marketwatch- - Following the lead of rivals Yahoo Inc. (YHOO : YHOO
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, , ) and Microsoft Corp., top Internet search engine Google Inc. (GOOG : GOOG
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, , ) on Thursday is expected to release a downloadable version of its Gmail email feature for cell phones.
The free software, to be available only in the U.S., is compatible with more than 300 cell phones, and can be downloaded by pointing a phone's Web browser to gmail.com/app or by text messaging the software to a phone from a personal computer.
Unlike its wired Web version, cell phone Gmail does not come accompanied by ads.
"We want to provide relevance and targeted ads, but with a cell phone's small screen and all that, it's tricky," said Tony Hsieh, a product manager with Google's mobile team.
By downloading the software onto a cell phone, Google can finely-tune the Gmail experience to the make and model of the phone being used, adjusting it for such factors as the size of the screen or the number of colors it's capable of showing. And there's no having to type in a Web address using a phone's tiny keypad.
There are also features such as making a cell phone call by clicking on a Gmail contact list.
Google's current wireless version of Gmail requires pointing a cell phone's Web browser to an Internet site and typing in the Web address, no small feat on a cramped keypad.
The impact of a downloadable cell phone application is twofold. Primarily, it's meant to spur Gmail use in general. That could go a long way in the United States, where text messaging on cell phones is enormously popular, but wireless email is the primarily used by businesspeople using Research in Motion's Blackberry devices, or using laptops at wireless Wi-Fi hot spots.
It's also what the market outside the United States demands. Beyond North America, cell phones vastly outnumber personal computers. So to consumers in mature consumer markets in Europe, Africa or China, the cell phone is the Internet-cruising device of choice.
To a large degree, Google's late to the game. Its chief rivals Yahoo (YHOO : YHOO
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, , ) already have forged their most popular Internet features into downloadable cell phone applications.
Yahoo went so far as to partner with major cell phone manufacturers to have many of its features embedded in cell phones by the manufacturers, creating a kind of "Yahoo phone." Microsoft has also long been a partner of Verizon Wireless and serves as the Internet portal for most Verizon Wireless phones