It was actually the same with Gmail as it was with Search. Gmail was just a much better service than Hotmail or Yahoo! mail, arguably their biggest competitors

It was actually the same with Gmail as it was with Search. Gmail was just a much better service than Hotmail or Yahoo! mail, arguably their biggest competitors at the time. They also offered a ridiculous amount more space. I think those two successes alone led a lot of us into a place of just using Google products by default for a while. It’s an utter shame what’s happened with the company, especially with its privacy issues.