For quite a while, many have speculated about Google getting into the instant messaging business. The New York Times ran an article focusing on Google’s new stock offering and mentioned deep into the story, Google’s launch of a “communications platform” on Wednesday.
A hat tip goes out to PaidContent in this one. There’s a lot of other good information in the article but this chat issue seems to be the most prolific in many ways. Many felt Google should do it because AOL, Yahoo and MSN all have instant messaging services and they all do quite well with them. IMs are major revenue engines because users spend a lot of time on them.
A year ago, Internet News speculated on an instant messaging service from Google based on the open source Jabber and this platform will also probably integrate Gmail as well. While Google rarely says very little about their affairs in any form, a line from the NY Times story said, “Google executives say they plan to unveil on Wednesday a “communications tool” that is potentially a clear step beyond the company’s search-related business focus.”
The speculation has just continued as more numbers come out showing Google gets more searches but people spend tons more time on AOL and Yahoo and IM is one of the main reason for that.
Even IM is a dominant point of discussion, Google’s got a lot of pots cooking too. They announced they’re going to unload over 1.4 million share of stock, they bought Android, they’ve given money to MIT researchers for a $100 wireless laptops to help provide Internet access to the poorest regions of the world.
Google’s looking at a lot of other things too so who knows exactly where all this might lead. In any event, Wednesday will be the day folks start downloading their GIM.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
