Gmail gets IMAP!

This is a really cool feature I've been waiting for - though it looks like I may have to wait just a day or so more for it... Gmail has quietly started rolling out IMAP access to your email. Why is this such a cool thing? Well, as the downloadsquad explains:

Why is IMAP integration a good thing for Gmail? POP was a stepping stone, but IMAP pushes Gmails benefits over the top. With IMAP, users can now access their email via a desktop application like Outlook or Thunderbird, read emails, make changes, delete, and have the changes made across platforms. So if you now log into your Gmail account, the message which you read in Thunderbird, will now be marked accordingly. No more wasting time trying to sift through emails that had already been answered.

Oh yeah. I'm psyched.

If IMAP settings don't show up yet in your 'Forwarding and POP IMAP' tab log back out and check again. If still no joy just give it time; Google will be rolling it out to everyone over the next few days.

EDIT: It's up on their official blog now too...

EDIT #2: Turn Thunderbird into the Ultimate Gmail IMAP Client. Sweet. But I'm still waiting for my IMAP... ahem... (tap tap tap)