On Wednesday, Google announced the launch of a computer-based phone service, following in the VOIP footsteps of now-competitors such as Skype. The service is currently available in all of the US and parts of Canada.
The innovation Google offers, unlike other “add-on” services from competitors, is that many people already use Google apps (such as mail, maps, and docs) for many of their computer-related tasks. Google’s new voice capabilities, unlike their previous Google Voice offering, will be integrated into Gmail.
The move by Google, though likely designed for convenience, also indicates a larger goal on their part to become the one-stop shop for online communication. Whether people want to chat with their friends, send an email to a group, or make a business call, they can now do them all from one place. Google is fighting companies like Facebook and Microsoft for that distinction.
“It’s about saying, ‘We want to be the window that’s always open,’ “ said Duncan Stewart, an analyst with consulting firm Deloitte to the Globe and Mail. “The point is that Google controls everything the user sees. That’s the long-term goal of Google, to control everything the user has interaction with.”
Google’s new voice service is free for computer-to-phone calls, unlike skype which charges for everything but computer-to-computer calls. However, Google says this will be only the case until at least the end of this year. International calls range from 2 to 20 cents per minute depending on the location.
While the impact to the traditional telecommunications industry of Google’s move are bound to be relatively minor – huge corporations aren’t going to redo their phone infrastructures on this sort of a drop of a hat – the competition between Google and Facebook may just yet be heating up. It will be one worth watching.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Not to be a forum necromancer, but google offering phone service?! This i really got to see.
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