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GMail's time was different, there was a lot less competition among web services back then.

At the time Gmail launched there were a bunch of mail services.

GMail was different in a number of ways.

1. Exponentially more space in a market where single or double digit megabytes was the norm. GMail's original pitch was that you never had to delete an email, and that you could always find them with search.

2. It was one of the first web apps. It was dynamic in a way few sites were then. Asynchronous JavaScript (Ajax) and Web 2.0 were still new concepts.

No, the difference with Gmail is that email doesn't require a network effect to be useful. If I'm the only one on G+, it is pointless. If I'm the only one on Gmail, it's just as useful as if everyone I know is on Gmail.

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