It makes users feel like "early adopters", like they found something new before everyone else does... and theyre lucky to be part of the change. I think its an idea from google marketing.
Any decent developer would not have mass-released a product which is
really in beta status, so its gotta be an idea from the marketing department.
It is probably similar to the gmail invite thingie, to make users feel special. Everyone likes to feel priveledged, and everyone likes to chase something and get it.
The beta trick is getting a bit old though.
Flyingwizard wroteAnd as someone mentioned in the comments on that page, big enterprises and corporate users would shy away from BETA products. But I guess Google doesn't need the money anyway.
Big enterprises (and even small businesses) tend not to trust Google with their data.
