In a bid to increase branding exposure, Google has come up with a new Google gadget that lets users embed its Talk instant-messaging services in Web pages.

The new Google Talk Gadget, displays the Google Talk interface in a Flash media player that requires no additional downloads. By inserting a line of code, the gadget can be added to and run automatically on a Web page.

Industry analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence said, “This is definitely a smart move on Google’s part to promote and increase Talk’s exposure.”

Unlike Google’s Talk PC application, the gadget will require Adobe Flash Player 8.0 or above. The gadget also lacks some of the PC application’s features, including the ability to transfer files and the voicemail functionality.

Conversely, the gadget has some features the PC application lacks, like sharing and watching photos and videos within the Talk interface from Google’s Picasa photo manager and YouTube video site and the ability to organize multiple text chats with tabs.

In addition to text messaging, people can use the gadget interface to initiate a voice chat, but the Talk application is needed to host the conversation, said Mike Jazayeri, Google Talk product manager. However, Google hopes to extend this functionality so that voice chats can happen within the gadget interface, he said.

The Google Talk instant communication service was launched in August 2005 but has proved less popular than IM services from companies such as AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo.

In February 2007, Nielsen/NetRatings reported that AOL’s AIM top the consumer IM market in the U.S. with 44.5 million unique users while Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo’s Messenger followed with 26 million and 22.6 million users respectively. Google Talk had 1.7 million users, according to the market researcher.

From the above figures, it look like Google needs a miracle to catch up. Let us watch and see if the new Google Talk Gadget can do some magic.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2007 at 6:06 am under Google, Technology.

Read more entries by Ruben Francia.
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