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February 6, 2006

Gmail Chat to Launch Tomorrow

Michael Arrington

69 comments »

The NYT is reporting that Google will be blending Google Talk directly into the Gmail website tomorrow for a limited number of users. The new product will be called “Gmail Chat”.

The new program, called Gmail Chat, will let Gmail users exchange text messages with others without having to log onto a separate chat program, making instant messaging simpler and more integrated with the e-mail program.

From anywhere in Gmail, the user can see who is available to chat. The program will also allow users to store instant-message conversations.

As of 10:15 PM PST there is no mention of this on the Google blog.

Of course, this is the risk that everyone talked about with Gtalkr and Meebo - the big guys can turn off the API, or just do it themselves.

Thanks for sending me this link Steve.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Monday, February 6th, 2006 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Steve

    February 6th, 2006 at 10:23 pm

    I noticed this when I logged into gmail about an hour ago, pretty cool.

  2. Noam Lovinsky

    February 6th, 2006 at 10:26 pm

    Seems like chat history is already available for most people and in-place chat will come shortly as you’ve said.

    Here’s a link:
    http://mail.google.com/mail/help/chat.html

  3. chris

    February 6th, 2006 at 10:29 pm

    I can already see a “Chats” link on the side of my gmail page between “Starred” and “Sent Mail”, but when I follow the link it just gives me a link to Settings and this page: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/chat.html

    No actual chatting yet. Guess I’ll have to wait the hours till tomorrow.

  4. Michael Arrington

    February 6th, 2006 at 10:30 pm

    Steve, if you have this, please email me a screen shot. It is not showing up in my account.

  5. Jaime

    February 6th, 2006 at 10:58 pm

    Hey I got something that says chats too!!
    Chat history that is!!

  6. John Resig

    February 6th, 2006 at 11:08 pm

    I can confirm the chat history with a screenshot:
    http://ejohn.org/blog/gmail-chat/
    I tested it and it works like a charm!

  7. Chunni Babu

    February 6th, 2006 at 11:20 pm

    A big blow to meebo I guess. I wonder how many gmailers would like to automatically be available for chat. This can be a nuicance if you are a frequent mailer and don’t particularly want to start chatting.

  8. Jie Kang

    February 6th, 2006 at 11:23 pm

    I see a Chat link in my Gmail too, but no chat box as shown on the Gtalk help page.

  9. choonkeat

    February 7th, 2006 at 12:11 am

    You’ll probably have to enable it at Settings > Chat

    Very useful for searching.

  10. MV

    February 7th, 2006 at 12:25 am

    I can also see the “chats” at the side bar but the functionality is not yet implemented.

  11. RBA

    February 7th, 2006 at 12:34 am

    Sorry for the offtopic, but is it just me or this Google Talk logo starts to feel a lot more like eBay’s and not so much like Google’s?

    As for “a blow to Meebo” I believe we live in a time where for every problem that an Internet service tries to solve - a problem that in fact isn’t so much of a problem and therefore it doesn’t really “solve” much - there are at least a dozen of other services doing pretty much the same. So if the web 2.0 reduced time-to-market to almost nothing, it naturally increased competition as something you’re born with.

  12. .derek

    February 7th, 2006 at 2:23 am

    pretty snazzy feature. now if google talk would only support aim, msn, yahoo everyone could have the option to archive their chats in gmail without the need for a standalone chat client. i used to use trillian with the gmail logging plugin. this new feature may very well replace that.

  13. Zach

    February 7th, 2006 at 4:05 am

    Webosphere (another web2.0 blog) has a screenshot of the process here: http://webosphere.wordpress.co.....ith-gmail/. A link to a Google announcement was also posted on Digg, and seems to have all of the details: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/chat.html . Seems to be interesting, but I don’t think this will be a Meebo killer. A) Meebo supports Yahoo, Google, AIM, and MSN. B) Meebo also has a clearer interface for chats, with the ability to move multiple windows over a normal background, while GMail’s is over the e-mail screen (from what I’ve seen so far).

  14. CarLBanks

    February 7th, 2006 at 6:22 am

    This is an awesome way to introduce IM to the web. Google is breaking the barriers of IM and Email.

  15. Cadence

    February 7th, 2006 at 7:21 am

    I wouldnt say a big blow to meebo… but its certainly something handy. I wish i knew more people using Gmail right now.

  16. Aditya Mukherjee

    February 7th, 2006 at 8:06 am

    The only thing that it will kill (or try to at the least) is the monopoly of biggies like MSN and Yahoo! in the messenger market.

