Android Gmail app does not render background image in HTML email
<p>HTML email. Everyone's first and last love.</p>

<p>I've built an table-based email that has a background image with text overlay as a 'hero' module. I used a background image on a div w/ inline CSS. Works great everywhere except Outlook 2010/2013, and Android Gmail native app.</p>

<p>Did android gmail app stop supporting background images? </p>

<p>Even this didn't work... bulletproof sample(backgrounds.cm) to illustrate and litmus says no go on outlook and android gmail app.</p>

<pre><code>&lt;table&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td background="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQNR9_Ru7wFZQLYHFXkeobjz0VoSFcC6-ieN7yWBa0dsnHhvZ8-IPSmpKw" bgcolor="#7bceeb" width="580" height="240" valign="top"&gt;
  &lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;
  &lt;v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:580px;height:240px;"&gt;
    &lt;v:fill type="fill" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQNR9_Ru7wFZQLYHFXkeobjz0VoSFcC6-ieN7yWBa0dsnHhvZ8-IPSmpKw" color="#7bceeb" /&gt;
    &lt;v:textbox inset="0,0,0,0"&gt;
  &lt;![endif]--&gt;
  &lt;div&gt;
      Please work, please, darn it
        &lt;/div&gt;
  &lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;
    &lt;/v:textbox&gt;
  &lt;/v:rect&gt;
  &lt;![endif]--&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
</code></pre>