Google Makes Its Own Competitor to Gmail With Inbox

Google today unveiled Inbox, a big reimagining of the email interface. It’s an alternative to Gmail, the company’s popular 10-year-old email product, designed in the hope of eventually replace Gmail, by the Gmail team.

Google would be effectively bombing user trust if it launched Inbox as a wholesale interface change to existing Gmail users. So instead, the company is making the product available by invite only, for mobile apps and the Web (but only on the Chrome browser). People can request access by emailing inbox@google.com.

What does Inbox do that’s so special? It incorporates snoozing, reminders, assistant tools that try to help complete to-dos, speed-dialing for frequent contacts, pruning and bundling of related messages so you can read them together at a set time.

Gmail account holders can use Inbox with their existing Gmail address, and any action they take in Inbox is reflected in Gmail. For now, Google Apps users aren’t able to use Inbox, Google said.

Still wondering what this is about? Here’s an Inbox product explainer video that explains nothing:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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