Gmail made sense for Google when it was released. No one questioned it as there were already several other players in the market. The only real selling point at that time was Google offering 1 GB of storage for free with ads while other services were offering less. That other services switched to meet Google’s number rather quickly was more a sign that Google priced storage per user better at the time while other services had kept their legacy storage allowances.
Gmail made sense for Google when it was released. No one questioned it as there were already several other players in the market. The only real selling point at that time was Google offering 1 GB of storage for free with ads while other services were offering less. That other services switched to meet Google’s number rather quickly was more a sign that Google priced storage per user better at the time while other services had kept their legacy storage allowances.