Google to launch Instant Messaging?

should MSN, AOL and ICQ be concerned!

[Shak]

It's all started making sense to me now.

gmail, followed by an IM system is about as hardcore as you can go to tying your users in.

gmail is going to result in people continously being logged in to the google network, I know I will be, as 1Gb of messages is gonna take some filling up :)

combine that with an IM system, and BINGO, Hotmail you have a problem.

I use MSN messenger, but NEVER use Hotmail because of the junk that arrives every day.

Gmail seems to be different, and I am quite confident in their anti-spam capabilities.

a year ago, I would have said, NO chance.

today, I say, very very possible.

would be keen to revisit this post in 12 months time...

Shak

[Nick_W]

Seems to me G are on a crusade for world domination: And, they just might do it...

Gmail + (G)IM'ing = BIG trouble for MS

Nick

[Visit Thailand]

Sounds to me like they are doing what Yahoo did a few years ago but without the clutter. Perhaps they learnt from Y's mistakes.

There must be some concerns though over how far they can go without loosing the concept of just being a unique, simple and accurate search engine.

[jk3210]

>>Seems to me G are on a crusade for world domination: And, they just might do it...<<

My money is on IAC / Barry (D)iller

[Sarvesh Nagpal]

Interesting. At least for us IM chatters :) MSN, AOL, ICQ or Yahoo will all be concerned though I doubt MSN suffering from this.. Windows is too sweet to integrate all of its product to enhance "user experience".

Keeping my excitement apart, I won't be surprised to see a convo in Google IM like:

You: Hey, how are you?
Me: Great, just trying to lookout for a widget.
Sponsored Listing: XYZ.com - Get top quality at discounted rates.

No hard intentions.. just sharing light humor! I am all for Google!

[sun818]

Google will have another tab on the main page to search IM conversations.

[moltar]

... and IM application will run from the command prompt

[brotherhood of LAN]

I don't use Google for anything but web search, and I don't want my badly spelled message convo's to be part of some mad algorithm that can predict what I was going to say anyway :)

[PatrickDeese]

I hope they do - I frankly find it fairly irritating to login in to gmail to check to see if I have mail - I use both Y! and MS messenger (well, actually I use Trillian to access those services - but that's beside the point) - and the IM service detects and notifies me whenever I get mail.

All I can say is at least they need to add a GMail button to the gTB - just like the "blogger" one - that autonotifies when you get mail.

[Shak]

All I can say is at least they need to add a GMail button to the gTB - just like the "blogger" one - that autonotifies when you get mail.

cool idea ...

Shak

[fidibidabah]

Does Gmail have sub-address / presorting options? This is the only thing I have really found to get rid of spam 100%. Incamail has this option, and it's really wonderful.

It's very simple, if you're giving your email address to a forum or sweepstakes or anything that isn't a personal contact, you give it as [e-mail] - you can even do a new one for each site, ie: [e-mail] - [e-mail] - etc, then things come in presorted and it's easy to see whose selling your name where :)

Just a thought I had for some reason all of a sudden.

But to stay on topic, Gmail + IM = domination, absolutely. I'm boycott everything else if this indeed came true :D

Search, Toolbar (w/popupstopper), Email, IM, Product Search (Froogle)... yeah, world domination seems to be imminant.

D: Maybe Google is the anticrist!

[cowweb]

I doubt Google would launch IM, it doesn't fit in with the aim to organize the world's information. After all, when was IM convos information, unless you wanted to search IMs, which most people never do anyway.

They'd really have to change their aim to something like to provide a gateway to the world's information, and theres not much money to be made - can you imagine AdSense on your IMs? No, neither can I, and I can't see how it'd work

[digitalv]

Do we really need another instant messenger? I mean really, how many of them are there now anyway? I started with ICQ and switched to AIM when it came out because I liked it better (ICQ was going through some security trouble at the time and it was a great time to switch)... ever since then I've stayed with AIM.

Never installed Yahoo, newer versions of ICQ, and I even figured out how to get that friggin MSN messenger off of my computer. If you don't have AIM, you don't get to instant message me - sorry. I won't be signing up for another one.

And yeah I know stuff like Trillian is out there now where you can connect to all of the major IM servers, but man who cares? I've got my AIM and I'm sticking with it.

[atadams]

How does Google make money on IM? Adwords?

[ThomasB]

They don't have to make money right now. But AdWords would be a possible solution, though I guess GIM would be sth more advanced that we see now. A connection between IM, Skype and email. That would pretty handy and almost everybody would have a need for it.

[Brainiac Ghost]

in awnswer to fidibidabah you can do [e-mail] then specify a filter so that [e-mail] goes to folder anotherword and skips the inbox :)

[trillianjedi]

I also doubt that google would enter the IM market - it seems very un-google like.

I could see them launching a "passport" style system however, perhaps using gmail login identities, and making it work in a way that MS simply never achieved.

TJ

[stevenmusumeche]

seems very un-google like

But so did AdWords a few years ago, and so did Gmail a few months ago.