    Everyone knows that Google, just works, and this is the most intuitive thing they could have added, which they thankfully have!
    Go google!

  17. Laurent Van Winckel

    February 7th, 2006 at 8:13 am

    Finally some great news! The new logo looks quite good, looks more modern =)
    And chatting while checking your email is just plain awesome. Very useful when you are on a public computer. I’m really looking forward to more great features like this one!

  18. Alex

    February 7th, 2006 at 8:31 am

    Gmail chart history already proved very useful today. Someone had told me a phone number … I, of course, forgot … but was able to find it in history ;) At home all my IM converstations are archived, but having everything online is always so much more useful.

    Keeping my fingers crossed ;)

  19. John Koontz

    February 7th, 2006 at 8:59 am

    I hope there will be an “away” option even when reading email. Sometimes I don’t want to be bothered by chat.

  20. Veronica

    February 7th, 2006 at 9:46 am

    Guys, if I’m not wrong Gmail’s implementing this to a small group of users first. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you’d have received an email saying that you can now chat in gmail. Also, there’ll be a Quick Contacts box above your labels. Users who’re not able to use the chat yet will not see the Quick Contacts box yet.

    If you’ve received the email and still do no see the Quick Contacts box, make sure you’re not using a secured connection (https://). It has to be http:// for now. Hope that helps!

  21. Josh

    February 7th, 2006 at 9:51 am

    I mentioned it on my blog, but I’ll restate it here: I think it’s a neat idea, but I’m not sure how well it’s going to bode with people who value productivity.

    I can see it being rather easy to log in to check your email, get a chat message from a friend, and then waste half an hour chatting away.

    When all you were going to do was spend 2 minutes checking your email.

    Still a nifty idea, though.

  22. Veronica

    February 7th, 2006 at 9:54 am

    And to reply John, there IS an away function. You can set yourself to busy with Gmail chat, or have some other custom messages.

    I know because one of my gmail accounts has the chat function enabled. Only one account enabled, out of a couple.

  23. Matt

    February 7th, 2006 at 11:18 am

    Thanks for the tip up…looking forward to it!

  24. Evan Dudla

    February 7th, 2006 at 12:19 pm

    I think this is a very cool idea, but all of my friends use AOL Instant Messenger, not Google Talk. It’s just so hard to switch to something you’re so used to having. I do not have a lot of email contacts, well, that use G-Mail. I think if Google Talk supported other protocols, it would be an amazing hit!

  25. Stacy

    February 7th, 2006 at 1:05 pm

    This is a cool feature (I see it in my account now too), but I do hope that Gmail will enable AIM, Yahoo and MSN messenger access soon.
    I don’t really think it is necessarily a blow to Meebo, because Meebo supports all of the messengers (and when I use it, it’s usually for a totally different reason than I would use Google.
    And in any case, no one I know uses Google Talk yet, at least not consistently. I see more use of Skype.

  26. Screwtape

    February 7th, 2006 at 1:07 pm

    I wonder if Google has pondered the thought that this may get Gmail banned in a lot of workplaces. My company blocks all forms of chat but allows us access to our webmail accounts. This could force folks that normally like gmail to switch to another webmail account in order to access their mail from work.

  27. Steve Shaffer

    February 7th, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    This isn’t a blow to Meebo, the linkage of Yahoo and Gtalk may be when it happens. Meebo Gtalkr and others in this areana will still have a lot to offer: They can cross corporate boundaries without a cadre of lawyers. THey’re still free to think outside existing services and canibalize at will.
    As for shutting off the API wouldn’t that be detrimental to the innovations that Google and Yahoo need to survive in the larger war they are waging?

  28. Vinay P.

    February 8th, 2006 at 12:27 pm

    Actually, since Google has enabled federation with other Jabber servers, you can already use Gmail Chat to talk to your friends on MSN, AIM, Yahoo, etc. See this link for instructions:

    http://www.bigblueball.com/for.....yahoo.html

  29. vcat

    February 10th, 2006 at 4:55 am

    Gmail is the best for chat..

  30. Jon3782001

    February 13th, 2006 at 7:16 am

    Do you reckon that it will be standard on all accounts?

  31. Jessica

    February 24th, 2006 at 11:34 am

    Screwtape’s comment is corect about not being able to check my gmail account from the office. Has gmail conmsidered making the chat function merely an option? Is there a way I can log in to gmail at work now?

  32. Stan

    February 25th, 2006 at 6:36 am

    Why don’t I have gmail chat yet when my friends do?

