Google offering IM service with free phone calls

In another indication that its ambitions extend far beyond Internet searches, Google Inc. is to announce Wednesday a new service that lets users communicate with both voice and text messaging.

The Mountain View, Calif. company plans to integrate its proprietary Gmail with the new offerings and open the e-mail service to the general public for the first time. In a twist that could foreshadow even more changes in telecommunications, Google will require new Gmail users to supply their mobile phone numbers in order to join.

Google's director of product management, Georges(cq) Harik, said that could eventually lead to new links between users' cell phones, e-mail and instant messaging services.

In the future, users could check their home or office e-mail accounts by using the text messaging features of their cell phones, for instance, or send instant messages to phones from their desktop computers.

Google started its Gmail service last April, but limited it to people who were invited by the company or other Gmail users. Even so, Harik said, the service has attracted "millions" of users.

The new instant messaging will allow phone-like service through PC's using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Called Google Talk, it will put the high-flying company into competition with everybody from traditional phone and cable companies to other IM service providers such as America Online, Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and a growing host of others.

Those companies also offer — or plan to — their own versions of integrated voice, IM and e-mail service too. As with Google, the services are free to users.

Meanwhile, telephone, cable companies and third-party operators like Vonage America Inc. also are pushing VoIP and related Internet communications. Unlike VoIP services offered by those companies that work with traditional telephones, Google's works only with computers equipped with microphones and speakers.

"Everybody is converging into the same space," said Jonathan Askin, general counsel for Pulver.com, a pioneer in the VoIP industry. "We think it's great Google is finally entering this area ... because more competition is always wonderful."

Competing with the established players won't be easy. Nearly 42 million people already use AOL's instant messaging program, and 19 million use Yahoo's Messenger system, according to figures from technology research firm ComScore Media Metrix.

But Google has surprised many people before, with everything from its super-high stock price — Tuesday it closed at $279.58 a share, up $5.57 — to its technology-leading search engine.

Harik said Google Talk is different than other services because it automatically integrates e-mail with IM, meaning users don't have to type in contact lists and other information from one program to the other.

Google Talk also will be compatible with similar services offered by other companies.

Initially, Google Talk users will be able to communicate with users of similar services operated by Atlanta-based Earthlink Inc. and VoIP service provider SIPphone.com, Harik said. Users of the services can make transcontinental calls to each other for free, for instance, or easily send instant messages to each other.

Harik said Google also is in discussions with AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo and others to make their services compatible — a tough proposition because of competitive reasons, but something that is considered sort of a "Holy Grail" for IM users.

"Our intent is to make the IM network work more like phone networks or e-mail networks today," where people can communicate with each other regardless what service they use, Harik said. "We think that will make (IM services) much more important and more valuable than they are today."

Just as importantly, by now offering instant messaging and VoIP service, Google joins a growing number of players racing to the forefront of what's expected to be a new frontier of personal communications.

"Nobody has got all three components (voice, instant messaging and e-mail) that work seamlessly together yet," said independent technology industry analyst Rob Enderle.

The company that does make the services work well together, he said, could have the upper hand in the future.

"When you integrate these things you really get an amazing experience," Enderle said. "This is the next generation of communications."

And the new services may be just the start.

Google recently announced it plans to raise $4 billion in capital through a second stock offering. Analysts and others widely expect that Google will use the new money to expand even further into the communications business, possibly offering new broadband Internet services or even video services — potentially anything from video conferencing services to television programming.

Harik said Google currently has no immediate to integrate video services with its other offerings.

"But it's certainly a good idea," he said.

Bob Keefe covers technology for Cox Newspapers.