Actually that's not the case at all. Google Apps users use the "regular" Gmail as their daily email client day in and day out, and there are over 6 million of those users who pay for the right to use Gmail as their client. They're not casual users who receive 5 or 6 emails per day that are mostly promotional, they receive upwards of a hundred emails over the course of a day in running their businesses. If you look at the most popular email client in the world, Microsoft Outlook, it has tons of advanced features to satisfy power users. For Google designers to err on the side of casual users over advanced users was an error and I'm glad they were called out on it by their own staff.
Is that really not the case? Do you have inside information, do you work on gmail?
You speak with much certainty, like you work on the product. If so, I apologize. If not, then please defend your statements with supporting evidence. You present strong opinions but no reasons why we should believe what you say.
Maybe anecdotal, but I think many who use google apps for domains use a native email client -- mail.app, outlook, maybe even thunderbird. Certainly very few on iOS use the gmail ui, apps or not. Certainly I do, and most people I work with.
