San Francisco — In yet another high-flying venture of spreading its wings, Google Inc. on Tuesday announced that it is rolling out voice and video plug-in capabilities for the chat that is embedded in the Gmail its free e-mail service, entering in a race with Microsoft and Yahoo to make communication on the Web a more social experience and that competes with the likes of eBay’s Skype.
Even though it is not as sophisticated as Skype, Gmail’s voice and video, as it is named, cannot connect to the plain phone network, as Skype’s paid service can. It is just a nitty-gritty voice and video-conferencing service, but it is rather simple to install and use and is a very good addition to Gmail.
Gmail and Google App subscribers can now easily opt to communicate with friends on a video screen and simultaneously instant message them in a Google Chat box.
Activating the features, users will need to download and install a free plug-in, as well as a Webcam, which are becoming more commonplace as most computer manufacturers attach video equipment into laptops.
Unlike many other video chat products, Gmail voice and video employs a proprietary plug-in, not Flash. The small (2MB) download supports Firefox, IE, and Chrome on the PC, and Firefox on the Mac. Support for other browsers and platforms (Linux and mobile) may come later.
Once the additional software is installed, Gmail users will have the option to see and hear each other without leaving the e-mail application. The video screen can be moved out of the chat box and placed around a user’s computer screen. Users can also alter the size of the screen and expand it to full-screen size. The video feature will work only if all the participants have Gmail accounts.
“The idea was to make it quicker and easier to converse with other people by whatever means is best convenient,” said Google spokesman Jason Freidenfelds.
“It is a nice choice for businesses looking for another way for people to connect,” he added.
Video chatting has long been available through the instant messaging services provided by Yahoo and Microsoft, but the features have not been integrated it into their free e-mail applications. Besides it is also a well-liked feature of Skype, eBay’s calling service, including on a number of start-ups like Paltalk, Stickam and Camfrog.
“I think it is a fine addition and some people will use it, but I do nto think it will drive huge adoption of Gmail,” said Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence, referring to Google’s free e-mail service.
To begin using the new service, open a Gmail chat window, click on the “Options” menu at the bottom, and choose “Add voice/video chat,” which will take you through a one-time installation of a free plug-in. Next time when you re-open Gmail you will notice your “Options” link in your chat window has changed to “Video & more”. Open this menu and click “Start video chat” to see and hear your conversation partner in what Google claims is high-quality video. You can pop out the video and change its size and position, or switch to full screen. If you do not have a webcam, you can simply chat by voice.
Gmail is the third-largest e-mail service, with 113 million worldwide users as of September, behind Microsoft, which had 283 million users and Yahoo, which had 274 million, according to comScore.
“I’m a big user of Gmail chat. Being able to switch from email to chat as needed, all within the same app, is really great for productivity,” Justin Uberti, a Google software engineer, wrote in a blog post. “Even though people can only type so fast, along with our new emoticons, there are still some things that just cannot be expressed in a chat message.”
The video function was designed via open standards, “which means that third-party applications and networks can choose to interoperate with Gmail voice and video chat,” Uberti wrote.
While e-mail was considered as the killer app of the 1990s, prompting hundreds of millions of people to embrace personal computers, it is still not yet a moneymaker for Internet companies.
Gmail voice and video chat is being rolled out globally over the next day or so in all 50 languages supported by Gmail, on PCs and on Macs. Google Apps customers get this service as well, at no extra charge, and can video chat with any other Gmail or Apps users.
The offering was developed by Google teams in the U.S. and Sweden “so collaborating across continents and time zones is a fact of life for us, and it sure is easier and greener to click “Start video chat” than to get on a plane!” he said.
Additional information about Gmail voice and video chat can be found at http://mail.google.com/videochat.