Gmail Now Third Largest Email Service in US

By Frank Reed on August 16, 2009

Gmail Now Third Largest Email Service in US

gmail beta no more Gmail is officially out of beta and it’s enjoying being all grown up, thank you very much. Maybe it just needed to have its training wheels taken off so it could really get moving but we all know that the beta label was just that; a label. Since its introduction over 6 years ago Gmail has been growing steadily and as TechCrunch reports it has moved past AOL’s email service to be the third largest email service in the US.

comScore has given this title to Gmail based on unique visitors to the service and it has just passed the AOL service with 37 million unique visitors in July while AOL had 36.4 million visitors. As if AOL doesn’t already have enough trouble with just being AOL this kind of news is not what they need to hear. It doesn’t appear as if this is going to be a close race either since the two services are headed in very different directions.

….so far this year, Gmail’s unique visitors grew 25 percent, while AOL’s declined 22 percent. Thus, the two crossed paths in July. (Hotmail grew only 8 percent during the same period, while Yahoo Mail increased unique visitors by a healthy 16 percent).

Honestly, every time I see someone using an AOL e-mail address (particularly in a professional situation) I have a brief moment of “They still have an email service?” quickly followed by “Do you still pay for that?” (AOL does have a free version of its email service). I was a bit surprised that Gmail hadn’t moved past them a long time ago.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that you need a Gmail account to use any of the other myriad of services that Google offers (please don’t tell the folks over at the European Commission because there may be some trouble with that one considering it makes sense and creates more business for Google). It also doesn’t hurt that the storage limits on Gmail accounts are quite generous.

Are you a Gmail user? Do you use the other services? Any preference?

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17 comments on “Gmail Now Third Largest Email Service in US”

Jeff M Newman Says:

August 16th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

I definitely prefer Gmail. I like all the changes that they are making. I also like the labs and the different functionality. They also have great SPAM filters. There are so many reasons why Gmail is amazing.
.-= Jeff M Newman´s last blog ..Checking out Joe Kraft’s Blog =-.
IMBuzz Riches Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 7:12 am

It is indeed true that Gmail is one of the largest email handler worldwide and not on the US alone. I personally love Gmail too, not to mentioned the added functionalities, themes, and labs.
NarenUbi Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 7:38 am

Ever since I switched to Gmail in 2005, I never regretted the decision. Even thought it was in a state of perpetual beta, I never ran into problems – it was just getting better and better. I’m a bit intrigued to know that AOL had this many unique visitors! Well, Gmail is the King of all e-mail handlers!!
.-= NarenUbi´s last blog ..Facebook, Twitter or Orkut – Which is the most popular? =-.
sajid Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 8:14 am

hi

Ya gmail as grown very quickly las t 5 years .Its very great achievment
unoblogger Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 8:45 am

Gmail from day one has been my best bet…. there were days when you felt it was not up to it in terms of the look and feel. Whether there was anything improved on look and feel, i felt that gmail was dependable and no frills attached deal.
I love gmail (I love Google!!!)
.-= unoblogger´s last blog ..Weekly list of blogging articles – Traffic from Article Marketing =-.
Nick Stamoulis Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 10:05 am

Gmail has really improved over last few months. That have made some programming changes that have made it much better to use. Plus it is a convenient system to use.
Nikki Thomas Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 11:29 am

Seems like Google is dominating everything on the web.
.-= Nikki Thomas´s last blog ..G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra – The Hottest Action Movie 2009 =-.
Gmail Surpasses AOL, Slides into Third Spot | Posts MarketPlace Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 11:56 am

[...] According to the latest comScore survey results, Gmail usage has climbed and the Web mail service has surpassed AOL to become the third largest e-mail service in the United States. It’s estimated that Gmail’s user base has increased 25 percent so far this year and saw 37 unique visitors during the month of July, according to Marketing Pilgrim. [...]
Data Quality Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

Its only a matter of time for it to jump to number one. I think as long as they don’t stay stagnant and keep developing new add ons and features there is no reason that they can’t overtake the #1 spot.
.-= Data Quality´s last blog ..International 8/17/09—Industrial action at Royal Mail continues this week =-.
Facebook application developer Says:

August 18th, 2009 at 5:14 am

i have two email accounts, for all my professional work i go with gmail while for friends and family i have a hotmail account. dont know why but whenever im using gmail i get the feel that all my stuff is more easily managed as well as organized.
Facebook Guru Says:

August 18th, 2009 at 5:16 am

im not surprised at all that gmail surpassed AOL infact im wondering what took them so long
Marco Says:

August 18th, 2009 at 9:53 am

When people write articles or posts indicating that someone is #2 or #3, why don’t they indicate somewhere who was #1 or #2? It’s the first question I always ask, and now have to go research.
Duncan Says:

August 23rd, 2009 at 7:26 am

I’m using Gmail for all my and I will use it forever as I know google will keep on giving the best for it s users.

@marco tell us once you got your research done.
Facebook Application Developer Says:

August 29th, 2009 at 4:11 am

I use Gmail for all my professional work! it is much more easier to manage and organize my work
Mottusuchi Says:

September 2nd, 2009 at 12:41 am

i love gmail….. i am using it from 2006…. I never regretted the decision… thank u gmail…
.-= Mottusuchi´s last blog ..Malayalam Newsticker =-.
Blogaul Says:

September 13th, 2009 at 11:24 am

I’m using Gmail, I love it…
.-= Blogaul´s last blog ..Make Money Online and Work From Home Today! =-.
dave Says:

September 15th, 2009 at 12:29 am

it was only a matter of time before they jumped the list to 3.. they might just move to number #1 soon enough! quit smoking

Marketing Pilgrim