Google Talk Lacks Competitive Advantage

10:23 pm on August 24, 2005 | Category: Messaging, VoIP, Web Services

Since the recent launch of Google Talk, a lot of people have downloaded it, only to ask the obvious question: “why exactly do I need this?”

Sure, the service works fine, and is a perfectly usable voice and text messaging platform. But people are used to innovation and excellence from Google, and this new service has no main selling point; no major advantage over Skype and other competitors.

In a lot of ways, Skype is actually much more versatile, especially considering that it allows users to make outbound calls to conventional telephones (for a small fee). Google Talk, on the other hand doesn’t support PC-to-Phone calls, and there is no indication that it will in the future.

One reason for this could be that Google wants to encourage its users to spend as much time online as possible, and supporting full telephone integration might divert eyes from computer screens, the real source of Google’s income. Google Talk does fit in quite well with this business plan, since one of its main purposes seems to be getting new members into the GMail network (GMail accounts are required for sign-up).

The major flaw in the plan, however, is the lack of a major selling point or competitive advantage. The fact that Google Talk is a “good product” makes no difference, because of the simple fact that people expect so much more.

Before Google’s new service can truly be a huge hit, they’ll almost certainly have to innovate somewhere along the line, and give members something that no one else can. Although this may seem like somewhat of a daunting task, it’s certainly not impossible. After all, this is Google that we’re talking about; they’re bound to think of something.

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    1. [...] Some members of the VoIP Industry news-media feel that Google lacks any competitive advantage in the highly competitive, but not-yet-mature industry. Subscribe to the BetaDot Newsletter – Free Recieve digests of BetaDot stories in your mailbox, absolutely free. You may unsubscribe at any time. Related Stories [...]

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    Edited by Jeremy Maddock