Following the lead of rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., top Internet search engine Google Inc. on Thursday is expected to release a downloadable version of its Gmail email feature for cell phones.

The free software, to be available only in the U.S., is compatible with more than 300 cell phones, and can be downloaded by pointing a phone’s Web browser to gmail.com/app or by text messaging the software to a phone from a personal computer.

Unlike its wired Web version, cell phone Gmail does not come accompanied by ads.
“We want to provide relevance and targeted ads, but with a cell phone’s small screen and all that, it’s tricky,” said Tony Hsieh, a product manager with Google’s mobile team.

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News source: MarketWatch.com