Is it just me or does anyone else think that Google is possibly thinking of dropping Gmail service as well? Think Google Reader.
Is Google dropping Drive as well?
/sarcasm
I do suspect though that gmail's pop3/imap will go the way of the xmpp.
But they want to make money off me, not lose me as a potential revenue.
So my bet is this is in preparation for showing 'sponsored' emails in your imap/pop3. "If you don't like it, just download all your emails and use another service" will be a talking point to suppress outrage, knowing that few people will actually go to the trouble of changing their email address. Fanboys will lap it up.