Google Introduces Calendar 'Galley'

Google on Wednesday made a series of public calendar listings available to users of Google Calendar.

Google's new Calendar Galley contains an assortment of event listings from the likes of Atlantic Records, Cordless Recordings, Disney, Eventful, JamBase, Orbitz, the NBA, Netflix, The New York Times, TLC, Wcities, and Zvents.

The under-scheduled can now fill their days with events of all sorts and the overly busy can filter happenings using checkboxes and other presentation management features to stay sane.

Google characterizes its event listings as "as an incredibly plugged-in friend who helps you remember all the hottest events, or that personal concierge you always dreamed of hiring." Your friend-cum-concierge will even notify you by e-mail or mobile phone alert if so instructed.

Beyond the obvious events of interest involving celebrities and athletes, there are listings for holidays in dozens of countries, presidential-hopeful campaign stops, and Google developer events, to name a few.

Thursday, no doubt, there will be more because Google has made public calendars searchable. This allows those running events to get the word out.

Google is hardly the only online calendar provider. Other notable competitors include 30 Boxes, Kiko, MSN Calendar, Scrybe, and Yahoo Calendar.

In January, Internet metrics firm Hitwise said that Google Calendar had surpassed MSN Calendar and was gaining on Yahoo Calendar in U.S. visitor market share. By mid-January, that prediction came to pass.

As of May, according to Hitwise, Google Calendar accounted for 0.0085% of U.S. Internet visits, compared to 0.0052% for Yahoo Calendar and 0.0037% for MSN Calendar. Between May 2006 and May 2007, Google Calendar traffic grew by 844%, while Yahoo Calendar traffic declined by 24% and MSN Calendar traffic declined by 37%.

According to Google Trends, Google searchers are searching for Google Calendar more than Yahoo Calendar.

This article was edited on June 6 to add statistics from Hitwise.