Gmail: Out of Beta, and Now Number Three

It took years for Google to officially bring Gmail out of beta...and now it's surpassed AOL to take over the number-three spot in the Web mail market.

Google’s Gmail Web-based email service has always occupied something of an odd niche: although for years it has been a favorite of tech-heads and the digitally savvy, it didn’t boast the kind of user base that Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and the ever-more-venerable AOL managed to bring in. But now that Google has finally brought Gmail out of its five-year beta, Gmail seems to be moving up in the world: according to media metrics firm comScore, Google just barely edged out AOL in July to become the third most-popular Web-based email service among U.S. Internet users.

According to comScore, Gmail managed 37 million users for the month, edging out AOL Mail’s 36.4 million users during July. Although that seems like a narrow victory, the trends show Gmail’s experiencing growth while AOL Mail loses users: Gmail saw a 25 percent growth in new visitors, while AOL Mail saw a 22 percent decline.

Gmail remains substantially behind both Hotmail and Yahoo Mail among Web-based email services: Hotmail managed 47 unique visitors during July, which represented an 8 percent growth in new users. Yahoo Mail remained far, far ahead of the pack, with 106 million unique visitors and a growth rate of 16 percent.