Gmail offline?

I found a post on TechCrunch about India’s Hindustan Times article about the possibility of an offline Gmail client. Presumably running off Google Gears, the offline Gmail client would be beneficial to many people who do not have internet access everywhere they travel.

For those people who travel via public transportation or commute in ways where internet access is not available, an offline Gmail client would enable those to download their email before they disconnect from the internet and travel, just as they would if they used a email account from an ISP. Then, while traveling, they would be able to reply to emails and get work done when they were unable to before. As their device connects back to the internet, the Gmail client will then synchronize and download new email while uploading all replied and new emails.

I see this as a great innovation for Google and competition in the web based email category. Personally, since switching to Gmail over a year ago, I dropped my Hotmail account because it was too much a hassle and the interface was lacking. Since then, Hotmail has switched to Windows Live Hotmail and revamped their interface. I must say, it does look nice, but I can't bring myself to switch back from Google, as I figure they won't be long in surpassing Microsoft once again.

Google has done so much lately and created so many new products that I have been really pleased with what they have done. I just hope they don't loose their roots and become another Microsoft.