Google’s free Gmail offering has now passed AOL as the third most popular visited e-mail service in the US, and is predicted to surpass Windows Live Hotmail very soon.
According to ComScore, between July 2008 and July 2009 Gmail’s unique monthly visitors increased from 25.3 million to 36.9 million.
This is compared to AOL, whose monthly visitor total fell by 19% from 45.1 million to 35.4 million between July 2008 and July 2009. Windows Live Hotmail also saw its number of unique monthly visitors fall by 4% between September 2007 and September 2008, but gained 3% during July 2008 to July 2009.
If the current trends continue, Gmail will pass Hotmail by next February and will only be second to Yahoo Mail. However, Gmail faces a challenge with the release of Windows 7, which could produce a surge of interest in Microsoft-related products.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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