You may be able to dial phone numbers and carry on voice conversations directly through Gmail Chat as early as Wednesday, when Google has scheduled an announcement.
The new service reportedly has a very Google Voice-like interface that uses similar icons for placed calls, missed calls and voicemail messages. But it's unclear whether the unnamed feature would be integrated with your Google Voice account, because you will not need a Google Voice phone number to use the new service. But just like Google Voice the new service will let you place free phone calls to the U.S. and Canada, according to a report from
CNET.
It's unclear when any new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service would launch, butFortune's Seth Weintraub expects Google's press briefing today to unveil the service then.
You can already use Gmail Chat to carry on voice and video conversations with other Gmail users, but so far you have had to turn to Skype or a similar service to make Web-based VoIP calls. A new voice calling service from Gmail would directly challenge the need for Skype, and is likely the result of Google's recent acquisitions of VoIP provider Gizmo5 and VoIP codec developer Global IP solutions.
But questions still remain about whether this anticipated VoIP offering is related to Google Voice. While the interface for the new service is similar to that of Google Voice, direct dialing through Gmail would be a VoIP solution -- something that Google Voice is not. It's unclear, then, whether the two services would be integrated.
It's also not unusual for Google to duplicate functionality especially when it comes to communications. You can, for example, send SMS messages through Google Voice, but Gmail also has a separate SMS service.
Nevertheless, the whole point of Google Voice is to bring your voice mail, SMS messages, and calling history into one place. So Gmail Chat and Google Voice integration would make a lot of sense.
If the speculation is true, Gmail is about to become an even more indispensable Web-based productivity app than it already is.
Rumors have been buzzing about since June, but Google just made it official -- the company's baking Google Voice calls right into Gmail today. Like the Google Chat text, voice and video chat integrated into the web-based email client in prior years, full phone calls will also be an option using VoIP technology from the Gizmo5 aquisition. Google's demoing the "Call from Gmail" service for us in San Francisco this morning, and it's looking like it's not free, but fairly cheap -- a product manager just called Paris for $0.02 a minute. Incoming calls pop up as a chat window in Gmail (and ring your Google Voice-equipped phones simultaneously) and you press a "Call phone" button that appears near the top of the Chat window to send an outbound call, at which point a dialer appears where you can copy and paste numbers or tap them in manually. Users can screen incoming calls or send them to voicemail with a single tap.
You'll be able to make calls to US and Canadian landlines completely free of charge, buying prepaid credits using Google Checkout for international landline calling at $0.02 a minute and a good bit more (We saw $0.19 to Spain) for calls to international mobile devices. Google will sell its own credits for the program (via Google Checkout), which should be available in a few weeks, but the Voice in Gmail service goes live today in the US and will begin rolling out to users immediately. Google's only committed to free calls to US and Canadian landlines through the end of the year, as paid international calls are the sole revenue stream here: "Our hope is we'll be able to make enough margin on international calls to keep offering it at that low price," a product manager told us. We're going to give some VoIP goodness a spin right now, check back later for impressions!
Update: Google Voice product manager Vincent Paquet confirmed that the service's newfound VoIP functionality does indeed stem from the Gizmo5 acquisition -- Call from Gmail is partially based on Gizmo5 technology, was developed by a team including Gizmo5 engineers, and resides in part on Gizmo5's backend. He wouldn't comment any more specifically on the technology than that. Also, that cherry red phone booth up top apparently isn't just for show -- Google's agreed to trial free calling booths at an airport and a pair of universities!
Update 2: We've just tested Call to Gmail and Skype side by side using the exact same setup, and found Google's service boasts surprisingly competitive voice quality to the reigning incumbent. When we called a fellow editor's iPhone 4 from a Gmail-equipped laptop, the sentences he spoke sounded much clearer than through Skype, with each individual word crisper and more recognizable even as volume and pitch sounded much the same. Unfortunately for Google, the inverse wasn't true -- Skype did a much better job canceling noise from our integrated laptop microphone in a crowded room.
CNET.
It's unclear when any new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service would launch, butFortune's Seth Weintraub expects Google's press briefing today to unveil the service then.
VoIP in Gmail
You can already use Gmail Chat to carry on voice and video conversations with other Gmail users, but so far you have had to turn to Skype or a similar service to make Web-based VoIP calls. A new voice calling service from Gmail would directly challenge the need for Skype, and is likely the result of Google's recent acquisitions of VoIP provider Gizmo5 and VoIP codec developer Global IP solutions.
But questions still remain about whether this anticipated VoIP offering is related to Google Voice. While the interface for the new service is similar to that of Google Voice, direct dialing through Gmail would be a VoIP solution -- something that Google Voice is not. It's unclear, then, whether the two services would be integrated.
It's also not unusual for Google to duplicate functionality especially when it comes to communications. You can, for example, send SMS messages through Google Voice, but Gmail also has a separate SMS service.
Nevertheless, the whole point of Google Voice is to bring your voice mail, SMS messages, and calling history into one place. So Gmail Chat and Google Voice integration would make a lot of sense.
If the speculation is true, Gmail is about to become an even more indispensable Web-based productivity app than it already is.
Google introduces Voice in Gmail, free calls to US and Canada (update: impressions)
You'll be able to make calls to US and Canadian landlines completely free of charge, buying prepaid credits using Google Checkout for international landline calling at $0.02 a minute and a good bit more (We saw $0.19 to Spain) for calls to international mobile devices. Google will sell its own credits for the program (via Google Checkout), which should be available in a few weeks, but the Voice in Gmail service goes live today in the US and will begin rolling out to users immediately. Google's only committed to free calls to US and Canadian landlines through the end of the year, as paid international calls are the sole revenue stream here: "Our hope is we'll be able to make enough margin on international calls to keep offering it at that low price," a product manager told us. We're going to give some VoIP goodness a spin right now, check back later for impressions!
Update: Google Voice product manager Vincent Paquet confirmed that the service's newfound VoIP functionality does indeed stem from the Gizmo5 acquisition -- Call from Gmail is partially based on Gizmo5 technology, was developed by a team including Gizmo5 engineers, and resides in part on Gizmo5's backend. He wouldn't comment any more specifically on the technology than that. Also, that cherry red phone booth up top apparently isn't just for show -- Google's agreed to trial free calling booths at an airport and a pair of universities!
Update 2: We've just tested Call to Gmail and Skype side by side using the exact same setup, and found Google's service boasts surprisingly competitive voice quality to the reigning incumbent. When we called a fellow editor's iPhone 4 from a Gmail-equipped laptop, the sentences he spoke sounded much clearer than through Skype, with each individual word crisper and more recognizable even as volume and pitch sounded much the same. Unfortunately for Google, the inverse wasn't true -- Skype did a much better job canceling noise from our integrated laptop microphone in a crowded room.
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