A recent post shows that some people are starting to get access to IMAP features within Gmail. This surely points to a staggered roll-out for the facility for all users - although obviously we don’t know the time frames involved.

This means that, if you choose, you can access your Gmail through your email client on your desktop - without the need to use the archaic POP3 protocol. Using IMAP is slicker because the inbox on your desktop is syncronised with the inbox in your Gmail. If you read a message on your desktop, it’s flagged as read in Gmail. If you delete a message, it disappears online too. Compare this to POP3, where the messages are simply downloaded and stored locally, with any changes you make locally staying that way.

This is good news for users, but is it in Google’s best interest? Advertisement revenue will disappear for those people using POP3 or IMAP when they move away from the website. Do Google have different plans to to use some other way to deliver advertising? It’s purely conjecture, but I’m assuming ads within emails if they are still going to get users to click-through. How else could Google do it? Maybe Google think the number of users will be insignificant to their cause. Only time will determine the facts.