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Over on the Intermedia blog, I’ve got some conjecture about why Google’s merging Gmail and Gtalk. On the surface, it looks like Google is driving users to Gtalk by 1) embedding it in their very successful email client, and 2) not making Gtalk interoperable with other IM services (AOL, Yahoo and MSN).
That’s a sound business plan. Taking it a step further, let’s think about why Google is building all these applications and competing with established players like AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft. Yes, each successful app they make garners them a lot more pages on which to put adds. (Just think how many emails you have in your Gmail account, then multiply that number by four, which seems to be the average number of ad links per email. Of course, you have to also considered email threads, which contain multiple emails but only a set number of ads.)
But let’s assume for a moment that Google really is building a separate Internet. If that’s the case, Google’s apps don’t have to compete successfully just yet. Because, when Google launches their new network protocol, those applications will receive precedent. They’ll work better, be faster, and will all be integrated.
Like I said, conjecture. Do with it what you will.
Ben Charny is on vacation. Publish.com‘s editor, Steve Bryant, is filling in on Google Watch until Ben returns.