RIM makes Google Talk available on its wireless email device.
On the heels of a long-awaited settlement of its patent dispute with NTP, Research In Motion has made available Google’s instant messaging application, Google Talk, for customers who use its BlackBerry wireless email device.
It works in real time, and users can stay signed in and receive messages while using other Blackberry apps. Currently, it is only available for U.S. and Canadian users.
With the Google Talk for BlackBerry software, users can access all their Google Talk contacts from their BlackBerry devices. They can determine which contacts are available, unavailable, busy, or offline, as well as carry on several instant messaging conversations at once with their friends.
Users also get control over their own availability status. Google Talk notifies BlackBerry users when they receive a new instant message through either a vibration or ring tone alert. It also tells users when one of their contacts is typing a message to them.
Google Talk is an instant messaging service that Google introduced last year. The PC version of the service includes VoIP capabilities, although the BlackBerry version does not offer that feature.
The service was announced in January but became available recently as a free download from the BlackBerry web site. The launch was scheduled for the springtime, but seems to be ahead of schedule.
The timing is propitious, coming less than a week after the settlement of RIM’s patent dispute with NTP, which threatened to shut down BlackBerry sales and service in the United States.
Avi Greengart, principal analyst for mobile devices at the research firm Current Analysis, believes that the BlackBerry with its Google Talk service offers a more viable platform for instant messaging than many cell phones that include AOL Instant Messenger but lack a QWERTY keyboard.
“A huge percentage of mobile phones have AIM,” he said. “Its messaging, but it is not instant because you are trying to tap out a message on a cell phone keypad. This expectation is made worse by presence, because people know you are there.”
The cell phone keypad makes it harder for users to tap out immediate responses and keeps their contacts waiting for a reply, all too aware that their interlocutor is out there and received their last message.
Restarting Chats:
“Instant messaging over a cell phone is impossible, but by doing it over a BlackBerry or Treo or the Sidekick, suddenly instant messaging can be instantaneous,” said Mr. Greengart. “You can do that in a fairly timely manner. That is probably the real reason why this showed up on a RIM device first because every RIM device has a keyboard.”
The software stores records of the chats, so users can restart an ongoing chat several days later. Ongoing conversations can be controlled and accessed while a user is reviewing their BlackBerry email and SMS (short message service) text messages. Users can also access their BlackBerry calendars in the midst of a conversation.
RIM is also offering IT administrator controls for Google Talk on BlackBerry devices through BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
RIM has previously integrated Yahoo Messenger with its BlackBerry service, and the Yahoo instant messaging client is available through a few carriers in various countries. RIM has also joined the AOL Instant Messenger mobile developer program, but has not yet announced the availability of AIM on BlackBerries.
Dave Castell, vice president of RIM’s retail business unit, said the Google Talk software is aimed at both consumers and business people. “What we have seen with some of the IM applications we have done before is they can be useful tools to communicate with family members or kids, and even can be used as a work tool,” he said.
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“This is more for chatting, whereas email is often not used for chatting but just for exchanging information,” he said. “It is also a useful way to communicate with a community that’s maybe not otherwise addressable.”
The software shows directions on top of images of the maps on the BlackBerry screen. The software also works with several other Java-based phones. Google’s mobile mapping service debuted last November.
In addition to Google Talk, RIM is offering a free download of Google Local for Mobile software, which offers directions and maps to local hangouts and businesses.
Users can zoom in or out on the maps and move the maps around by dragging and dropping them. The application also displays satellite views of the locales on the maps thanks to a mobile version of the Google Earth software.
System Requirements:
16 MB BlackBerry device with a color screen (BlackBerry 7100 Series, BlackBerry 7200 Series, BlackBerry 7500 Series, BlackBerry 7700 Series and BlackBerry 8700 Series), and OS v4.0 or higher and 200 kB of free memory.
BlackBerry data service with a US- or Canadian-based wireless Service Provider (Google Talk for BlackBerry devices will be available to other BlackBerry subscribers soon!)
Accurate time zone and time settings on your BlackBerry device – before using Google Talk for BlackBerry devices, please ensure you have verified that your time zone and time settings within the Options screen are correct.
Users who sign up for the service need to have a Gmail account with Google.