One of the most frustrating things about the technology we use everyday is that there are constant updates. It was slightly more than a decade ago that it seemed we were able to rein it in, a little, pacing technological growth along with social demand. We were able to, for example, adapt to hotmail when it became the most popular e-mail platform in the world; it was really the first web-based—entirely free—e-email service for basic web users.
Of course, there were others—like Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft Exchange—and some probably better served particular demographics better than others. Some might be better suited for enterprise clients, for example.
And over time it has become a little harder to adapt to technology, mostly because it continues to grow at a rapid pace—and the demand is so massive that there is always several versions of the same program. And while most industries tend to settle with one or two front runners, email continues to be a vast marketplace.
As such, Google continues to work on making its native e-mail service, Gmail, compatible with other services. And with that in mind, Google’s most recent Gmail app update for Android devices has now added support for Microsoft Exchange email. If you are a fan of email services like Yahoo and Hotmail you are likely aware that Gmail has supported third-party email providers like this for at least the past couple of years. For whatever reason, though, Microsoft Exchange email support has only been available on Nexus devices (these are Google’s native devices).
But now, for the first time, the Gmail update will add support for Microsoft Exchange. Of course, this could prove efficient for those who use Microsoft Exchange email for their office correspondence, but would prefer to have all their personal emails funneled into one place (instead of having to shift back and forth between email apps, for example).
There is a caveat, however: the update is not so impressive for Apple iPhone users as Android still restricts iOS Gmail users solely to Gmail accounts; which makes sense in this highly competitive marketplace.
