Google makes breaking up with Hotmail, Yahoo! easy to do

[edesignuk]

Google has added a feature to its popular Gmail service that allows users to easily import email and contacts from their Hotmail, Yahoo! et al accounts.

Mountain View’s new tool, which is powered by TrueSwitch, migrates messages and contacts from other webmail providers and is available for all new users who are happy to dump Google’s rivals in favour of Gmail.

The Register.

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

Interesting article. That is a rather handy tool to offer users. Alas, when can we start calling Google a monopoly?

I love what Google has done but at the same time they are getting scary IMHO.

 

[Tomorrow]

Now if Google can come out with an instant messaging client compatible with Yahoo, and a decent news portal, it can finally take over Yahoo.

(Take this with a grain of salt - I know "to each his own," but I've been using Yahoo for so long I'm used to it.)

 

[Demosthenes X]

Now if Google can come out with an instant messaging client compatible with Yahoo, and a decent news portal, it can finally take over Yahoo.

(Take this with a grain of salt - I know "to each his own," but I've been using Yahoo for so long I'm used to it.)

What's wrong with iGoogle? It's not quite as fancy as Yahoo!, but it's 100% customizable. I think it's great.

 

[GoCubsGo]

You cannot call a company a monopoly if there are other free services out there to use. Also, it's free ... can something free be a monopoly? I guess so, but even still. They're not making it impossible to use anyone else, they're just giving you a choice and compelling you to use them by making it incredibly easy to move your junk.

 

[Tomorrow]

You cannot call a company a monopoly if there are other free services out there to use. Also, it's free ... can something free be a monopoly? I guess so, but even still. They're not making it impossible to use anyone else, they're just giving you a choice and compelling you to use them by making it incredibly easy to move your junk.

Of course they can be a monopoly; it has nothing to do with whether customers are paying for the service, it has to do with whether one business has enough market share to make the market non-competitive.

"Free" services online are typically paid for by advertising revenue. If one portal is controlling enough of that revenue across the market that they can more or less dictate what happens to the other portals, it takes the element of competition out of the market.

I'm not saying that's what's going on here; but to answer your hypothetical question, yes, it's possible.