Fits and starts. That’s how Google’s product launches have been lately (ahem, Google Plus Pages for businesses), and its much-hyped native Gmail app for iOS devices is no exception.
Google proudly re-launched the mobile app Wednesday, two weeks after it debuted in Apple’s app store only to be abruptly yanked down within hours due to a massive bug that, in Google’s words, “broke notifications and displayed an error message.”
Broken notifications is a pretty big deal, too, considering that part of the hype around the Gmail for iOS app was that it would feature built-in PUSH notifications, which aren’t available for Gmail in the iPhone’s native email client (they have been available on Google’s so-so mobile Web app for Gmail since 2010).
Overall, the big deal is that iOS users finally get a native app for Gmail as opposed to using either the Gmail web app or their iOS device’s built-in email sync client, neither of which takes advantage of the iOS device’s hardware to serve up smoother and more reliable interactions.
That said, the initial reviews of the revamped Gmail for iOS app have not been kind:
“Just about the only feature the Gmail app handles better than the Web view is attachments,” wrote Read Write Web‘s Jon Mitchell. “For most other purposes, the experience is the same, and in some cases, the mobile Web is actually better. While even the mobile Web Gmail supports multiple accounts, this native app does not. ”
“Push Notifications aren’t really what you would expect, as all you get is a badge on the app’s icon and maybe a sound, no actual messages,” reports Alexander Vaughn at AppAdvice.
Still, Google promises that more requested features are on the way soon.
“In the short time the app was public we received a lot of helpful feedback and feature requests,” Google’s Matthew Izatt wrote in a blog post announcing the re-launched Gmail app. “…We’re just getting started with the Gmail app for iOS and will be iterating rapidly to bring you more features…”
But as GigaOM‘s Kevin Tofel wrote when the bug-ridden app first launched on November 2, ” if Google provides too good of a Gmail experience on iOS devices, it actually loses a key advantage over smartphones and tablets that use Android software.”
