March 29th, 2006
Google's calm before the storm
In three days, we are going to see some exciting, interesting and funny things from companies on the web. April 1st is a day when anything goes, and companies like Google have used it to generate buzz about new products in the past.
Why would anyone give you unlimited storage for free? It must be a joke!
In 2004, Google launched Gmail on April fools day — since it was invite only, it was "just a joke" to most people. Honestly, who would give away a gigabyte of free space to just anyone?
Last year two things happened — Google Gulp, designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent and less thirsty, the was announced. This limited release(fake) product was only available if you turned in a used "gulp cap" at your grocery store. In addition to Google Gulp, every user of Gmail was given an extra gigabyte of storage with a promise to increase the quota on a daily basis "with no plans to stop".
What could be coming this year? There is lots of speculation about their intentions — could this be the calm before the storm? Post a comment with your guesses as to what might be coming in the next few days.
Guess #1
Google Calendar (CL2) will finally be launched. I know, we’ve been talking about this forever and nothing has happened. I’m not going to bet on it, but it would be a great time to launch a product that has spent far too much time in the queue.
Guess #2
Take GMail out of beta to celebrate their third anniversary with some additional features. I noticed the other day that Gmail is now version 25 — the source had been version 24 for quite some time. What new features? Maybe voicemail from Gtalk?
Guess #3
GDrive will be launched. Very unlikely, but it would be cool. Why would anyone give you unlimited storage for free? It must be a joke!
Of course what actually happens might not be as exciting as a product launch, but I am looking forward to see what Google has up its’ sleeve for Saturday.
Garett Rogers is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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