Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform?

#31

Post by pajju » Fri, May 17, 2013, 3:02 PM UTC

amirmc wrote: post #12

pajju wrote: post #6

Great read, and I'm expecting this to happen sooner too. Think it something like -- the core-emailing is there within gmail, but extend the functionalities via services. Some external app uses to build services on top of emailing. Something like -- Hootsuite on top of twitter, Hootsuite manages and adds value by its own apps. Think: we have Gmail powered apps? A link on top like: my-installed-apps -- to easily naviga…

I'm working on stuff like this but from the ground up. You can't get any meaningful innovation until you can allow people/devs a way to access the system at a deeper level than Gmail will allow.

Yeah agreed. I remember the saying -- Be a bitch yourself, but don't be someone else's bitch. :)

Build and think platforms and API's. Not consume API's :)

Re: Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform?

#32

Post by alexqgb » Fri, May 17, 2013, 3:06 PM UTC

fdr_cs wrote: post #16

jd wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. pg has also written about "using your email as a todo list" (in Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund) to partially address the problem of email being more than just a dumb box for all incoming information. Email as it exists today is very obviously broken, and very few players are in a position to change it. (Although there must be some startups with the frighteningly ambitious plan to replace email as we know it…

I don't see anything broken. I send email , people receive emails . Just Works (tm) !

When people say "It's broken" what they often mean is "It works both ways".

That is to say, the power granted by email to ignore others, send badly composed missives, avoid direct engagement, and conduct extensive time-consuming posterior-covering is (horrors!) mirrored by other people's ability to do the exact same things in return.

Ultimately, any "solution" that "solves" these problems satisfactorily will do so only be frustrating others, while leaving the people with the "improved" version free to go on doing whatever irritating things they've always done in a world that can no longer push back.

EDIT: Ok, perhaps there's more to email being broken than the social problems that are beyond the scope of technical fixes. But honestly now, how much?

Re: Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform?

#33

Post by pajju » Fri, May 17, 2013, 3:10 PM UTC

pajju wrote: post #6

Great read, and I'm expecting this to happen sooner too. Think it something like -- the core-emailing is there within gmail, but extend the functionalities via services. Some external app uses to build services on top of emailing. Something like -- Hootsuite on top of twitter, Hootsuite manages and adds value by its own apps. Think: we have Gmail powered apps? A link on top like: my-installed-apps -- to easily naviga…

I just discovered these apps which extend Gmail's possibilities--

Look at Streak (http://streak.com),

Right Inbox (http://rightinbox.com).

ActiveInboxhq (http://www.activeinboxhq.com/index.php)

Re: Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform?

#34

Post by dmd » Fri, May 17, 2013, 3:10 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #20

don_draper wrote: post #10

I'd love for another company to come out that has the clean interface and reliability of gmail, with even more security and better customer service. This is a great time for a disruptor. Any company can compete with many Google products if they have a product that is almost as good, if not better, with way better customer service.

How much would you pay for that? I ask, because Google is doing this for free...

I'd pay $10 a month if it meant I had a phone number to call if something went wrong.

Re: Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform?

#35

Post by sgrove » Fri, May 17, 2013, 4:22 PM UTC

amirmc wrote: post #11

From the original announcement [1]: "Today, we are introducing schemas in emails to make messages more interactive and allow developers to deliver a slice of their apps to users’ inboxes. Schemas in emails can be used to represent various types of entities and actions. Email clients that understand schemas, such as Gmail, can render entities and actions defined in the messages with a consistent user interface." I hav…

That may be why they've made it a partner-only program, and why they control the interface for rendering each schema (that they specifically choose to support). While frustrating, it's an interesting point to consider.

Re: Is Google turning Gmail into an App platform?

#36

Post by akkartik » Fri, May 17, 2013, 5:27 PM UTC

tokyonoise wrote: post #4

I am skeptical. There are apps out there extending Gmail's possibilities, already. Look at Streak ( http://streak.com ), look at Right Inbox ( http://rightinbox.com ). They are based on Chrome extensions. People use them if they need. The real trouble is Gmail becoming a bulky web app in time. Sending money, now actions in the Inbox. Lots of features, majority will not use. It is unclear, if Gmail will remain an simp…

The day they take away the old compose I'm switching back to mutt over IMAP.

(Unless they fix several issues with scrolling, especially in firefox.)