After a successful IPO and Google Earth, the nerds at Google Labs seem to on full steam ahead. Joining the IM fray dominated by Yahoo!, MSN, and ICQ, Google releases Google Talk.

Google says about Google Talk:

Google Talk is a simple and free way to talk with and send instant messages to your friends. Like Gmail, Google Talk uses Google’s innovative technologies to help people communicate more effectively and efficiently. Think of it as Google’s approach to communications.

The new Yahoo! Messenger BETA allows YM users to call other YM users, therefore some might say Google is not offering anything new to consumers. The only beauty of this is that, when you invite a non-Google user, you are actually giving him or her a Gmail – you read it right – Gmail invite. Yep, that’s 2 GB of free email space.

It remains to be seen whether this product would be successful or not. And since Google Talk doesn’t display ads (unlike YM and AIM), the business model is suspect. And since it is in beta, this no-ads policy might still change.