be attached to an email service. So instead, companies have changed how they view the service. Instead of offering only Email, the account comes with an outstanding amount of features that are not Email anymore. With a single click, new services can be added such as Google Docs and iGoogle. Hotmail (LIVE) gives the the option of an advanced calendar and Live Messenger (formally known as MSN), all linked to the same Email Account. Yahoo has nearly all services linked to an Email account, ranging from domain registration to its new Buzz network. But that doesn't stop there. Affiliation is very common in attracting customers to Email. AOL gives you the chance to register the account with Itunes. Other Email services commonly give you bonuses by Email account registration with a video game website. If you do register with an affiliate to get a service for cheaper or for bonuses, almost always a new Email account is created.

What’s next?

If today the emphesis is still on getting people to register for an Email account, then in a few years Email will simply become part of a growing package of services. If today you get the package with Email, then in the future you will get Email with the package.

However, there will still be new possible options for email alone. Even Google’s sent-by-mail April Fools joke might become a reality, as important document will be sent to your email and received though normal M ail as hard copy.

Is this good?

Yes and no. It is almost impossible to register a free Email account without having other features imposed on you. Email providers simply stick the extra features in your face until you use them. There a lots of services that you will probably not even use. However, imagine having to register for each one of the services you do use? I would certainly go crazy. All services are linked in a way, which means that Email can be merged with a calender and/or a document system.