Imagine this scenario: your boss sends an e-mail, and he needs a “yes” or “no” answer immediately. If you use a Gmail or Google Apps account with your iPhone, the e-mail won’t drop into your iPhone inbox immediately, even if you use IMAP to sync your e-mail. This has caused many users to devise workarounds and “hacks” to set up push-like technology on their iPhones (Push e-mail means that whenever an e-mail is sent to a Gmail account, it is instantly sent to the mobile device. This is in contrast to the usual method of downloading Gmail e-mail messages to iPhones, which is based on a refresh rate.). In late September however, Google heard the cries of Gmail/iPhone users without push e-mail and delivered with Google Sync.
The benefit of push e-mail is that the user will have instant access to his or her e-mail once it drops into the inbox. This is especially useful for professionals who receive many time-sensitive e-mails throughout the course of the day and who do not want to wait for the iPhone Mail Application’s refresh rate. By setting up a push e-mail service with their iPhone, users will have instantaneous access to their e-mail from their iPhone.
Gmail’s push e-mail service, however, is not Apple-based, unlike push services that have worked with other smart phones such as the BlackBerry. Gmail, in order to get the push service to work, had to develop a product called Google Sync to bring the same level of functionality to the iPhone, since Apple would not support built-in push e-mail with Gmail.
How does the Gmail Sync service compare to currently existing third party applications such as GPush (available on iTunes for $1.99)? According to CNet, it’s a wash. Although Google Sync’s push e-mail service will vibrate the iPhone and sound an alert chime whenever e-mail comes, it won’t show a status bubble that will let the user know the sender and the subject line of the e-mail.
A cautionary note is worth mentioning: if you use Google Sync for its Gmail push feature, then you cannot use any other e-mails over Microsoft Exchange, since Microsoft Exchange will only work with one e-mail address, according to the note at the bottom of TechCrunch’s article about the Gmail push e-mail service. This is potentially a dealbreaker for those iPhone users who use their iPhones for both work and personal e-mails. However, for users who only need to use their phones for one e-mail account, the Microsoft Exchange/Google Sync’s one-e-mail limitation will suffice.
Google Sync and its Gmail push feature will likely be seen as a huge boon to the iPhone e-mail world, as a great number of e-mail users use Gmail. The fact that people will now have near-instantaneous access to their e-mail with their Gmail accounts will potentially sway Gmail users who were previously on the fence because of the delay of the e-mail refresh.
Google’s creative solution for Apple’s lack of push e-mail support with Gmail is a very good business move. It makes the iPhone a much more serious contender for business users who use Gmail, since many businesses need their workers to have instantaneous access to their e-mail – especially companies with a voluminous amount of time sensitive material.
Only time will show the wisdom of Google’s choice to provide this workaround to bring push e-mail to Apple users. The initial impression of many industry experts, however, is that it will be a success – if a tepid one.
Instructions for how to get started are available at the Google Sync page for iPhone.
