Google Gmail gets video and audio chat, beating Microsoft and Yahoo

Google are to add video and audio chat in to their email service, Gmail. Microsoft and Yahoo, along with Google were all in a race to offer a more social experience on the web. Microsoft and Yahoo have had their email service for longer, yet Google have managed to beat them to this new feature that integrates into the email service.

Gmail is now the third largest email service, having 113 million users worldwide, not bad considering they are one of the newest. Currently Microsoft has 283 million users, and Yahoo have 274 million. Google has certainly made an impression in a short amount of time, which must worry the other big two.

As yet the email service for these companies is not a money maker, but the big three are no doubt working on way to try and generate some income for this free service. But getting a user to subscribe to their email service is just the starting point in a long line of programs for the companies.

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