Google is serving up its longest ever period of guaranteed invites for Inbox, its alternative mobile email app built by the Gmail team. The official Gmail account tweeted the announcement today (which was then retweeted by the official Inbox profile), noting that anyone who emails inbox@google.com from a personal Gmail account between 12 PM ET today and 12 PM ET tomorrow will receive an invite.
This is the first time Google has opened the Inbox invites for a full 24-hour period, and also the first time it’s done one of these promotions in 2015. It has slowly been rolling out invites in batches to those who request during times not specifically flagged for guaranteed response, but if you do it in the next 24 hours you’re a lock to get in.
What’s interesting is that this promotion is happening on the day that Outlook for iOS (based on Microsoft 2014 acquisition and third-party mobile Gmail app Accompli) is available to all. The free app from Microsoft is already being hailed as the best mobile Gmail client available on iOS devices, owing at least in part to the fact that it hasn’t been changed very much from the much-loved Accompli upon which it’s based.
Inbox is Google’s attempt to come up with an email client for its Gmail service that makes more sense on mobile devices, but Microsoft may have bought its way to a better solution. Either way, taking advantage of this Inbox invite promotion is your best bet for comparing the two first-hand.