Google Voice one step nearer to global availability

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 10:19

Opinion and Analysis

Google has made its VoIP service, Google Voice - previously available by invitation only - available to anyone in the USA, but this is but the next step on a path that threatens Skype and many many other industry players.

iTWire was quite excited to read the headline on Google's official blog site "Google Voice For Everyone" followed by the statement "Today, after lots of testing and tweaking, we're excited to open up Google Voice to the public, no invitation required."

So we were rathe disappointed to reach the footnote, added later that said: "Just to clarify, though we've opened up sign-ups, Google Voice is still limited to everyone in the US for now." Nevertheless it is only a question of time before Google Voice goes global putting Google in head on competition with Skype.

And just in case anyone should doubt Google's ambitions, the blog posting was accompanied by a graphical "Modern History of Human Communications" timeline. Recent developments were mobile, sms an VoIP, followed by the "new!" Google Voice. Such hubris! But perhaps justified by potential and Google's ambitions if not by present reality.

Even today, the service offers considerably more than simple telephony. As the blog boasts, at launch it offered "one number to ring all your phones, voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages to the US and Canada, low-priced international calls and more."

Since then Google has made numerous additions that more tightly integrate Google Voice with other Google offerings. "A mobile web app, an integrated voicemail player in Gmail, the ability to use Google Voice with your existing number and more'¦sms to email and our Chrome extension," according to the blog.

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