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I'm not particularly a part of the consolidated Google empire. I've got a Gmail account, but it's relegated mainly to collecting spam, or messages from people who can't remember my actual email address. But I know plenty of people who swear by Google's web-based email and its attendant calendar and chat programs.

And given that Google's been making a habit of tuning its websites to be more iPhone friendly, it's little surprise that they've created a new version of Google Talk, their instant messaging application, that's specifically designed for the iPhone.

To access the new version, just surf to http://www.google.com/talk, and you'll be launched into the stripped down interface. From there, you can view your contacts, send instant messages, and even set your status.

I don't really have a lot of contacts on my Google Talk list, as you can see pretty clearly--most of my friends are AIM aficionados. But it's good to know that should I ever decide to change allegiances to the Google side of the fence, I'll be able to do so on my iPhone pretty easily.