What do Gmail and a mobile phone have in common? Without the latter, you can’t get in on the former. Google has opened the Gmail beta to the U.S. public, but there’s a catch: you have to have a mobile phone capable of recieving a text message. When you sign up and enter your number, you get a text message containing a confirmation code. Google claims they’re doing this to prevent spammers and their ilk from signing up for hundreds of accounts at a time. They figure if you have a phone, you must be honorable.
But now that GMail is public, as it lost its trendiness? It’s no longer the exclusive club it once was, where invitations were harder to come by than Super Bowl tickets.
