New Gmail: integrated IM chat feature

The world's number one Internet search engine Google has just "married" two email and IM chat services into the same Web browser, hoping that this convenience will seduce customers from rivals.

Accordingly, with the new chat feature integrated, users of Gmail service will be provided with a contact list ( drawn from previous email exchanges ), as well as being notified who is online to proceed. chat.

Gmail Chat is compatible with IE 6.0 or above, and Firefox 1.0 or more . The chat history is also stored inside the mailbox, making it easy to read again later.

Automatic notification of who is online / offline is an important step for IM services for many years, but Google hopes to push the convenience to the end. You can chat with your friends right inside the open email window, no need to switch to a separate IM application today.

Today, the number of Gmail accounts displaying new features is relatively limited. But within a few weeks, this feature will land at all existing Gmail users, said Google's vice president of products.

However, in order to use this 2-in-1 feature, both "heads" must have a Gmail account, or at least are using a Google Chat-compatible service, such as EarthLink, Jabber.org, Sipphone Gizmo Project, Chikka in the Philippines, MediaRing of Singapore or Netease in China.

By further deleting the boundary between email and IM, Google hopes to gain more market share from existing email giants such as Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.

Google began offering free email services in April 2004 and launched the Google Talk chat service in August last year - when all three rival players attracted a large number of loyal users. According to analysts, email and chat services are free, but their value is great for businesses. Not only does it help tighten customers' engagement, it also creates an incentive, urging users to return to its website more.

This is extremely important for Google, a company that relies heavily on advertising revenue ( $ 1.5 billion on the total of $ 1.6 billion in total income of 2005 ).

Of the three giants, Yahoo's mail service had the largest number of customers, followed by AOL and MSN and Microsoft's Hotmail. However, Yahoo's IM chat service is only third. Google Talk's current position is very modest, ranking sixth with only 866,000 people, equal to 1/27 of Yahoo and 1/60 of AOL.

With the new feature, Google hopes its position will be significantly improved. And it must be acknowledged that although its current market share is not large, Google has helped reshape the email market, launching a free 2GB blow.

Thien Y