Google is first to merge e-mail, IM!

[Dashken]

Google is breaking down the barrier between e-mail and instant messaging, combining its Gmail and Google Talk services to create a central messaging hub, an industry first.

People who use the Gmail service will be able to send and receive instant messages directly from their e-mail mailboxes, without having to start a separate application or open a separate browser window. The Mountain View company is rolling out the new feature in stages, starting Monday evening.

The service takes advantage of Google's relatively new online instant messaging service, Google Talk.

Both Google Talk and Gmail lag their competitors in market share, and analysts said the pairing is probably intended to drive people to each product.

Gmail, for example, was used by 4.5 percent of active Internet users during December, compared with 33 percent for leader Yahoo Mail, Nielsen//NetRatings reported. Google Talk reached less than 1 percent of Internet users, compared with AOL's Instant Messenger, which reached 33 percent. There has been speculation, however, that Google and AOL, who are business partners, will eventually allow their services to work together.

``It's not surprising they would do this,'' said Sara Radicati, president and CEO of the Radicati Group, which studies the e-mail and instant messaging industries. ``Gmail has been a late-comer, and adding IM capabilities is very sexy.''

Allen Weiner, research director for Gartner Group, said linking the two services will expose millions of people to Google Talk, and they could turn into regular users.

``It could give their numbers a major boost, and numbers are important,'' Weiner said.

But others questioned whether the Gmail pairing would do much for Google Talk's popularity, since Gmail is used by a relatively select group of technologically savvy people.

``How do you get more people who aren't using Gmail to use Google Talk?'' Forrester Research analyst Brian Haven said.

As is now customary at Google, the company said it developed the feature as a way to solve a problem.

``This weird separation of e-mail and IM didn't seem good to us,'' said Keith Coleman, product manager for Gmail. ``It's definitely a problem we all have here.''

All Gmail users will have IM accounts tied to their Google accounts. Each person's IM contacts list will sit in the left-hand column of their Gmail inbox. When a mouse cursor hovers over a contact person's name, the user can start a chat session, which will appear in a chat window at the bottom of the inbox.

Google will archive the chat sessions and make them searchable, though that feature can be disabled for privacy reasons. Voice chat, a Google Talk feature, will not be available through Gmail.

Google appears to be going against the grain of the Internet industry, which is linking communication services to instant messaging applications. Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft have all integrated voice chat into their IM services. And both Yahoo and AOL allow IM users to link to their e-mail services through instant messaging.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/13810436.htm