The picture shows a microphone in front of a Google logo during a press announcement at Google headquarters in New York, May 21, 2012.  — AFP Photo

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013 - Google suffered disruptions on several of its cloud-based services including Google Mail for about two hours Wednesday for reasons that were not disclosed.

The apps status dashboard of the world's most popular search engine indicated “service disruptions” for Google Mail, Google Drive, Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets and Google Presentations.

It also reported a total “service outage” for its “admin control panel / API” used by administrators of Google Apps domains.

By 11:30 am (1530 GMT) however, the dashboard indicated that all services were back in full service.

There was no explanation for the outage, but Google said “less than 0.007 percent” of its Google Mail user base was affected.

“We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support,” it said.

“Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.”Cloud-based computing services - in which email, documents and other data from many different sources are filed and accessed from a single shared server via the Internet - is growing.

Last year, Google said its Gmail service has more than 425 million users, and that 500 million businesses use its various Google Apps.

Opinion

Editorial

Sustainable path?
Updated 13 Jun, 2026

Sustainable path?

The FY27 budget is the first clear signal that the government is ready to transition from stabilisation to growth.
Prioritising education
13 Jun, 2026

Prioritising education

THOUGH the improvement in the country’s literacy rate may be slight, as highlighted by the Economic Survey, it ...
Poverty’s rise
13 Jun, 2026

Poverty’s rise

AS attention turns to the government’s plans for the coming fiscal year, one set of figures deserves particular...
A difficult story
Updated 12 Jun, 2026

A difficult story

Unless productivity becomes the dominant target of economic policy, Pakistan will continue to oscillate between crises and fragile recovery.
Rough waters
12 Jun, 2026

Rough waters

AMONGST the key potential triggers for fresh conflict in South Asia is water. The Indian state is behaving in an...
Politicised football
12 Jun, 2026

Politicised football

ALMOST three-and-half years since Lionel Messi led Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory, the latest edition of...