Outlook.com to now support Google Talk

Why stop at just Skype integration if you can add Google Talk to your service too? This seems to be exactly what Microsoft is thinking with Outlook.com. After announcing a Skype addition into its mail service, Microsoft has upped the ante by adding rival Google’s Talk IM support to Outlook.

If you’re wondering how Microsoft and Google managed to build a rapport strong enough to develop this feature, think again. Microsoft has merely made use of Google’s public API to integrate the chat service onto its website. The software giant says that Google Talk was added onto Outlook.com post feedback from users who wanted to connect with users on Google. “We believe people choose to use many different services and that our role is to help them connect to the people who matter most, wherever they are,” Douglas Pearce, Group Program Manager, Connected Services of Microsoft writes.

Skype and Google Talk both!

Outlook.com now has about 400 million people using the service and Microsoft had gone all out during the relaunch of the service to woo as many Google users as possible. Connecting with Google-using friends from within the mail service, is definitely one feature Outlook users were missing out on.

Besides adding Google Talk within the Outlook.com inbox, Microsoft seems keen on integrating Google contacts with its calendar, People list as well as SkyDrive.com. “If you're working together on a document with a Google friend, you can be chatting with them at the same time without leaving SkyDrive. You can even share a link to the document and edit it together in real time,” reads the blog.

This also comes only a day prior to the start of the Google I/O developer conference where Google is rumoured to be stitching its Google Talk and Hangouts services into a “Babel” service. Having Google Talk integrated into Outlook.com will surely help a lot of Gmail users looking for a change take that plunge and embrace the newer service. After all, you don’t get Skype and Google Talk integration in a single service too often.