On a personal note (and I'm not seeing them at this stage - just checked a few emails), the graphic ad per se won't bother me. I use Gmail personally, in basica

On a personal note (and I'm not seeing them at this stage - just checked a few emails), the graphic ad per se won't bother me. I use Gmail personally, in basically the same headspace I use Facebook - I doubt Gmail ads will phase me if they become as graphical and ubiquitous as Facebook ads, and frankly they'll get just as many click-throughs from me (read: zero). What does concern me is the point you raise about the fact that Gmail "touted the clean and simple feel as one of their main features". In a world of garishly fugly html emails, my inbox is rarely clean and simple, but Google changing their position on this does create a market opportunity. And not everyone will feel as non-impacted as I do. I also agree with you that Google has the right to do this in their own free service - if they want to, they can go for it, and if that creates a competitor, I look forward to another webmail battle.