Which company launched Gmail on April 1, 2004?
Answer
Google launched Gmail on April 1, 2004, introducing a web-based email service with unusually large storage for its era.
Gmail began as a private beta and initially required invitations. Its launch date led some people to mistake the announcement for an April Fools’ joke, but the service was genuine. Gmail’s early storage allowance was 1 gigabyte, far more than many competing free email services offered at the time.
The service was developed at Google by a team led by Paul Buchheit, who had previously created an early version of Google’s webmail technology. Gmail emphasized search, conversation grouping, and advertising-supported access rather than traditional folder-based organization.
Google later expanded Gmail beyond invitations and made it available to the public. Gmail is now part of Google Workspace and remains one of the world’s most widely used email services. It is sometimes confused with Google’s broader account system, but Gmail specifically refers to Google’s email service.