Gmail App Finally Coming To The iPhone This Week

I love my iPhone and everything about it and wouldn’t dream of changing device, but after nearly four years of using it, there is one big flaw that has never been improved and that is the mail client. Apple have their own mail app built in which supports Gmail but it is far from an ideal experience. Basic functionality like search has never worked that well and despite being impressive when it first launched, you just can’t help but get the feeling that there could be something much better.

According to rumors that something better could be about to launch as early as this week in the form of a Gmail app for iOS. Given the fact that Apple have just launched iOS5 with it’s improved notifications, the timing could not be any better because it’s about time there was a proper mail app with push notifications and other improved features.

The one worry that I would have is the app store approval because we’ve seen in the past that Apple are not scared to block apps (Google Voice) that they think are a serious challenge to their own native apps.

The other big question you have to ask is “why now?” Google could have built this at any time given the huge resources at their disposal and you have to wonder why they have waited so long. The answer probably lies in their new unified strategy which sees them focusing on design and trying to integrate Google+ into all of their products. Gmail has close to 200 million users, and a large percentage of those use iOS devices so by providing a better mail client than Apple, Google can control more user time when they’re on their smartphones. Expect the new app to be slick, well designed and deeply integrated with their other products. It’s been a long time coming but we can’t wait to see it.