Why Is There Still No GMail API?
So Google has made a huge dent in hosted email for businesses. They have now flexed there power in yet another market. Why, oh why is there not an API for GMail yet? Seriously! Mobile smart phones becoming more widespread, even Google has the Android coming out; how are we suppose to build applications against GMail? Google released an API for Outlook integration, but no official API.
There is so much potential in building applications around GMail. It’s long overdue.
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I know, it’s completely crazy. I work for a competitor of Google (of sorts), a hosted email company called BlueTie, doing user experience, interface design and product dev.
I’ve always thought that GMail would be the Microsoft killer if they would just open up the API to guys like you and I so we could really design a more usable suite of integrated business applications.
The fact that Google’s calendar, contacts and IM (and docs & photos, etc.) has not been integrated into a single, usable business app is just beyond my comprehension (how many millions do they have to fund such a small category-killer project like this? WTF?).
Workflow is disrupted by opening multiple windows and having multiple search inputs for contacts vs. calendar, vs. email vs. etc. (they almost got it right with their IM integration). It’s all very confusing…especially to rank and-file SMB users. Workflow is king to these people.
They will never be taken seriously as a business application until they either integrate their applications into a single, usable suite of apps, or open up the API so developers can do it ourselves.