Google kills BlackBerry Gmail app

Google is to stop supporting the native Gmail app for BlackBerry smartphones later this month.

The company said in an "end-of life announcement" that the app will be effectively killed off on 22 November, as Google has "focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser" instead.

No-one will be able to download the app from 22 November onwards, although those who have already installed it will be able to continue to use it — just without any support from Google.

Google will however continue to support the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which is available to Google Apps customers.

The timing of the announcement is peculiar given that, just last week, Google rolled out another native Gmail app, this time for the iOS platform. That app had to be pulled within hours of its release, due to bugs.

There is also, of course, a native Gmail app for Google's own Android platform, which is an increasingly potent competitor to the waning BlackBerry platform.

ZDNet UK asked Google whether it would be killing off the Android Gmail app in favour of the browser-based alternative, but had received no reply at the time of writing.