Gmail started offering POP access to some of it’s users. There is no information on how they decided which user gets it and which doesn’t (same with if/how many invites each user get to distribute). This function has already been enabled by lots of third party tools, but has been expected from Google themselves for quite a while. I’m happy to be one of the lucky ones who received the POP access option though I didn’t have the time yet to see how well it works.

The configuration instructions are very detailed for the following mail clients:

• Outlook Express and Outlook 2002 (and older) (Windows)
• Outlook Express and Outlook 2002 (and older) (Mac)
• Outlook 2003
• Entourage 2004
• Entourage X
• Eudora 5.1 (and higher) (Sponsored & Paid Mode)
• Eudora 5.1 (and higher) (Light Mode)
• Netscape Mail 7.x
• Netscape Mail 6.2
• Netscape Mail 4.5, 4.6, or 4.7
• Apple Mail
• Mozilla 1.7
• Thunderbird 0.x
• and general instructions to other clients.

When setting it up I didn’t manage to get it to work. One thing I noticed is that after enabling POP for either all mail or new mail the setting doesn’t seem to get saved. When I go to the setting again neither of the options is checked. So it doesn’t save my choice and therefore doesn’t let my mail client login.

I don’t know if other users managed to get it to work properly but I figure it will be fixed pretty soon.

In any case, this is good news for mobile devices users, as even the most basic usually have a POP client of some kind. And that means using Gmail as your primary email account is going to be a lot more viable and comfortable.