Google Voice

Google Becomes a VoIP Provider with Gizmo5 Purchase

Google announced its 4th acquisition of the year with the purchase of Gizmo5. Gizmo5 gives Google the ability to connect VoIP calls from the Internet or from mobile devices, changing the game for Google Voice and Google Wave.

AT&T recently filed a complaint with the FCC charging that Google was violating communications guidelines by blocking phone calls to certain areas. Google’s response was that because Google Voice does not actually provide the backbone that carries the actual calls Google is not subject to those same guidelines. Gizmo5 puts some holes in that defense.

Google Voice has generated a lot of excitement providing a diverse set of advanced voice and messaging capabilities, but without Gizmo5 Google Voice relies entirely on your existing voice services. Google Voice is basically an extended feature pack that you implement with your existing mobile and landline phones.

By purchasing Gizmo5, Google now has its own VoIP capabilities and can beef up Google Voice to compete directly with Skype. The bigger picture, though, is what Gizmo5 provides Google in terms of expanding the unified communications functionality of Google Wave.

I have not been overly impressed with the early release of Google Wave, but the initial demonstration Google used to unveil Google Wave was quite impressive. If Google manages to mature the current Google Wave beta into the Google Wave it displayed for us at Google I/O 2009, and adds in SIP-based VoIP capabilities, Google Wave could be a potent unified communications platform and offer an impressive, cost-effective alternative to existing unified communications systems.

Can Google Voice Crush Skype?

When the economy was booming and things were looking up, eBay decided to diversify by purchasing the online VoIP provider Skype. Times are more troubled now and there have been talks recently that eBay may put Skype back on the market. There are also rumors that the founders of Skype may want to buy their baby back and develop its potential better than they feel eBay has done.

They may want to hurry up with dumping Skype because they are about to face some serious competition from Google Voice. This article details some reasons that Google Voice may beat out Skype head to head such as:

• Routing and forwarding re-defined
• A new definition of ‘call screening’
• On the fly switching
• Read your calls

and…

• The Google god

You can check out How Google Voice Can Kill Skype to get the details behind those bullet points and find out whether Google Voice may signal the end of the Skype era.

Google Voice- UC For The Budget-Impaired?

A llloooonnnngg time ago (OK- it was 2 years. But, in tech-time that is an eon) Google bought a small company called Grand Central. The essential principle behind Grand Central was “one phone number for all your phones, for life.”

Grand Central has been adapted into what is now Google Voice. Google bought up 1 million phone numbers recently as it prepared to launch Google Voice to the masses. Earlier this week Google Voice began its public launch. Currently it is by invitation only (Google employed the same sort of social network marketing to create demand and build interest when it launched its GMail email service).

The central component remains the same as the principle behind Grand Central. Essentially you can have a single Google phone number which can ring to your home phone, mobile phone, work phone, or any combination thereof. As you move, change jobs, etc. your Google Voice number remains the same so you never need to update peers, friends, or family.

Google Voice offers a number of other useful features beyond single-number access though. You can receive voicemail in your email and forward or share it as you wish. You can customize which phones ring based on who is calling. You can establish different voicemail greetings depending on the group or individual who is calling. It also provides conference calling and call recording features, as well as the ability to switch between phones mid-call.

Google Voice is free (at least for now). As it is, it seems like it could be a sort of poor man’s unified communications for the budget-impaired. When you combine Google Voice with the upcoming Google Wave, it certainly appears that Google could put a dent in the unified communications market. Check out the Google Voice site for video demos of the features and functions. You can also click the link to beg for an invitation to the party.