New Delhi: Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has announced the launch of a new email service called XMail, which is expected to compete with Google’s Gmail, the most widely used email service in the world. Musk said that his X platform, which includes various projects such as Starlink, Neuralink, and Hyperloop, will soon offer an alternative to Gmail. He announced on Friday, in response to a question from one of his engineers, Nate McGrady, who asked when XMail would be launched. Musk replied, “Coming.”
The announcement sparked a frenzy in the tech industry, as some users speculated that Google was planning to shut down Gmail after a fake image of an email from Google circulated on social media. The image claimed that Gmail would be discontinued in August 2024, and urged users to switch to XMail. The image was later exposed as a hoax, but not before it caused panic and confusion among Gmail users.
Some of Musk’s followers expressed their excitement and support for XMail, saying that they had lost trust in Gmail and wanted to try a new service. “I have lost trust in Gmail. It’s time to switch to XMail as soon as possible!” one follower said. “I will use my Gmail for junk like I use my Hotmail for junk now,” another user commented.
Google, however, clarified on Friday that Gmail was not being shut down, and that the image was a fake. The company said that it was only shutting down the basic HTML view of Gmail, which is a simplified version of the service that works on older browsers. The company said that users would be automatically switched to the standard view of Gmail, which offers more features and functionality. The company also said that it was committed to providing the best email service to its users and that it was not worried about the competition from XMail.
