Google Chases Skype With New Gmail Video Chat
Video chat service Skype has some new competition — Google has just added audio and video chat to Gmail. The new chat tools essentially offer most of the features of Skype, or Apple’s iChat, within the standard Gmail interface.
When the SMS features we told you about earlier finally arrive, Google’s e-mail client will be a one-stop shop for almost every form of communication you can think of — e-mail, chat, video chat, audio chat and SMS.
Once the plugin is installed, using the new features is very simple. Just hover over any name in your Gmail chat list and select “Start video chat” or “Start voice chat.” There’s a full-screen view and you can also choose to pop out the chat into a new window.
The plug-in (which you can grab from the download page) presents a significant downside though — it means that even if you install the plug-in, you’ll have to wait for your friends and contacts to do likewise before you can video chat. Although it’s not a huge barrier to getting video chat in Gmail, given the Google’s chat network isn’t most people’s first choice, it may be a little while before the video options become ubiquitous among your contacts.
One thing that’s conspicuously absent in this announcement is GrandCentral (see our review). The phone service, which Google acquired last year, seems like a natural fit for both the audio/video chat and the coming SMS features — not only could it send SMS from a real phone number, but it would allow the audio/video chat to work just like Skype (i.e., use it to call landlines, etc.).
Unfortunately, at least for now, GrandCentral isn’t part of the new features. That should be good news for Skype since the service has a distinct set of features that Gmail still lacks, most notably the ability to chat over traditional phone lines.
Still, despite offering little more than iChat or other audio/video chat apps, Gmail’s new features do have one huge advantage for many — they’re right there in your Gmail window, there’s no need to open up separate site or application.
The new chat options are being rolled out in phases, so if your account doesn’t have the option yet, check out this video which gives you taste of how the features work:
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