OK, I may not have been totally on target when I said how Google would bring Gmail forward…but I was close. Google has decided to randomly offer Gmail accounts via Google. I think that this stays true to the idea of keeping the ‘hype alive’ as it makes sure that people will use Google in order to gain an account.

Until Monday, to get a Gmail account, a user had to be invited to the service by either Google or an existing Gmail user.

“We just started (on Monday) offering Gmail accounts to a randomly selected sample on Google,” said Marissa Mayer, Google’s director of consumer Web products. “It’s a natural step to leverage the wider user base of Google.com to grow Gmail.”

About one in 20 Google.com visitors are getting the Gmail account offer, Mayer said. “Based on the success of this one-in-20 scope, we’ll be ramping it up over the next couple of weeks,” she said.

Google’s move to expand the scope of Gmail users is a noteworthy step, considering that Gmail registrations have been so restricted, an analyst said.

“Gmail has been like a club to which you need to get invited, so this is a step in opening it up to the public,” said Su Li Walker, a Yankee Group analyst.