origin of g mail?

Question

how did g mail originate

Answer 1

INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT:

Gmail was a project begun by Google developer Paul Buchheit years before it was ever announced to the public. For several years, the software was only available internally, as an email client for Google employees. It was hosted under the code name Caribou, a reference to a Dilbert comic strip about Project Caribou.

DOMAIN NAME:

Before being acquired by Google, the gmail.com domain name was used by the free e-mail service offered by Garfield.com, online home of the comic strip Garfield. This free e-mail service has moved to e-garfield.com.

ANNOUCEMENT:

Owing to April Fool's Day, when Google made a press release about Gmail, many thought that it was a joke, especially since Google already had been known to make April Fool's Jokes.

BETA TESTING PHASE:

Google initially invited about 1,000 employees, friends, and family members to become beta testers, with trials beginning on March 21, 2004.

Active users from the Blogger.com community were offered the chance to participate in the beta-testing on April 25, and later, Gmail members occasionally received "invites" which they could extend to their friends.

One round of invites was sent out on May 1, and another three invitations were given to all active members on June 1; by mid-June, the number of invitations had increased, with many users receiving between three and five invites daily.

On February 2, 2005, the invitation interface was changed to make it easier to give invites by simply entering an e-mail address and at approximately 3:00 UTC on February 3, 2005, some Gmail users were awarded 50 invites, and more recently, 100 invites.

During the initial months of the Gmail beta, Gmail's well-publicized feature set and the exclusive nature of the accounts caused the aftermarket price of Gmail invitations to skyrocket. According to PC World magazine, Gmail invitations were selling on eBay for as much as US$150, with some specific accounts being sold for several thousand dollars. On June 28, Google amended its policy to forbid the selling of registered accounts.