14 DAY TRIAL // Gmail hardly needs an introduction and chances are most of your friends are already using Google's email client. But that's probably not true for most of your family. For those still stuck with accounts they may have created a decade ago, Google is expanding the number of supported services enabling users to import their existing email messages and contacts.
"Switching email accounts can be painful. The idea of losing years of accumulated contacts and messages can sound daunting, to say the least. Luckily, switching to Gmail doesn’t mean you have to start totally fresh," Google wrote.
"Back in 2009 we announced tools that let you import mail and contacts from other providers, such as AOL or Hotmail. Today we’re announcing the addition of fourteen more international domains to our list of supported email providers," it announced.
There are 14 more email services now supported, for a total of almost 70 services, though many are localized versions of popular providers such as AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo. You can check out the full list here.
Along with the new international email provider supported, Google is launching a new "Switch to Gmail" website to get users to do just that. The new website walks users through all of the steps for switching providers and aims to answer the biggest questions may have.
The simple design and terminology makes it clear that the site is aimed at the less technical users, those who should be the biggest target of potential new users.
While Gmail has proven a hit with the tech-savvy crowd and has since been adopted by hundreds of millions of people, services like Yahoo Mail and Microsoft's Hotmail are still bigger, mostly because they launched years before Gmail.
And since Gmail's regular demographic is mostly tapped out, Google is looking at the rest of the users to continue to fuel Gmail's growth.