I just posted about an interview with Bill Gates where he calls Google a “fantastic” competitor. According to this BetaNews article, Google is not only a fantastic competitor in the web search space but also in the world of web-based email. The article reports on a new study from Return Path that says lots of Hotmail customers are swithching to Gmail.
Between 52 to 56 percent of customers switching to Gmail came from a Hotmail address each month [Jun-Dec 2004], said Return Path. This compares to only 24 to 34 percent being from a Yahoo account. The rest of Return Path’s clients were switching from MSN, AOL and Comcast, though at much smaller numbers.
More in the article: Study: Half of Gmail Switchers from Hotmail.