Reuters reported last week that Google is developing an e-mail service that many speculate may compete with free e-mail services provided by Yahoo! and MSN. The fact that Google purchased an e-mail management software company last year and registered the domain name "googlemail.com" in 2001 bolster these predictions. Along with the competitive rationale for providing an e-mail service to help retain its loyal search customers, the additional "real-estate" for placing sponsored ads and contextual ads combine to make this a very wise move. Especially at a time when budgets for online marketing are increasing at predicted rates of 10-20% in 2004, and online marketers are seeking ways to "integrate their e-mail campaigns with Web interactions" (according to a recent survey by the CMO Council as reported in DMNews). With its acquisition of Sprinks last October, Google also acquired technology to deliver ads to e-mail real-time--when the message is opened, which adds a personalization capability to the mix. All told, an e-mail delivery channel strengthens Google's position as a leader in Search Engine Marketing and extends it into the arena of inquiry marketing, a term coined by iProspect to describe how Web marketing can be used to reach "users in each of the stages of their own buying cycle, not just those ... who convert immediately after the first click-through" as quoted in Shore's paper on Contextual Ads.