It was almost a long-announced death, but Google was reluctant to face it. We are talking about the end of Inbox, the messaging platform that intended to revolutionize email management, even assuming a weighty alternative to Gmail itself.
At the time it seemed like a good idea, however, we soon realized that Inbox did not contribute anything special that would make us leave Gmail aside. The Mountain View firm has maintained this idea for a few years but it seems that it has finally decided to put the final closure on it. Of course, his disappearance will not be immediate.
Goodbye to Inbox
Almost as an attempt to divert attention a bit from Apple's launches, Google announced yesterday that its Inbox application has its days numbered. It will not be, yes, an immediate closure, since the company has confirmed its dismissal for March of the 2019. And it is that at this point the application can offer us little that we do not already have on other platforms in the house. Many of the app's own functions have been gradually moving to Gmail, making the first one even more accessory, and there is even still a margin of several months in which the company promises to continue incorporating functions.
On its help page, Google thus explains many of the characteristics that you can now use in your Gmail app and that come from the incubator that Inbox has meant. It is the case of power snooze emails (at a later time or date), set reminders to follow up old emails (Gmail takes care of passing old ones to the beginning of your inbox so that you remember to review or reply to them) or manage messages without opening them (either by filing them or marking them as read - although this function is intended for a computer, not a tablet). You can also make use, as you know, of the smart answers, which are generated according to the received message, set and group emails or create reminders.
It is actually a way to prepare the Inbox user for the transition, so that they are not "helpless" once support for this platform is finished.
A failed attempt
Inbox was launched as a beta version and upon invitation the October 22, 2014. In the following year, Google announced its official availability for all those who had a Gmail account. From the beginning it was said that Inbox and Gmail were going to be different products but that it would be the users who would end up deciding what they prefer - and boy did they.
In the end it seems that Inbox has been a kind of experiment field for Google, a place where try ideas (some crazier than others) for later, depending on the reception and use, include them in Gmail or not. And it is that the Google platform is too powerful to replace it in such a simple way, when it has so many millions of users around the world. The four years that Inbox has been standing have not been enough to bring down the titan of email managers.
As well indicated in TechCrunch, We should not be surprised that Google tries again later, resuscitating the essence of Inbox in a new (similar) solution that again distracts them and helps them develop ideas. After all, it is not the first time (nor the last) that the company has launched an app that soon after closes. It will be to launch ...