Google acquires reMail iPhone app maker

Goole has acquired reMail, the maker of an iPhone application that allows Apple users to access email inboxes while on the move.

ReMail has been quick to publicise the details of the acquisition. Company founder Gabor Cselle said in a blog post that the reMail iphone app has already been removed from the App Store, and will only be supported until the end of March.

ReMail apparently had plans to launch an Android mobile application in the next few months, according to a forum discussion on the firm's web site at the beginning of February, although Cselle did not disclose how the product's functionality and the company's expertise would have been used to support such a move.

Cselle described some of the excitement he felt at his company's being owned by Google. "Google is the best place in the world to improve how people communicate and share information," he said.

"If you have what it takes to make these changes happen, I encourage you to reach out and come join me."

Cselle was previously a software engineer at Google, and will move back to the company as a product manager on the Gmail team.

A Google spokesman said that the web giant bought reMail because it was "impressed" by both Cselle and the technology.

"Mobile and email are obviously priorities for us, and though it's too early to talk about any specifics, we're excited about being able to use Gabor's talent and experience to improve the mobile email experience," he added.

Google's acquisition of reMail is bound to upset Apple users because the application is said to provide faster search than the iPhone's native Mail Search application, according to reMail. It also works offline and supports advanced queries.

ReMail allows users to search multiple email accounts with IMAP capability. This includes Gmail and Microsoft Exchange but not Hotmail.

A free version of reMail was available in the App Store for Gmail accounts, but the cost for reMail that supports other accounts was US$3.99.