Is this an April Fool’s joke?
InstaPundit thinks so, and so do a lot of people on Slashdot and Fark. But if so, the mainstream media is buying it hook, line and sinker!! (AP, CNN, N.Y. Times, etc.)
I.T. Vibe reports: “There is a growing amount of confusion surrounding Google’s announcement that it is going to introduce a new service called gmail. Its seemingly outlandish claims of providing 1GB of storage space for each user for free, as well as the fact that it has introduced this service on April 1st, have split journalists who are struggling to decide if it’s one of the biggest hoaxes in the history of April Fool’s Day, or simply that Google picked a terrible date to announce a radical new departure from its current business.”
Then there’s this: “There has been some speculation that the news is an April Fools hoax due to the light-hearted and humorous tone of the press release, but the company’s spokesperson has assured Netimperative that it is a genuine news story.”
Well, okay, but the company’s spokesperson would say that, wouldn’t he, if they were actually trying to fool people!
Stay tuned. (Here is the GMail site.)
UPDATE: I think it’s possible that it’s not a joke, but that Google deliberately chose April Fool’s Day as the release date, and deliberately issued an odd press release, in order to stoke confusion and discussion — and thus, attention. Google and GMail are going to be a very popular topic of water-cooler discussion all day today and tomorrow (overshadowing even Amy Adams’s surprise exit from American Idol last night) as people try to figure out what the hell is going on. You can’t buy publicity like this (well, unless you make a movie about Jesus).
In other April 1 news: Heh. And heh. (Hat tip: Dane.)
ANOTHER UPDATE: “Google has previously used April 1st to announce features and tools that are bigger than life, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek,” asserts WebProNews.
Alabama’s NBC 13 adds: “Google has long exhibited a quirky sense of humor about itself and its technology. One example of this is Pigeon Rank, a page on Google which claims its search results are compiled using large numbers of trained pigeons. Then there is the recent job listing for the Google Copernicus Center, which claims the company is hiring staff for a new lunar hosting and research center, to be opened in 2007.
“Skeptics also note that the press release announcing the service on Business Wire is dated March 31 at 7:05 p.m., which is also just past midnight GMT.”
Either way, “Harry2″ from the blog “Search Engine Positioning and Web Marketing News” agrees with Dane: it’s marketing dynamite. “If it is a hoax, then it is definitely one of the best ever, since it reached so many 1st pages in media like CNN. On the other hand, if it isn’t a hoax, then the hoax speculation has definitely helped in creating an ‘idea virus’ and has marketed the Gmail concept even before it is launched. One way or another Google wins this one.”
Markus Allen of marketing-ideas.org is tracking Gmail news in real time.
FINAL UPDATE TO THIS POST: Looks like it may actually be real.
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Categories: Technology & Nerdy News
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April 1st, 2004 at 9:17:24 am
If this is not a joke it is a brilliant marketing move to release it today. If it is a joke it will be funny as hell, and be a brilliant marketing move. In short, what do we know about this? It is a brilliant marketing decision.
(If you are having trouble with seeing why this is a brilliant marketing move, think about it a little. Everyone is talking about it. They are getting hits all over the internet (as in free ads) going is this a joke is this not a joke?
Google is already the number one search engine but a wild fire thing like this is good word of mouth, keeps with the corporate image and, and enhances their profile for the upcoming IPO. If it is a joke it accomplishes just those things (which are good in and of themselves).
If it is not a joke (I am very skeptical about this) then it is a tremendous hit peopling going: they can’t really be doing this? And they are getting huge saturation over a possible new service (if this were real, would InstaPundit have bothered with it?). It is all over and gets good word of mouth people going “you here about google’s April fools joke? I mean they can’t honestly be offering a gig of storage? That’s crazy!…” People know about it, and think you’ve got to be kidding (it is defiantly a too good to be true type of thing) and if it is real they get another massive News hit tomorrow when, holly crap it’s real!. And InstaPundit (who remember probably would have ignored this completely) has to post about it for a second straight day.
I don’t think it is real, just too good to be true, but holly **** it is good marketing.)
April 1st, 2004 at 9:19:37 am
Oh, one last thing, we need a sacrificial lamb to enter their e-mail address in the box http://www.google.com/gmail/help/about.html to find out what happens.
April 1st, 2004 at 9:38:11 am
I signed up. I’ll let y’all know if I get anything noteworthy as a result. :)
Thanks for the tip, Dane, I hadn’t noticed that signup box.
April 1st, 2004 at 11:01:47 am
I agree it’s pretty good either way BUT with the Cautionery note that: if indeed it’s a Fake, I bet some folks who are buying into it & getting all excited will be Steamed at Google, contrary to the spritely Spirit of of the Day. “April Fool my Foot, these are the Lies told by the Lying Liars.” :) But then again Finnegan, wot are they gonna Do about it? Switch to AltaVista or something? Maybe but not likely, I’m guessing…haw haw :)
April 1st, 2004 at 11:41:56 am
another great april fools announcement is at http://www.ibiblio.org/
what can i say - the greatness that is Duke has no rival :-D