GrandCentral Returns as Google Voice
Google today finally announced its plans for GrandCentral, the telephony service it acquired in July 2007. GrandCentral will be reborn as Google Voice, a comprehensive suite of telephony services, including all of GrandCentral's features. In addition, Google Voice will also include an automated voicemail transcription service, the ability to send and receive text messages, and integration with your Gmail contacts. Users can now also call any number in the the U.S. for free.
Opening up GrandCentral
After acquiring GrandCentral, Google continued to operate the old service, but didn't allow new users to sign up. Now, Google has announced that it will first port existing users over to Google Voice in the next couple of days, and will then open up Google Voice to new users.
Interface
The new interface will look a lot like Gmail, with your inbox, SMS messages, access to voicemail and other features in a sidebar on the left.
Making Calls
You can make calls directly from the Google Voice web interface. After you initiate the call, the service will actually first call your mobile phone or landline, and after that your call will be placed over Google's network.
Calls within the U.S. will remain free, and users can purchase credit to make international calls (we don't have information about the international rates yet, but we assume that they will be competitive with those that Skype currently offers).
Google Voice will also offer free conference calls.
Voicemail
The automated voicemail transcription feature looks like it will be one of the most useful functions of Google Voice. Transcriptions are fully automated and Google will mark passages in the text where the algorithm was not very confident about the transcription. Transcriptions will automatically appear in your inbox, but Google Voice can also email them to you, or even send you an SMS with the text.
Future Integration with Android?
We can't help but wonder if Google will integrate the voicemail and transcription service with Android as well. In this video, Google shows the mobile version of Google Voice in the browser on an Android phone, but we assume that Google will release a dedicated Google Voice app for Android in the future and maybe even make it an integral part of the Android experience (if the carriers allow Google to do so, that is).
Just What the Doctor Ordered
Google Voice looks like a clear winner to us. It takes the best features of GrandCentral and adds a number of important and interesting new features like SMS messaging and voicemail transcriptions. Clearly this is one of the most important products that Google has released in the last couple of months and we will post a more detailed review of the service once it becomes available to us.
Share
Facebook
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
Congrat Google! They always to do the best things for us. I am looking fw to use this service.
It's really exciting how Apple & Google push the technology envelope.
Android integration is a given.
The one that I think will be the big hitter though is possible Google Talk integration.
It would instantly bring in millions of Gmail users.
Nice work, push it 2 the limit!
i will be waiting for signing up
i'll test the call ... thanks for ur message
visit my site...
www.thungechinmyar.co.cc
Just another way for google to spy on you.
Google thanks you!
Will people do anything to guard their privacy and personal information?
The answer is apparently, no!
Ever heard the term 'Intelligence Gathering Operation'?
very nice blog
The one that I think will be the big hitter though is possible Google Talk integration.
Ways to survive in recession exclusively for Small Businesses
For limited time period. Get you free copy today
http://www.logoinn.net
Muzik dinle, mp3, şarkıcı, şarkılar
http://www.bedavadinle.info da her şey bedava bedava müzik dinle
Please get rid of that music. Who can listen to that without getting insanely agitated?
You guys need to push back on Google and get the 100 invites like TechCrunch did. You are big time, why not RWW?
I think this looks like a great new service and am looking forward to when it opens up to more than just existing GrandCentral customers. The ability to search through text versions of voice messages just opens up so many great things, doesn't it?
Numerous services like this already exist with much more of a robust feature set.
Services like RingCentral, GotVmail, OneBox, VirtualPBX etc.
They all offer this and 1000 times more.
Granted they are paid but they also offer 800 numbers where Google doesn’t.
All depends on if you view the service for personal use or business.
If for business I’d definitely go for one of the others…for $10 vs. free you get much more.
My 2 cents.
Great information! Thanks for all of the awesome videos.
not sure if anyone would like to check this out, but you can check out actual transcriptions and the audio it tried to work off from over at http://www.jrin.net/2009_03_13/google-voice-review
Google, reminds me of Bell Labs back in the day. Now you might think that a complement. It is, sorta.
There was joke that ran around ATT about Bell Labs, goes like this.
The Engineers at Bell have invented a Time Machine and a Warp Drive. Unfortunately the don't know how to sell the Time Machine, and they are still testing the functioning Warp Drive.
Google. When are you going to allow Marketers to start having a say in the company? You are a great big advertising network at the moment, that has parlayed that into owning a bunch of things, with a lot of overly egotistical engineers in charge. But when are you going to kick the ass of Microsoft, or Apple, or ?? Well basically when are you going to show us what you are capable of other than one off little experiments?
You will never get business to buy anything that you provide if you don't make it a real product with a real path, with some sort real look and feel other than that tired Google Front Page look, which I have to tell you is fine for a search engine but sucks for anything else. When are you going to grow up and realize that the reason Apple kicks ass is because not only do they have awesome engineers, they have marketing that is a powerful force within the company? I have NEVER seen an engineer come out with something that was perfect out of the box, and looking through all of your offerings what I see are a bunch of half baked experiments.
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that.
I have had, in my time, stand up knock down screaming fights with engineers who KNEW something wouldn't work. Then once they were forced into creating the product and it was selling like hot cakes they were like wow, I never thought someone would want X or Y.
Google, is potentially a great company, so far what I see is a one horse pony. That can't sustain its stock price if it keeps going the direction it's going. So when will you grow up and let some marketers have their say, and let product people craft the multitude of experiments you have into real products that will revolutionize the internet? You haven't shown your ability to climb out of your own way when it comes to this part.
Show us. Show us that you are a great company, that you so obviously think you already are. Money made off of advertising is pretty damn mundane, and it shocks me that folks feel that's a revolution. It's not. Let's see you turn the bits and pieces of what you have picked up over the last 10 years into something that's going to revolutionize my experience on the net.
Wake up and Smell the Coffee....
I have had, in my time, stand up knock down screaming fights with engineers who KNEW something wouldn't work. Then once they were forced into creating the product and it was selling like hot cakes they were like wow, I never thought someone would want X or Y
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that.
Great information! Thanks for all of the awesome videos.
Just another way for google to spy on you.
Google thanks you!
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that.
MÜZİK
Thankss .
Thanks a lot good
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that....
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that....
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that.....
Folks wonder why you don't monetize those? Well I can tell you won't be able to because you have never made them into real products/services. One has to wonder if you know how to do that....
Ways to survive in recession exclusively for Small Businesses
For limited time period. Get you free copy today
For limited time period. Get you free copy today
I thnik its best service for google google is number one
Thank you for all of the awesome videos...
Videos are summarizing well what you wrote in text. Thanks for your effort. It s a great share.