A lot of people are a bit anxious, and perhaps for the wrong reasons, to see ’s much talked about Instant Messenger (IM). Is it almost ready? Do we have evidence of the service already? Over at they have a post about this. Today, in the , there is an article about the upcoming Instant Messenger launch from Google (called Google Talk?), so clearly we are the verge right now, just waiting to see if this is true.

But this is no ordinary IM service designed to compete directly with , , or . No, Google is going one step further, allowing users to chat with microphones and headsets too, which will put Google in direct competition with . But like the LA Times article mentioned, Google faces a battle in trying to persuade current users of IM programs to switch to theirs. And obviously, IMers talk to other IMers on the same network, which is another obstacle.

This being said, this is still speculation. Google already has IM programs that it obtained through other purchases; Picasa comes with Hello - a simple talk program for the photo service, and from Meetroduction LLC, which Google is supposedly buying. Fueling the speculation is the introduction of Google’s in which was found: “included in the program files a new protocol: google_im://…”

Google is not afraid of launching into an already crowded market (such as the Search market), and has done well doing so in the past. Google’s dynamism and willingness to try new technologies, and embrace them quickly, has served them well in the past and is likely to do so in the future. I will give Google’s IM software a try when it comes out, will you?

Update (Aug 24th): has been released!