Google has announced that it is making its Gmail email service to Japanese customers in their native language and has open the service to anyone who want to sign up.
After Australia and New Zealand, Japan would be the third country to which Google has allowed open access to Gmail, which it offers in more than 40 different languages. In other markets, signups are limited to those who receive e-mail invitations from existing users or access it via mobile phones.
"We want as many people to have access to our service," Angela Lee, Tokyo-based product manager at Google, said in a meeting with reporters. "The change has had quite a significant impact in Australia and New Zealand," she said without providing figures.
Gmail was launched in 2004 to U.S. residents offering a free 1 GB inbox with free POP access. This has led to Yahoo! and Microsoft to move out of their 4Mb inbox limit. Gmail service has since expanded to a whopping 2.7 GB of storage.
Google is beefing up to raise its presence in Japan, where more people access the Web using mobile phones than from personal computers. Google this year announced a tie-up with the country's second-biggest wireless operator, KDDI Corp. to offer search engines on mobile phones.
