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Gmail edges Hotmail as world's top e-mail service

No more disputes over which service is No. 1. ComScore says Google's Gmail has taken the global lead over Microsoft's Hotmail.

Greg Sandoval Former Staff writer
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York, Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at @sandoCNET.
Greg Sandoval

Google's Gmail is top dog in e-mail, according to ComScore, which tracks Web site traffic.

In data for October released by ComScore, Gmail saw 287.9 million unique worldwide visitors during the period, edging out Microsoft's Hotmail, which finished with 286.2 million unique visitors. The findings were first reported by GigaOm.

In third place was Yahoo, the once mighty e-mail power, with 281.7 million, according to ComScore. Yahoo, however, holds a comfortable lead in the United States with 76.7 million, compared to second-place Gmail with 69.1 million and third-place Hotmail with 35.5 million.

The data appears to end any dispute about Gmail's dominance in the global market. Last summer, Google claimed to be the largest based on its own internal numbers but the company's assertion wasn't backed up by third-party data.