Google has just started to integrate Google Talk with Gmail. One of the most interesting features allows you to save your chat sessions into your Gmail account. You can also go “off the record” and make it so the chat session does not get saved. This is the first sign of Google integrating two of their services together. This announcement comes only a few days after 37signals briefly opened up Campfire, group chat for businesses, for testing.
Internal Testing
Google and 37signals are both known to test things internally before releasing them to the public. Both companies create web applications that help solve pains that they have been feeling themselves. This allows for a better understanding of the problem and thus a better application. The interesting thing to note is the similarities and differences between Gmail Chat and Campfire.
Feeling the Pain
With Campfire, 37signals has taken a pain they feel and created something that can help relieve the same pain for other businesses. With Gmail Chat, Google has taken something that they internally use and tried to make it so the general public can make use of it. Google most likely used the internal testing of the service to better understand the different types of users that might use it. That is where features such as the chat session saving and “off the record” come from. 37signals on the other hand, directly tested the application internally, for the same use as their target market.
Target Market
The approach of both these companies is similar, but yet the target market for each product makes their internal testing goals slightly different. Both products are meant to increase the ease of communication while using the web. Because of this, it might make sense for Google to release some products that are more business oriented like their search appliance, although 37signals has a good hold on that market already.