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Silence is broken: Google Talk launches
Jabber away with text chat and voice calls

By Elinor Mills

Published: Wednesday 24 August 2005

Google has launched an instant-messaging program that allows text chat and computer-to-computer voice connections, a move that highlights the search giant's increasing competition with AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo!.

Late on Tuesday, Google's website provided a link to download Google Talk and stated that the software "enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free - anytime, anywhere in the world". Google's messaging program is linked to Google's web-based email program, Gmail, both of which are in a beta, or test, phase.

While Google Talk was expected, some industry observers questioned what innovation Google could add to lure loyal users and their millions of buddies away from established instant-messaging applications.

One advantage to Google Talk could be its ability to connect with users of competing services. Google Talk is based on the Jabber open-source standard, which allows consumers to connect with other messaging systems that work with Jabber, such as Adium, Apple's iChat, GAIM, Psi and Trillian Pro.

Google Talk currently works only on Windows, according to Google's website. Users need a microphone and a speaker to use the voice capabilities.

The company's moves are a further sign of its ambitions to dominate search in the face of growing competition from rivals AOL, MSN and Yahoo!. The launch comes one day after Google rolled out a beta version of its free desktop software, Desktop 2, that includes a personalised toolbar dubbed "Sidebar" for accessing email, stock quotes and news, as well as a scratch pad for taking notes and tools for searching the desktop and Microsoft Outlook in-box.

It makes sense for Google to come up with additional ways to attract users and keep them on the Google website longer, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch. "In the end, I think they have to do it because in reality they are a portal, a big gateway people use to access the web, and people seem to expect certain things from these gateways and one of them is instant messaging," he said.

But Google faces an uphill battle to win converts from the leaders in instant messaging - AOL's AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and Microsoft's MSN Messenger - whose members will no doubt be resistant to switch their buddy lists to a new IM service, Sullivan said.

Google Talk users can't use the program to talk with users of AIM, MSN Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger. An IM service is only useful if a user has other people to communicate with.

After playing with Google Talk, Sullivan gave it strong marks for sound quality but said it lacked video chat, which Yahoo! offers, and complained that it doesn't index and make searchable text chats as Google Desktop does for AOL and MSN Messenger chats.

"Unlike some past Google products, like Google Maps or Gmail, Google Talk does not seem to 'pull a Google' as I like to call it in rewriting what we expect from an application or service," Sullivan wrote. "No 'wow' feature jumps out at me."

AOL leads the pack in instant messaging, with about 41.6 million users, followed by Yahoo! Messenger, which has about 19 million users, and MSN Messenger with 14 million, according to ComScore Media Metrix.

Sullivan added: "Unless the Google tool can talk to AOL, it's going to be a pain [for users]."

Both AIM and MSN Messenger enable voice chat. And earlier this month, Yahoo! began allowing its IM users to make phone calls through the service, in what many see as a challenge to popular VoIP provider Skype.

David Card, an analyst at Jupiter Research, said he understood the business reasons behind Google wanting to offer instant messaging but questioned what the search company could add to the technology that would entice enough users to the service to make it competitive.

"I'm puzzled to imagine what is going to be the unique Google-ness of an instant-messaging product," he said. "I don't think the world needs another one."

Other bloggers were also waiting to see what Google's twist would be on instant messaging.

Google declined to comment.

Elinor Mills writes for CNET News.com

Plus: Read our leader on Google's chances in the IM space.