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Alphabet (GOOGL) Updates Gmail With Material You Redesign

Zacks Equity Research
·4 min read

Alphabet’s GOOGL division Google is consistently working toward adding features to its email app, Gmail.

Reportedly, Google’s introduction of the Material You redesign to Gmail on the web testifies to the above-mentioned fact.

The recent Gmail update includes a Gmail-only view feature, which eliminates the combined Chat, Spaces and Meet layout. It lets users switch between inbox, important conversations and joining in meetings seamlessly without needing to switch between tabs or open a new window.

The redesigned version also shows the new shape of the compose floating action button, which matches the Android app.

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This apart, Gmail rolled out Google Sans wherein Google Sans Text is designed for smaller point sizes, making it suitable for body text.

With the latest capabilities, GOOGL strives to provide a better experience to Gmail users. This is expected to boost the adoption rate of this application in the near term.

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus
Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. price-consensus-chart | Alphabet Inc. Quote

Strength in Google Workspace

The recent move added strength to Google Workspace, consisting of Gmail, Meet, Drive, Calendar, Docs, Tasks and more.

This is likely to drive Alphabet’s momentum across organizations that are highly demanding productivity and collaboration software applications amid the pandemic.

Apart from the latest effort, GOOGL added a feature to Gmail that allows users to pause mobile notifications while the desktop client remains active.

Google introduced a capability to Google Tasks through which users can star mark important reminders on the Android, iOS and web apps.

Google Meet was updated with picture-in-picture and multi-pinning features to help presenters and attendees stay glued to their meetings.

We believe that the strengthening of Google Workspace offerings will continue to drive customer momentum in the days ahead, which in turn, will benefit Alphabet’s financial performance. This will further aid GOOGL in winning investors’ confidence.

Shares of GOOGL have been down 24.9% in the year-to-date period, outperforming the Computer and Technology sector’s decline of 31.2%.

Competitive Market Scenario

With the updated Gmail version, Alphabet is expected to expand its presence in the booming business productivity software market.

The underlined market has been witnessing significant growth of late owing to increasing demand for large-scale business portfolio management at lower cost.

Per a ReportLinker report, the global business productivity software market is likely to reach $98.4 billion, witnessing a CAGR of 14.2% between 2022 and 2026.

Given the potential in the said market, other major technology companies like Microsoft MSFT and Apple AAPL are leaving no stone unturned to bolster their workspace tools and productivity applications with innovative features, thereby gaining market share.

Microsoft, which has lost 22.8% in the year-to-date period, offers powerful productivity and office tools to help users work, learn, organize and connect. Also, Microsoft Outlook comprising webmail, calendaring, contacts and task services helps users stay connected and productive anytime and anywhere.

In addition, Outlook’s Text Predictions feature helps users accept or ignore a suggestion, thus helping them being more productive while typing an email. The feature is available on both Outlook for Android and Outlook Online.

Apple has lost 21.7% in the same time frame. AAPL’s iWork provides an office suite of applications for users to create word-processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Recently, Apple updated its iWork suite of apps to release new features for Pages, Numbers and Keynote on both iOS devices and Mac.

Apple users can access its mail service iCloud mail for sending and receiving emails using a web browser.

Thus, Microsoft and Apple’s growing efforts in enriching their workspace tools and applications remain a threat to Alphabet’s market position.

Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider

Currently, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Investors interested in the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector can consider Aspen Technology AZPN, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Aspen technology has returned 25.7% in the year-to-date period. The long-term earnings growth rate for AZPN is currently projected at 18.4%.


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