InsideGoogle mentions the talk.google.com domain which if you connect to using a Jabber client will talk back to you:
Inquisitive Neowin member Tom Servo, taking a que from member CarlNewton tried to connect to talk.google.com using his Trillian client.
What he got was a secure XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, alternatively known as Jabber) server waiting for connections.
The same site also points to comments in the New York Times: Google executives say they plan to unveil on Wednesday a “communications tool” that is potentially a clear step beyond the company’s search-related business focus.
The NY Times speculates about the possibility of a Smart Phone: A Google-branded smart phone has long been a pet project of Mr. Page, and earlier this year Google invested $2 million in a project by Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, to develop a $100 wireless laptop. The smart-phone idea, which the company has not talked about publicly, would be a way to extend Google’s reach and give it a more extensive connection with its users by offering Google on a multipurpose mobile device.
What I’d like to know is whether it is going to connect with Google Desktop. It would make sense really for an IM Client or Smart Phone or VoIP communications device to use the Desktop client. Desktop is really taking the daily tasks performed on a pc and putting them together into one client and running the services off their servers. Poor Microsoft.
I really would like to see some innovation in the IM Sphere. Nothing has changed or taken a significant step forward in years. Emoticons are not progress! I’d really like it if it worked with MSN Messenger and other IM Clients. Redmond would be a tad more than just pissed then but I don’t know would Google have the balls to hijack the service and try and convert over MSN users.