Is GMail approaching to the end?

Back in December, Google started migrating users to their new Inbox service. So I guess this Google A/B test is over.

Yes, A/B testing. Think of GMail and Inbox, YouTube Music Key and Play Music, Google TV and Android TV, the Nexus smartphones and the Google Edition ones. And there are even more examples out there. It’s not a news, actually. It’s part of the Google strategy.

Inbox offers some more functionalities over the plain (old?) good Gmail, but richer doesn’t always mean better. Many features require you to use Google’s apps and tie you closer to the big G. Take pins, for example. You’ll need Inbox to use them and you can’t even access them through IMAP. And what about reminders? There’s no API for that!

There’s also at least one practical drawback. Tags are a very useful addition to GMail and you can use them even via IMAP. Well, Inbox sees them as plain folders and nesting option has been lost. If this is the case, my take is I might going to leave Inbox. And I think, many more will.

Google has made us like their services. We have been giving our information in change of great tools and the freedom to use them the way we want. Now the trade-off may not be that favorable anymore.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. As for reminders, they can be easily replaced by forwarding emails to Wunderlist from any email account.