Google is doubling the size of mailboxes for its email subscribers to try and regain the initiative against Yahoo - which announced last week it is matching Google's 1GB storage.

Google's email subscribers will get 2GB free storage and the firm will continue to add more capacity over time. But the service is currently in testing mode rather than a fully-available service.

The search giant said the increase was to keep pace with customers but that only a small fraction were up against their storage limits. It will continue to add more storage to keep pace with customers' demands.

Gmail changed free email provision when it was launched this time last year - many people thought it was an April Fool joke. The amount of storage offered was one surprise and the use of content-related advertising was also briefly controversial.®

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