  33. sam

    February 28th, 2006 at 11:06 am

    I also still don’t have chat! Also no delete button … what’s up with that? My wife’s account has all that on the same computer, so it’s not the browser/settings. Anyone?

  34. juan carlos

    March 4th, 2006 at 9:15 pm

    como se va hacer para poder obtener el chat en gmail

  35. d80s0q

    March 8th, 2006 at 3:47 am

    I don’t have the chat, or delete button and my inbox still says copyright 2005. Odd - and very irritating. People I invited to Gmail have these functions….

  36. noccer

    March 14th, 2006 at 5:30 pm

    waaaaaah!!! ive been an avid fan of gmail for 24 months now. got my account 19 months ago from a friends invite. of all his friends he invited, mine was the only account not to ever get a single invite. not only that,but i havent got gmailchat actve. very VERY frustrating!

  37. SOURAV

    March 27th, 2006 at 2:00 am

    Why don’t i getting the oppurtunity to chat with my gmail account?
    When will it be availaible?
    Tell me now!

  38. zzz

    March 29th, 2006 at 2:08 pm

    i would like to have gmail chat very much!
    but i do not know how to get it

  39. zzz

    March 29th, 2006 at 2:10 pm

    pa kako da postavim taj gmail chat? stvarno nemam pojma, pomozite!

  40. Me

    May 4th, 2006 at 10:55 am

    Everyone who want to have Gmail chat
    Set your language in English US…
    Its so simple…

  41. sansar

    May 16th, 2006 at 12:54 am

    Please, gmail chat dcwnload in my account

  42. joely_13

    May 19th, 2006 at 10:08 pm

    I want to have Gmail chat with new friends …if ur alone and so sad pls add me in your’s acc. i’m alreay talk to everybody..waiting for someone**

  43. FREAK

    June 29th, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    That’s awesome. If anyone wants to, email me at… gothchickster@gmail.com or at… blood_suckin_goth_freak@yahoo.com

  44. FREAK

    June 29th, 2006 at 5:19 pm

    I’ll be waiting.
    lol

  45. henry

    July 18th, 2006 at 4:48 am

    failing to chart with gmail what can i do

  46. tiffany

    August 13th, 2006 at 4:50 pm

    there is nothing in this world better then panwood east road cracker jaker turkey stick jerkey beef outback steak house poop on chicken turkeys that r hott and like beef lugnuts!~!~!~!$%^*&()(*&^%$#@!~_+)(*&^%$#@!~

  47. mk

    September 5th, 2006 at 2:22 am

    it i s agood chating sites

  48. Babar Bilal Sadiq

    September 22nd, 2006 at 1:00 am

    Nice but booring need more friends in it.

  49. Anirban

    December 11th, 2006 at 7:40 pm

    Hi,
    In my office the chat option is disabled in gmail.
    Can anybody give me any way thro which i can easily access the gmail chat…….
    It will be of great help……

  50. Tom Jackson

    December 29th, 2006 at 8:44 am

    Google chat is good but not as prominent as Windows Instant Live Messenger. I think Live Messenger will remain the chat facility of choice just because it is so widespread.

  51. Lisa

    January 3rd, 2007 at 2:39 am

    Hi,
    In my home computer the chat option is disabled in gmail.
    Can anybody give me any way thro which i can easily access the gmail chat…….
    It will be of great help……

    lisa ahmadi

  52. De Freitas

    January 12th, 2007 at 10:30 am

    make sure your lang is set to english(US) and then make sure you have the latest version of mozilla.

  53. Patrick

    January 19th, 2007 at 2:11 pm

    Hi Google Talk Chat is very nice and i really like it but i cant get anyone to chat with.so if you are interested to have a chat with me then send me an mail messahe telling me to add you or welcome you to my chat place.

    i will be online waiting for you all?

  54. Patrick

    January 19th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

    boakyepatrick2006@gmail.com

  55. Karaoke

    February 10th, 2007 at 11:48 am

    I have exactly the same problem - I log in to Gmail and I’m the only one of my contacts online. Will never be as successful as MSN live messenger.

  56. Catica

    February 13th, 2007 at 1:26 pm

    hola quiero saber como se utiliza el chat gracias

  57. pbuckendorf

    March 1st, 2007 at 1:18 pm

    How do I delete the chat conversations from the chat window itself?

  58. redsoxgurl1

    March 3rd, 2007 at 1:03 pm

    How di I get gmail chat because I don’t have it on my Contacts List

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