If you are using Gmail, you may have noticed that you can only maintain your Contacts in Google account through gmail. You had to go to gmail-->contacts to maintain your contacts. But now you don't have to. Google has launched a stand alone Contacts application where you can add/update/delete your contacts and that will be reflected to your google accounts.
So now if you are a Google Docs, Picasa, and Calendar user and don't have Gmail, you can still maintain your Google Contacts.
You can also import and export your contacts from other sources such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo, or Hotmail. YOu can access Google Contacts by visiting google.com/contacts