Gmail throws open doors to Hotmail users

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 14 May 2009 at 15:42

Google's making it easier to jump ship to Gmail with a new feature that makes importing contacts and messages from other webmail services a breeze.

The feature simply asks users to enter their webmail provider, user name and password when creating a new account, and over the next 24 hours all their messages and contacts will be automatically imported into Gmail.

For those people still unsure about migrating to Gmail permanently, there's the option to have email forwarded for a 30-day trial period while they get to grips with it.

Speaking on the Google blog, Gmail engineer Chad Parry says the company wants to make switching email accounts as painless as possible.

"It's like getting out of a relationship. You have so much baggage - years of emails and contacts, memories of past Christmases and Valentine's Days - so the easier your new email account can make it, the better," he says.

The new feature is available in all newly-created Gmail accounts, and the company is rolling it out to all existing accounts. The company warns it may take months before everybody has received it.

Existing Gmail users can still use POP3 mail fetching and importing contacts via a CSV file while they wait for the new feature to crop up on their account.