A new survey on business-standard.com reveals that Gmail is the second most utilised e-mail service. When asked which e-mail service they used, 34 per cent of the 1000-odd online voters said it is Gmail.

Yahoo enjoyed the pole position with 55 per cent votes. Ironically Hotmail, which was the first to launch e-mail services found only about seven per cent of the total votes in its favour.

Why is Gmail so popular given that it was years after India saw Hotmail, Yahoo and Rediff providing e-mail services that Gmail entered the scene? In April 2004, Google first launched Gmail's test version.

By the time Gmail was launched, sending e-mails was reduced to the status of being a boring mundane task. Being a late entrant, it was obvious that it had to do things differently. Realising this, the company did exactly that.

Firstly, it didn't have an open-to-all launch. Few select members were chosen and offered the service. These members were given the privilege to invite a handful of friends and family to use the service.

This ensured two things, it made Gmail something to talk about on social occasions -especially among the youth. Also it quickly created two groups - the haves and the have nots - those who had e-mail accounts with Gmail and those who didn't.

Says 23-year-old, Madhusudan Nagrajan, "I liked the way Gmail started since there was an element of secrecy and exclusivity."

At the time of the launch, Gmail had to face a fair share of skepticm. Many believed Google was synonymous only with search. Now Gmail's claim to fame is the large space it offers to users - 2730 MB.

Says Nagrajan an ardent fan "I love the unlimted space and search options that Gmail offers. Gmail also offered a search option. To dig out a two-year-old email, all you had to do was run a search on any word used in that e-mail.

Some users, however, find Gmail complicated to use. Says 35-year-old, Suvarna, a teacher by profession, "I use Rediffmail as it's very simple to use. Gmail on the other hand is a little too complicated." Another user feels that Gmail doesn't load properly.

Gmail, though, is a rage among youngsters. Says 18-year-old Hari Vaidyanathan, "I and my friends mostly use Gmail. I use Yahoo for chat and log into my other e-mail IDs only because some people would not know my new ID."

Chat is what Yahoo users find as the binding reason to use Yahoo. Thirty-year-old marketing professional, Swapnil Bhoite, a self-confessed Hotmail fan, says, "Hotmail is the only service that has a professional feel to it."

However, over the years little has changed in Hotmail and that has made many a user change loyalty.

For Gmail, however, chat rooms will be more important than professionalism. Most users believe that for Gmail to dethrone Yahoo, it will have to beat Yahoo in its most fiercely-held domain "Chat."