Google Voice… Ready To Challenge Skype?
By Anna Johnson on March 16th, 2009Last week Google announced that GrandCentral – the telephony service Google bought in July 2007 – would become Google Voice.
Google Voice, it seems, aims to take on Skype and will offer a range of telephony services, including an automated voicemail transcription service, the ability to exchange text messages, and integration with users’ Gmail contacts.
Google Voice appears to differ from Skype in terms of how it facilitates calls. While, like Skype, you can use Google Voice’s interface to initiate a call, the service will then call your mobile phone or land-line before placing the call over Google’s network.
Google Voice calls made within the United States will be free, and users can purchase credit to make international calls.
Source: Frederic Lardinois, “GrandCentral Returns as Google Voice,” ReadWriteWeb, March 11, 2009
