If you have not heard already, Google lost its fight in the UK over the GMAIL name, and so new signups from now on will be getting @googlemail.com addresses.

As for those in the UK that already have gmail.com addresses, it is not certain if eventually they will have to transition over, or if they will get to keep their much shorter and easier to remember @gmail.com addresses.

What if I’m a UK user who already has a Gmail address? Will I also need to change that address?
No, this change doesn’t affect existing Gmail addresses. For now, our plan is only to issue @googlemail.com addresses to new users. Trust that we will do the best we can to offer all our users a reliable and consistent email experience.