I’ve been using the desktop Google Mail app for the Mac, Mailplane, for about 2 months now, since receiving a beta invite. I wasn’t sure whether I would use it that much as I just have the one Google Mail account and I was already using the Google Notifier in my menu bar to keep up with mail going to that account.

mailplane.jpg

Mailplane takes the pain out of checking my GMail and since using this I’ve actually handled my mail a lot better. I reply quicker than when I was having to open my browser to get to the GMail page. Growl also notifies me so I can quickly read a snippet of the e-mail when it comes in without having to disturb my workflow.

Once out of beta Mailplane will require a license. The price was announced last week – $24.95 for a single user license. It was a little more expensive than I was expecting so I decided that once out of beta I would just go back to my simple little GMail notifier. However, an e-mail from Mailplane today reveals a new introductory offer of $19.95 for all 1.x updates. This is a little more tempting to me and I’d buy it in a heartbeat, but I have a little concern about how much it will cost to renew when v2 comes along, especially if it arrives within 6-12 months.

So, I’m going to think about it a little longer. I think it’s a great product and I’m sure people with several GMail accounts will really find that it takes the pain out of checking. But, for someone with one account which mostly gets notifications rather than e-mail that needs urgently replying to then I’m just not sure. If Mailplane were available as an app for the iPod touch then I would not hesitate in buying a license ;)

I have 1 invite left for Mailplane beta. If you’d like to try it out then simply leave a comment here and I’ll get one off to you :)