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Google sabotaging their own product just for a few laughs is a great way of reminding people that they don't really care about providing any services other than selling ads.

Also, what's the point of this prank when Gmail has a global audience? Only a minority of users will be aware that their tools might fail today because it's April Fools in the US.

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Looks to me like there was a disconnect between what marketing wanted and what was delivered. Marketing saw this idea as a bit of fun, something that would create some good press and be playful.

Unfortunately the implementation was terrible, it confused users and lead people trying to seriously use the product to send silly pictures around.

Saying they don't care about the product because of this is silly. So many people use it because it is one of the best email applications around. A botched bit of fun doesn't mean the product is going to shit.

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