April 1, 2010 1:19 PM PDT
Six April Fools' Day launches that were real
Every year the tech world trips over itself to create a myriad fake products for user chuckles and some easy press. There's also a very small percentage of companies that decide to launch real products. We've rounded up six of those sites and services below, as well as some honorable April Fools' Day-related news events.
1. Google Gmail
One of the most notable April Fools' Day launches was Google's Gmail in 2004. Back then, a gigabyte of storage for a Web e-mail service was a big deal. This was especially true given that competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo were charging for extra in-box space.
Gmail wasn't open to everyone though. Its small, 1,000-user private beta test, which expanded through the company doling out user invites from time to time, became a hot tech ticket, and one that spawned an entire ecosystem of invite-trading economies.
Gmail has since continued to expand how much service it gives users, which is now up to 7.4GB.
2. Yahoo Sideline
Read more...http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20001579-248.html
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