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Google's AMP coming to Gmail to make email more 'interactive'

The technology is designed to let you do more things without leaving your email, like booking a hotel or filling out a form.

Richard Nieva Former senior reporter
Richard Nieva was a senior reporter for CNET News, focusing on Google and Yahoo. He previously worked for PandoDaily and Fortune Magazine, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, on CNNMoney.com and on CJR.org.
Richard Nieva
Pinterest is one early partner Google is working with on AMP for Gmail.

Pinterest is one early partner Google is working with on AMP for Gmail. 

Google

Google wants you to be able to do more things directly from your email, like answering a survey or scheduling an appointment.

To make that happen, the search giant said Tuesday, it's bringing its Accelerate Mobile Pages, or AMP, technology to Gmail, which has more than a billion users.

"This new spec will be a powerful way for developers to create more engaging, interactive and actionable email experiences," Aakash Sahney, a Gmail product manager, wrote in a blog post.

The idea is to let people complete more tasks without leaving email, through widgets built by developers. For example, Google says it's working with Pinterest and Booking.com to build experiences for its preview version of AMP for Gmail.

Google debuted AMP in 2015 as a way to make web pages. usually from publishers and other brands, load faster when you looked at them on your phone. It was a competitor of Facebook's Instant Articles, which let news stories load faster on Facebook.

Since then, Google has broadened the use of its AMP technology. Also on Tuesday, Google introduced AMP Stories, a format similar to Snapchat and Instagram stories, which will let publishers create video and text content.