Google announces that Gmail is now available to all users in Egypt

It is one of a number of products made available in Arabic recently - including Gmail, Google News, Rosetta, Mobile Web Search, AdWords and a new version of the Google Toolbar 4.

Anyone in Egypt will be able to go to www.gmail.com and create a free account, without needing an invitation. According to the latest survey conducted by the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), e-mail is the third most popular use of the Internet in Egypt (29% of Internet users) after chat and search. According to Sherif Iskander, Regional Manager for Google in the Middle East and North Africa:

'Since Google launched Gmail, we have focused both on improving the product - increasing its reliability and minimizing spam - and making it available to more people in more languages. Our users have helped us in these efforts with their feedback. We are extremely excited to make Gmail widely available to users across Egypt - they'll be able to get obtain free Gmail accounts as well as being able to chat with their friends wherever they are in the world,'

says Sherif Iskander.

Gmail remains otherwise unchanged - and includes 2.7GB of free space so users can store as much information as they want. Google has always believed that users should be able to keep all of their important messages, files, and pictures, and use built-in Google search technology so that they can easily find what they are looking for. Users see their messages in convenient conversation threads and can organize them with labels if they want. In addition, if users want to communicate with their contacts in real time, they can use Gmail Chat - which is integrated in the Gmail window -- to send instant messages to friends.

Gmail also includes powerful spam protection; users can easily classify spam with the 'Report Spam' button, and this feedback helps keep Gmail's filters up to date. Gmail makes it easy for users to access their email however and wherever they choose. POP access enables users to receive their messages in any email program, even offline, or a user can forward his e-mails to other e-mail services without worrying about missing out on messages.