Gmail is the dominant email service used by MacMost users, followed by MobileMe. In a poll of 728 people, Gmail was reported as the preferred service by 41 percent. Mobile followed with 27 percent.
Also in the poll were Yahoo at 7 percent, Microsoft’s email services like Hotmail, MSN and Live at 3 percent and AOL at 1 percent. Most of the rest of the results, 15 percent, were from those who use email provided by their ISP such as a cable modem or DSL provider. A few percent also used email provided by work, school or personal web hosting.
Most polls put Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL higher, and Gmail and MobileMe are much lower. But since the poll was linked from Twitter and Facebook, that might explain the higher performance of Gmail. And, of course, being a MacMost poll would explain why MobileMe ranked so high.
The results of the poll are very useful as they give the go-ahead for Gmail and MobileMe-oriented video tutorials at MacMost.com.
Here is the original poll:
Which email service do you prefer? Is it one from work or school? Or do you use a free service like Gmail or Yahoo? Perhaps you are a MobileMe subscriber?
It would be interesting to find out which service preferred most by Mac users. Perhaps if one stands out, we can use it to decide which service to use in future email tutorials at MacMost.com.
Which email provider do you prefer to use with your Mac?
- Gmail (41%, 297 Votes)
- MobileMe (27%, 197 Votes)
- Account from ISP (Cable/DSL/etc) (15%, 107 Votes)
- Yahoo (7%, 52 Votes)
- Hotmail/MSN/Live (3%, 25 Votes)
- Account from Work (2%, 18 Votes)
- AOL (1%, 10 Votes)
- Other free online service (1%, 9 Votes)
- Account from wireless service (1%, 8 Votes)
- Account from School (2%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 728
Hotmail works for me as does Gmail, and I like both of them!
Ditto that...sorta. I use my Knology (ISP) email most, as it's the one I have set up in Outlook/Entourage; however, I also love good ol' Gmail, Hotmail (live.com), & Yahoo. Also use several others, but mostly for secondary/junk-mail stuff. Been using Excite mail forever & a day, but it's really suckin' lately & I'm only using it now as my true junk-mail acct (for registering for stuff, filling out stuff I know will result in spam, etc). Gmail is by far the most forgiving/lenient, allowing files of at least 10MB (could be more now) as attachments w/o even scoffing! I love it! Google has always known how to do it!
I hate how Gmail duplicates unread messages. I have yet to find a fix for that. Plus I have everything going through my MobileMe. I technically use MobileMe, Gmail, and Exchange.
+1. The same situation with me. I have everything I need with MobileMe services + I like full and seamless integration of the services with my macs.
I agree. I love how Mobile Me integrates all of my services seamlessly with my mac and ipod touch. I love the mail and especially Find My iPhone. Very useful and pretty reasonably priced. I also love the website features with iWeb.
How about "none of the above"? I use my own personal domain registered with a pay hosting service. I was just trying to figure out why so many tech-savvy people use GMail instead of their own hosted service, which most of them have? But then again I use MobileMe Gallery or SmugMug and not Flickr and Picasa like the rest of the world so who knows? Popular is not always best...
That would fall under "Account from Work."
Well, in our case, we're hosted through Nettica and their mail system doesn't play nicely with Macs. :-( (Love SmugMug, by the way.)
I like using Gmail on both my Macs, saving me
space because email is stored on line and Not on
my system.
I use GMail but I access it through Apple Mail. I'm considering switching to creating a mail account using my own web host. On my iPhone, the emails are access via IMAP, but then using POP3, I download them to my Mac when I get home.
I use the Apple mail that came with my iMac and with my ISP.
Put me in the "multiple choice" column. :-) Gmail for Adsense/Adwords business, MobileMe for personal and hosted accts for our various websites.
I have both a Gmail account, a MobileMe acccount, and an ISP account. I never thought MobileMe (or Mac.com) was worth the money until I got an iPhone. Now I wouldn't do without it. I have my ISP mail forwarded to my MobileMe account, and have both my Gmail and MobileMe accounts on both my iPhone and Mac (via IMAP, so they're synced).
By far, the main reason I use MobileMe is because it syncs my calendar back to my Mac without having to use the cable. I put in appointments on the fly and they automagically appear on my Mac.
I mostly use the Gmail account for any website that wants an email addy (like this one) so that forum messages, mail lists, and spam wind up in the Gmail account. MobileMe is for business and personal emails.
ThiS iS exactly hoW i handle it...
my MAC practically set everything up for me this way..as i don't understand 'instructions' i always just do the 'default'
Mobile-me isn'T all that much for the convenience..
i LOVE my MAC
I MEANT TO SAY "..THAT MUCH $$.."
ALSO I HAVE THE I-DISK THING FOR ON LINE STORAGE AND SHARING--VERY CONVENIENT AND SIMPLE!
Agree with Kevin's attitude, plus use Yahoo as a catch-all and quick screening before going to Entourage client.
I'm closer to Kevin with accounts with Gmail & MobileMe, plus one work account, and two separate addresses with the same ISP (one is mostly archiving. Have closed a Yahoo account. Using Apple Mail client for most but not all.
Have not been totally pleased with any option. Security, reliability, spam filtering and privacy are key points, but user friendliness and features (e.g., archiving, auto filing and filtering rules that actually work consistently) are also crucial. Have high volume and high filing & archival needs.
Still searching for the best that plays nicely with Macs and iPhones.... would LOVE you to help push the industry for better email options for Macs.
I don't think the right way to use Google (not to mention it murders my lovely newsletter code), but I love my.yahoo (old) for the dashboard, MobileMe (freelance) for the simplicity and Entourage (work) for the project management tools (if NOTHING else).
My ISP account with AT&T is a Yahoo Plus account. I really liked the Zimbra web browser interface, but because Yahoo's mail is not true IMAP, it was driving me crazy that Apple Mail (on my Mac at home) didn't reflect the read/unread status of items that I had looked at via my iPhone or through the web browser interface when I'm at the office. Also, none of the 'custom' folders I made via the web browser or on the iPhone would sync with Apple Mail because there was no way to use IMAP in Apple Mail to connect to my Yahoo email.
So now I'm using GMail for all my mail, and everything syncs perfectly between all my different devices and different ways of accessing the same email account. MobileMe offers the same thing and I have MobileMe, but the SPAM detection and virus protection seems more robust on Gmail.
I'd love to just stick with Yahoo's mail -- I much prefer it's web interface to that of Gmail's -- but as long as Yahoo refuses to implement IMAP, I'm stuck using GMail as a workaround.
It is interesting to see that most people here have multiple email accounts for multiple reasons. I have alway used a ISP account with AT&T, but now that I plan on switching to MacBook Pro, so GMail is worth looking at.
Here is my question; how can I get my emails from the ISP account to my new GMail account? At some point I want to phase out the ISP account. What does anyone suggest?
Work account + gmail for personal and mobile me for syncing info.
Use Apple Mail app with local cable ISP.
Currently I'm using Google Apps, but the moment that Mobile Me allows me to use my own domain names I'm there.
I prefer my G-mail (however I use hotmail for junkmail sign-ups.... let microsoft hold em). I tried mobile me and didnt like having to "pay" for an email service.
Using the mobile me for personal, another Gmail for other things, and my work acct runs thru a Gmail acct.
I use Entourage for all so I can create with HTML. I can't stand the 1970 apple email fonts.
Imap took a little getting used to, but its great.