Enrico Salad

Google Everything?

Google Talk launched today - I duly downloaded the client and logged-in with my gmail details. The first thing that struck me were the words "They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free..." on the download page - telcos beware, Google is out to get you.

The user experience, I have to say, I was immediately drawn to. The presentation was simple and clear (it looks very Apple-esq, which is not a bad thing), and it did a few things, BUT IT DID THEM WELL! At the moment it is fairly simplistic, functionality wise, i.e. no Webcams, no picture sharing etc. but this will probably come with time.

What Google appear to be doing, is to build up a user base who have access to the best quality tools available all linked into gmail. Where will the value come from for Google? Well on top of the advertising potential, I think that they will branch out into Payment Services (like Paypal) and possibly even have a go at becoming the "trusted entitiy" for the web (like MSN tried to do with Passport). It would not suprise me if in eighteen months' time we will be siging in to low-security (i.e. not Banking just yet) websites with our Google details.

Google are quite clearly trying to build an "operating system" for the Web, and are quite clearly the leading innovators out there at the moment. They are on the crest of a wave. It will be interesting to see as they get bigger and bigger whether the same user concerns will start to emerge that people currently have with Microsoft.

posted by Enrico @ 8:39 pm