p2p news / p2pnet: Do you wait breathlessly to see what jewel Google or Yahoo and Microsoft – and don’t forget AOL – will offer next in their dog-eat-dog, wars of one-up-manship? That’s the way it comes across in the mainstream media as one or the other or, as often happens, all four, "launches" a new bell and/or whistle.

Google, "planned to add chat to its Gmail home page Monday night" thus, "ratcheting up competition with rivals Yahoo and Microsoft, which do not offer such a convenience," says the San Francisco Chronicle.

Hopefully, this’ll, "lure more users," says the story.

Gmail Chat complements Google Talk, "a more sophisticated program the company introduced six months ago that combines instant messaging (IM) with free Web-based calling features," says Reuters. "By joining IM to e-mail, Chat can reach a wider base of users."

"This is training wheels for Google Talk," it has analyst Greg Sterling saying. "It is a way to introduce a broader population to instant messaging and give them exposure to Google Talk."

The campaign to get people to pick up the ‘new’ service will run in the coming weeks, although some lucky punters had invitations as early as Tuesday, says the story.

But, "Chatting is only possible with other people who have Gmail accounts or a chat service that is compatible with Google’s preexisting instant messaging service, Google Talk," adds the San Francisco Chronicle, adding:

"Gmail is available only to users who receive an invitation or use their cell phones to sign up. For now, the chat feature on Gmail will work only in Internet Explorer browsers versions 6.0 and above and in Firefox browsers 1.0 and above."

Also See:
San Francisco Chronicle – Google puts IM, e-mail together , February 7, 2006
Reuters – Google puts instant message service inside e-mail, February 7, 2006

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 at 7:15 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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