Who said Google was taking a loss on Gmail? All they did was shift the source of revenue. Gmail displays a LOT of ads on any given day. I know I spend more time

Who said Google was taking a loss on Gmail? All they did was shift the source of revenue. Gmail displays a LOT of ads on any given day. I know I spend more time in my gmail account than on any other website (including YC News), so the exposure is huge. Since ads are the primary revenue source for Google, this looked like a brilliant move to support its ad product, not an attempt to muscle into the email biz for its own sake. (I don't know if Gmail is actually profitable, because I doubt even Google breaks it down like that officially, but I suspect they aren't just pitching money down a black hole in order to gain marketshare in the email business.)