Mailplane

Google announces IMAP for Gmail

Saturday, October 27, 2007

This week, Google announced IMAP access for Gmail. That's great news for Mailplane users. Why?

Many people access their Gmail mailbox from various locations and devices. In my case this is

• Mailplane on my MacBook and the family iMac
• the Gmail java application on my Motorola V3 handset
• Firefox on a linux box
• And occasionally Internet Explorer on Windows

IMAP now extends access to my precious email data:

• As the iPhone doesn't run the java application to access Gmail, I will be able to use IMAP when I will
• I will be able to backup my Gmail email data

Regardless how I access my Gmail mailbox, I see and change the same email data. For example, I could "star" a conversation on my handset, then create a reply on Linux with Firefox, attach a photo with Mailplane, and then send the draft from an iPhone.

Will IMAP access replace Mailplane for me? No way!
I love the Gmail web interface, in my opinion it beats all traditional mail clients. For me Gmail thru Mail.app isn't Gmail anymore: no real labels, no Google search, no pretty conversation view. And Mailplane gives me best of both worlds: The speed and power of Gmail and the beauty and functionality of my Mac desktop.