Google launches, pulls back buggy Gmail app for Apple's iOS 5

A little oops goes a long way, especially when you're Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). The search giant Wednesday released its much-anticipated Gmail app for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone and iPad in the iTunes App Store, but then pulled it back when users discovered it contained a major bug.

Google's official statement said the app "contained a bug, which broke notifications and caused users to see an error message when first opening the app. We've removed the app while we correct the problem, and we're working to bring you a new version soon. Everyone who's already installed the app can continue to use it."

iPhone owners, already dealing with an apparent bug in iOS 5 that shortens battery life for some users, reacted vociferously to the snafu, filling sites like Twitter, Google + and Facebook with scathing comments.

The release of a buggy app isn't the norm for Apple, which generally is reknown for vetting-sometimes to the nth degree-apps before they're posted to the App Store.

Google, meanwhile, has been looking to position Gmail more solidly into its suite of business apps. Research firm Gartner in September said Gmail currently has just a one percent share of the enterprise market, but said it's a real threat to players like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which leads the cloud email segment, because it makes up some 50 percent of the cloud email market overall.

"While cloud email is still in its infancy, at 3 to 4 percent of the overall enterprise email market, we expect it to be a growth industry, reaching 20 percent of the market by year-end 2016, and 55 percent by year-end 2020," said Matthew Cain, research VP at Gartner. "The intense competition between Microsoft and Google will make both vendors stronger and enable them to apply cloud expertise to other enterprise cloud endeavors."

For more:
- see this ZDNet article
- see this Gmail blog

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