Google ready to bring ads to Gmail Android app
Gmail for Android received a really nice update last week. It came with an awesome card style UI, but there is much more hiding behind that beautiful style. Google has also included some coding into Gmail v4.6 that will not make many of you happy, because it seems the app will be getting ads very soon.
The app has managed to stay ad-less until now, but we must realize Google lives off advertising. It’s the main reason why we get most of their services for free (or very cheap). They have other sources of income and we can’t blame them, right? I don’t think most of us would rather pay for Gmail than have to look at some ads.
So, let’s go into how it is going to work. We are not exactly sure how Google plans to implement these ads (or if they will at all), but there is a very interesting feature in the code. It seems we will be able to save ads for later viewing. It will be some kind of archiving feature.
In a way, this makes sense for advertising. One many times runs across a cool ad for a great product, but it goes away after you close the page. Later you remember and want to check it out, except the ad is a bit hard to come by again. Don’t know the brand or model? That’s it… it’s gone. With this feature you will be able to save it and go back to your deals when ready.
The coding looks to be almost ready, so it’s just a matter of Google deciding what they want to do. Will they flip the switch on? Will they keep Gmail ad-less? What do you think?
[via Electronista]