Gmail without the Internet

This is very interesting article from CNN about Google's new gmail application for mobile phones. The new version of Gmail allows users to access their mail while the phone has no network connection. This means that if a phone is in an area with no signal or is on airplane mode the user can still read their email. The application does this by storing the email to local space on the phone's hard drive. It does this every time the user is online. However, this means that when a user is offline they cannot get new mail. Instead they can only read their already stored mail.

This application seems useful, especially for people who travel a lot and might be in and out of cell range. However, I do have some concerns about the memory issues. Since the Gmail is storing the mail on the phone itself I wonder how much memory that is taking up? With the iPhones it will probably not be as big of an issue because they have either 8gb or 16gb of space. But what about a blackberry or some other kind of smart phone that does not have as much built in memory?

Additionally, aside from reading the email the program obviously does not let you send or move any emails so I wonder how useful it will be and if users will get annoyed? Also, does the program delete the old storage file and replace it every time it syncs to conserve room? If that could be a major issue.

I do think it is a good idea for web based email companies to move to a platform that allows users to access mail without being connected, however I think that there are concerns for the amount of memory that it takes up.