Google Talk – will it oust Skype?

If you’re not familiar with Google talk, Google talk is basically the latest IM application from Google that allows you to do all the things that other IM application let you do but now you have the added bonus of being able to chat with peers face to face as well.  Although this IM program was initially available exclusively for Laptop’s and Desktops it has since become available as an Android mobile app available for all Android devices.  It’s even preloaded into the Nokia N900 Smartphone.  Google has recently disclosed that in addition to be being able to send text messages from within the Google mailing system, users will now be able to have voice and video chats, all from within their browser.  Keep in mind that all IM services to date have this option, this isn’t particularly innovative.  Yet there has been a lot of speculation among tech enthusiasts that Google Talk could be the end of Skype, why?  I don’t know.The bottom line is Google Talk is certainly not the first IM service to make video to video chatting available, Windows Messenger has already had this option for more than a few years now, Skype has had this option since its inception along with most IM services. 

There’s nothing particularly innovative about Google Talk, even a minor improvement to the face to face chatting (which is now a standard in IM services) or a groundbreaking new feature may have granted leverage to Google Talk over other IM services, but not only has it not improved upon the Video to Video Chatting concept.

It hasn’t contributed any new ideas, it’s as if Nintendo released N64 when PS2 had already been out for three years (now to be fair the disparity in quality between Google Talk and the current leading IM services isn’t that extreme), the point is Google Talk’s IM service simply isn’t as good as the current leaders and doesn’t provide any new incentive for current IM users to jump ship. 

There is some concern/speculation that Google Talk could be the end of the pioneer Skype which as you know marketed itself on a platform of being a more formal, professional, and business orientated version of Messenger that enabled you to connect instantly with anyone who had a Skype account without going through the process of needing to “Add them as a friend”. 

In other words it’s a more robust, lighter and simpler version of Messenger.  So the big question is what does Google Talk bring to the table that should give reason for the more established instant messaging services to be concerned?  Nothing.  In order to put an end to the speculation I personally used both Skype and Google Talk to see how Google Talk stacks up with what I use, Skype. 

First of all Google talk’s video and voice option only works when using the program with Gmail.  Windows Google Talk and Google Desktop do not support video and chat currently, they may in the future, but Google has not indicated that they intend to do so. 

As far as performance is considered, when it comes to Google talk I found the quality to be satisfactory, but nothing special and certainly no better than Skype.  On the plus side Google evidently put a lot of effort into the quality of the sound and it had as the option of viewing the person you’re chatting with in full screen.

So how does it stack up to Skype?  Long story short, it doesn’t.  Yes the quality was satisfactory, but it wasn’t as pristine as Skype neither with regards to audio or video, Skype is capable of displaying video conversations in much higher resolutions than Google Talk and as such Google just doesn’t contend with a reliable and upper quality IM service like Skype. 

Furthermore with Skype, all Video Calls, IM conversations and file transfers are encrypted, not so with Google Talk.  My conclusion?  This is a big step forward for Google’s now acknowledgeable IM service, but it has a long way to go before it can compete with Skype and Windows Messenger.