Strategic withdrawal followed by....
I'd be willing to bet that this just a simple strategic plan to get more users on Gmail. As published here on El Reg, response to Gmail has been less than stellar so this "no scanning, no ads" ploy might just get them more users. Once the magic threshold has been reached.... that policy will change.
I daresay, the old saying about "Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts" applies heavily in Google's case.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
