it needs Gmail verification and phone number verification that's it, easy as that.
- Verifying your email or phone number is not the accepted way of creating your own wallets. Your data should be anonymous.You don't really need those details to create a bitcoin wallet anyway.
- People just want to go the easy way thereby sacrificing their personal details. I agree Bitcoin Core is meant for tech savvy people but an alternative like Electrum should be used as much as possible.
- I'm not saying blockchain.info isn't safe but if you deal with a good volume of bitcoins on a daily basis, it's a wise choice to store them in a more secure environment like Electrum or Bitcoin-Core.