I still use it all the time to convert people to gmail. In the past month alone I have converted 10+ people, mostly non-tech (ie. parents, brothers, godparents etc.)
Google are very analytics driven in product design, if it wasn't being used and wasn't serving a purpose, I believe they would have removed it already or freed up that real estate for something else
If Google was that analytics driven they would get rid of it for people that don't use it. I haven't used it since gmail was in beta, I definitely haven't used it for at least 5+ years. And yet it's still there.
I agree, but I wonder if they keep it because it still gets lot of action for some reason (less computer savvy users see it and think 'great, I'll invite Bob!'?).
If you "Invite" people they don't need to do the captcha or verification, Gmail "trusts" them to be human because they got referred by an existing user.
