Starting today, users of the Arabic version of Gmail, Google's secure, fast and free online email solution, will have an additional way to customise their inboxes: Gmail themes. Themes are a set of dynamic backgrounds that change the look and feel of Gmail, thus enabling users to pick a personality for their inboxes.
Google aims to help users around the world search for information and collaborate with others, regardless of language or location. A large part of this includes making our services available in as many languages as possible.
"The Gmail engineering team is located around the world, and in fact a majority of our users are international" said Wael Ghonim, Marketing Manager, MENA. "Gmail is currently offered in 52 languages, and we work hard to launch our features for all users globally. Today's introduction of Gmail themes in right-to-left languages demonstrates our ongoing commitment to improvements and innovations for our Arabic Gmail users."
The Gmail theme gallery provides more than thirty options, from an old programming aesthetic to scenes which change based on the time of day and location of the user. See below for an example of the themes now available for Arabic Gmail users: (all found here: http://www.corp.google.com/~arielle/gmail/themes/local_screenshots/rtl/)
To set up a Gmail account, please visit mail.google.com, where you can sign up for free. Once in Gmail, go to the Themes tab under Settings to select your desired theme. Themes are available in Internet Explorer 7.0+, Firefox 2.0+ or Safari 3.0+, and Google Chrome. You won't see a 'Themes' tab in your Settings if you're not using the newer version of Gmail on the browsers listed above.
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About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
For more information, please contact:
Joanne Kubba
Google, Middle East and North Africa
Global Communications and Public Affairs Manager
Email: jkubba@google.com
Chuma Goodwin
Impact Porter Novelli
google@ipn.ae
Tel +971 40 330 4030
© Press Release 2009
