Hey! That’s cool. I especially like the line that says: “Though this is the first, it won’t be the last native Mac application that Google delivers. So please, Mac users, stay tuned!”

Thanks, Google!

The app is a tiny menu bar item that will replace GmailStatus as my Gmail notifier. I like the fact that the option to show the number of unread messages is not a little haywire like it was in GmailStatus.

The only thing that is missing is Growl Support, but maybe some enterprising Machead will come up with a script for that. I might make an update to this post after I’ve used it for a few days, but for now, this seems excellent!

Update: It seems that I rely on Growl way more than I thought I did. It must be the transparency with which Growl integrates into the system, but I love knowing when I get new mail via that lovely bubble notification. Also, earlier when I said that the unread count isn’t all funky like Gmail Status, it wasn’t exactly true. The notifier puts the number in parentheses next to the icon, which in turn changes the width of the menu bar icons according to how many unread messages I have. Not cool; I’d much rather have an overlay. I’ll keep trying Google’s app and see what, if any, updates come out.

Update 2: Gmail Notifier supports plugins! A plugin called Gmail+Growl adds Growl support, and I love it! I took the images from Gmail Status (because they are so much cooler) and used them in Gmail Notifier. Now I have an official Gmail notifier with Growl support that looks good doing it.