I, like most everyone else, read about Gmail launching IMAP features tonight and immediately loaded up Gmail, heading straight for the ‘Settings’ area and then to ‘Forwarding and POP’ – only (like most people) to see no IMAP options yet available. Dejected I loaded up my Mail application and was I ever surprised when out of nowhere another one of my Gmail accounts (technically a Gmail for your Domain account) started loading in hundreds of messages I had already read long ago.

Annoyed, I logged in to the other Gmail account in question (which I hardly ever do) – and there is was in the ‘Settings’, right on the tab: ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP. The implementation of IMAP must have jostled something in that Gmail account and sent all my email via POP back at my mail app. No worries now, I can set it up via IMAP!

Moral of the story: if you have Google Apps for your Domain, check that account, it likely has IMAP enabled.

It’s interesting that Google took so long to roll out a feature when not only did so many people want it – but they themselves state flat-out that they want you to use it (now that it’s available) on the ‘Getting Started with IMAP for Gmail‘ page:

If you’re trying to decide between using POP and using IMAP with your Gmail account, we recommend IMAP.

What was already in my opinion the best online email option by far has now done two major improvements in a month to make it ever better.
1) Upping the storage significantly (current now at 4.3 GB)
2) IMAP

Now I have just a few more Gmail wishes to be fulfilled, #1 of which is easy account switching/linking for those of us with – ahem – several accounts.

Now to set it up with the iPhone…

[UPDATE]: Here’s Google’s official run down of the feature.