A final word about Google Talk

Another new tool has just been launched by Google. This time it’s Google Talk, which marks their entry into the VoIP market, allowing users to make free phone calls over the Internet.

Google Talk is a small piece of software that can be downloaded for free onto a PC or laptop that uses broadband connectivity. Once installed – and with the use of a microphone and speakers – users can make free calls over the Internet to other computers that also have the software installed. Nothing new in this all you might say, as a number of suppliers have been offering this for some time, most notably Skype.

However, the fact that Google has now entered this market is significant although their strategy is unclear, other than extending their dominance across the global Internet community. VoIP is expected to grow significantly over the coming years and the quality of Internet phone calls will be vital to make this work. The general consensus is that Google’s call quality is very good compared to most competitors, although the functionality of the tool currently lags well behind the more established players.

The main issue regarding Google Talk at the moment is that it is only available to users of Google’s Gmail service and getting an account for this can only be achieved by receiving an invite from existing users. However, if you wish to try Google Talk and possibly communicate with us in this manner in the future, we have a limited number of Gmail invitations that we can send out through accounts that we hold, so if you’d like to set up your own Gmail account, please let us know and we will send you an invitation.

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