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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
March 20, 2007
Google Talk Gadget Seeks to Capture U.S. IM Market
By Rahul Prabhakar TMCnet Contributing Editor
Google (News - Alert) Talk is a fast, intuitive, and fun instant-messaging (IM) service. Powered with Google’s innovative technologies, it helps people communicate effectively and efficiently. Google originally launched Google Talk as a downloadable PC application, but to expand the reach of the product, the company recently decided to release a new gadget that lets user add Google Talk to their web pages.
With the growing popularity of blogs, wikis, and web as a whole, this gadget aids users in exchanging text messages with their contacts through Google Talk, right from their web pages. Unlike Google Talk, the gadget does not require to be downloaded. You can customize the display settings, generate a code for the gadget, and include it in the source code of your web page. The gadget can also be added to other web pages such as Google’s Personalized Home Page or a customized Web portal that you can enhance with Google and third-party online services.
The gadget works well with Adobe’s Flash Player Version 8 or above. It displays a Flash-based user interface on your web page and loads automatically the moment you logon to your web page.
According to Greg Sterling, industry analyst from Sterling Market Intelligence, “This is definitely a smart move on Google’s part to promote and increase Talk’s exposure.”
According to Greg Sterling, industry analyst from Sterling Market Intelligence, “This is definitely a smart move on Google’s part to promote and increase Talk’s exposure.”
Google Talk was launched in August 2005, yet it was not as popular as other established IM services such as AOL (News - Alert), Microsoft, and Yahoo.
Sterling believes, “It’s a tough market to crack because it is inconvenient for people to switch from their preferred IM provider.”
“This inconvenience is particularly due to the fact that the IM networks from AOL, Microsoft (News - Alert), and Yahoo are built on proprietary protocols, and interoperability is neither widespread nor simple to achieve,” he continued.
Interoperability between IM networks continues to remain a big issue for most service providers. Microsoft and Yahoo were able to accord a basic level of interoperability between their IM networks last year after months of talk and hard work. AOL, too, has tied-up with other services for achieving interoperability.
Interoperability between IM networks continues to remain a big issue for most service providers. Microsoft and Yahoo were able to accord a basic level of interoperability between their IM networks last year after months of talk and hard work. AOL, too, has tied-up with other services for achieving interoperability.
Since its launch in December 2005, Google and AOL made an announcement to make their IM services interoperable. To date they have not delivered on that promise.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, AOL’s AIM earns the top spot in consumer IM market in the US accounting for 44.5 million unique users. The second spot belongs to Microsoft whose Windows Live Messenger accounts for 26 million, followed by Yahoo Messenger with 22.6 million users. This observation was made in February this year.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, AOL’s AIM earns the top spot in consumer IM market in the US accounting for 44.5 million unique users. The second spot belongs to Microsoft whose Windows Live Messenger accounts for 26 million, followed by Yahoo Messenger with 22.6 million users. This observation was made in February this year.
The figures from the market researcher also indicate that Google Talk did not have a substantial share in the consumer IM market. With a paltry 1.7 million users, the new gadget will certainly try to improve on these figures. However, Google declined to offer any details about specific Talk usage numbers, quoting that it has “millions of active users.”
Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk’s product manager, said in a statement, “In addition to text messaging, people can use the gadget interface to initiate a voice chat, but the Talk application is needed to host the conversation.”
Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk’s product manager, said in a statement, “In addition to text messaging, people can use the gadget interface to initiate a voice chat, but the Talk application is needed to host the conversation.”
“However, Google hopes to extend this functionality so that voice chats can happen within the gadget interface,” he added.
Talking about the additional features included in the gadget, Jazayeri said, “The gadget include additional features that are missing from the PC application, such as the ability to organize multiple text chats with tabs and share and watch photos and videos within the Talk interface from Google’s Picasa photo manager and YouTube (News - Alert) video site.” He failed to comment when asked if the PC application will have these features in the coming times.
It now remains to be seen whether this gadget will reverse the fortunes for Google in their quest to capture the consumer IM market in the US.
Rahul Prabhakar is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Talking about the additional features included in the gadget, Jazayeri said, “The gadget include additional features that are missing from the PC application, such as the ability to organize multiple text chats with tabs and share and watch photos and videos within the Talk interface from Google’s Picasa photo manager and YouTube (News - Alert) video site.” He failed to comment when asked if the PC application will have these features in the coming times.
It now remains to be seen whether this gadget will reverse the fortunes for Google in their quest to capture the consumer IM market in the US.
Rahul Prabhakar is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
