Google Babel will be launched as an app for iOS, Android and Chrome in an attempt to achieve full market penetration.
The cross-platform messaging service from Google will attempt to unify Google’s myriad of messaging services with synced notifications, a new user interface and sharing options.
Expected to launch at the Google I/O in May, Google is supposedly saying the iOS Google Babel app will be a “first class iOS experience”, the first time the company feels it has done so for a messaging service.
The Google Babel service will tie together all existing Google communication products, including Google Talk, Google Hangouts and Google+ Messenger. A single conversation list will be synced across all platforms and devices, similar to the way Apple’s iMessage service works, except Google Babel would be available for Chrome, Android, iOS and within the Gmail web client itself as well.
Whether Google Babel will integrate into existing SMS services, like Apple iMessage, is as yet unknown, but Google Voice support is reportedly coming to the Google Babel service. However, integration with current Google products, especially Gmail and its contacts, will make Google Babel an attractive messaging option over other cross-platform messaging services like Kik Messenger and WhatsApp.
Google Babel will also sport a brand new UI that promotes conversations and enables users to send photos, use over 800 emoji to express their varied emotions and look back at conversations carried out across multiple devices.
These conversations will be updated across all devices, with notifications disappearing from all devices when the user has read them on one of the devices.
Droid Life has acquired a memo from Google outlining a feature list for the upcoming Google Babel service that seems to confirm all of the above as well.
There is currently no Google Babel release date confirmed by Google, but we could see the service unveiled at the Google I/O in May.
