Lightening fast email?

You must have seen and smiled at the latest rediffmail ads comparing itself with the legendary hoohaa mail (we all know which is the control set), re-emphasizing its forgotten lightening fast competencies. I remember seeing rediff.com boards all around the city declaring itself to be the fastest one around. It did find a substantial share of free signups, but that was the turn of the last century.

Over the past 6 years, other primary email service providers have worked hard in revamping their image, and thanks to the increasing capacity of the ISPs, life is a lot better now. The new entrant, the 1998 born google came in with its platter of innovations, and flooded the market with its own version of email, the gmail. Too many renegades like me dumped the legendary rediff.com to embrace the new and promising technology. After all, in the absence of exit barriers, all that resists change is inertia.

Though I have kept my rediffmail account (had passed on this email id at the times when slam books were a norm), the worst thing about rediffmail is that you have too many messages welcoming you every time you log in. unfortunately its not your fan mail, but mails from wannabe fans. And fans that want your business, whether you want their service or not. It may be argued that there are downsides of free services, so if you want a better spam free email, upgrade to rediff pro (and pay an annual fee)

This problem won’t be taken so well by the people who have options. Google has created a revolution of its won. And gmail is definitely incomparable. So where’s the competitive advantage for rediff?? The new outlook like interface may appeal to those with years of outlook experience (and works only with IE), but not too well with people who want hassle free service.