Google phases out its Gmail app for BlackBerry
updated 07:05 pm EST, Wed November 9, 2011
Hopes to move users over to web app
Google will no longer be supporting Gmail as a native app for BlackBerry. The company will be pulling support and availability for downloading beginning November 22. Current users will still be able to use the app after that date.
Google explains that it is focusing its efforts instead on delivering a better Gmail service using a mobile browser. Modern BlackBerry 6 and 7 phones should get closer to a native experience through their newer WebKit browsers.
The news has followed just after Google briefly launched and then pulled its native Gmail app for iOS. While the app for iPhones has been criticized for being mostly a web wrapper, its appearance as the BlackBerry app exits shows the shift in focus from RIM's currently shrinking platform to the still-growing iPhone.
