LAT: Google Plans to Launch Instant Messenger [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Google Plans to Launch Instant Messenger
By Chris Gaither, Times Staff Writer


SAN FRANCISCO -- Watchers of Google Inc. soon will have something new to chat about — and with.

Continuing its rapid expansion into new product categories, the Internet search giant plans to launch a new instant messaging program called Google Talk as early as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the service.

The new service follows by just a few days the introduction of Google Sidebar, which pulls news stories, photographs, weather updates, stock quotes and other features onto a user's computer without opening a Web browser.

With all the new services, Google now competes with Internet portals such as Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s America Online squarely on their turf, even as those companies encroach onto Google's with updated search engines.

Google has been playing catch-up with many products, such as e-mail, a personalized home page at Google.com and online maps. The goal is to get consumers to stay longer, rather than simply searching for websites and then clicking away....


http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-google23aug23,0,2496100.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=morenews