Google moves to bring text messaging to online chat

Yesterday, Google unveiled an experimental feature where users can use the chat window, in its Gmail webmail interface, to send text messages. As I reported a few months back, text messaging is a medium that teens are increasingly trying to push to their parents. Google's text-massage feature is considered experimental at this point, and users will need to manually opt for it via their Gmail Labs settings--the same place where the Mail Googles tool can be enabled. 

What is interesting is that Gmail Chat will send out the text messages from a pool of about 1,000 numbers that Google has reserved for this purpose. Gmail Product Manager Keith Coleman noted that the person who receives the text message can store the Google phone number in their address book. Subsequent text messages sent to this number will automatically be a conduit from which to reach the sender's computer-based Google chat.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNETNews.com

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