The new chat feature, unveiled today, will provide users of Google's Gmail service with a list of contacts drawn from past email exchanges and then signal who is available for online conversations.
"We didn't think it made sense for there to be this artificial separation that currently exists between emailing and chatting," Google Product Manager Salar Kamangar said. "People don't want to have to have two separate contact lists for email and instant messaging."
Additionally, Google said it hopes to add a feature allowing users to initiate an electronic conversation within the same web browser showing an email box, bypassing the need to switch to a separate instant messaging application.
The new chat feature will begin to show up in some Gmail accounts today and should reach all users within the next few weeks, Kamangar added.
The new chat feature only will work if both users have Gmail accounts or already belong to a service compatible with Google's instant messaging service. Besides Google's own services, the network also includes EarthLink, Jabber.org, Sipphone's Gizmo Project, Chikka in the Philippines, Singapore's MediaRing, Italy's Tiscali and China's Netease.
Google is hoping to gain ground on current market leaders Yahoo, Microsoft and Time Warner's America Online with the addition of the new feature.
Gmail was introduced in April 2004, while Google’s instant messaging service was implemented last August. Google said it expanded into the field so it would have more chances to display the online ads that account for most of its profits, which totaled $1.5 billion on sales of $6.1 billion last year.
Yahoo runs the most frequently used email service followed by AOL and Microsoft's MSN and Hotmail, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. Yahoo's email service hosted nearly 51 million unique visitors in December, followed by AOL at 34 million visitors and Microsoft's services at 31 million.
However, AOL packed in nearly 53 million users in December with its instant messenger, also known as AIM, with MSN and Yahoo trailing at 27 million and 22 million, respectively. Google's instant messaging service ranked as the sixth most used with 866,000 users.