Google Talk now on your iPhone
Google’s just released a version of Google Talk just for iPhone and iPod Touch browsers. Certainly an interesting move, especially in the light of the yet-to-be-released Android.
The news was out on Google’s official Google Mobile blog, in a post written by Adam Connors, a software engineer with Google’s mobile team. To access the app, all an iPhone user needs to do is go to www.google.com/talk. It’s quite the stretch for Google to acquiesce to the iPhone users and make Google Talk usable for the iPhone.
Google Talk on the iPhone will differ slightly from the desktop version. You’ll need to have Google Talk in an active browser window for it to work; surf to another window or app and you’ll be rendered “unavailable”. As soon as you go back to your Google Talk window, communications will be restored with a restart. Connors was quick to assure that besides those niggles, everything else came close to the desktop equivalent – contact list, multiple chats and the like.
Is Google deciding not to hedge its bets on Android’s success? Perhaps it’s just deciding to go with the flow. After all, if the iPhone 3G eclipses the success of its predecessor, why not get in on the action? Supporting the proliferation of mobile internet devices is something right up Google’s alley. And with all those people in 70 countries due to surf online, no point discouraging them from logging onto Gmail.
Where once critics and the public were lukewarm about the mobile internet, the iPhone just might help accelerate takeup for mobile data services. Now comes the killer- dealing with customers who will want unlimited data plans to go with their shiny new 3G-powered iPhones.
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