* More than a million phone calls are made in the first 24 hours of the service, which lets Gmail users make outbound calls from their computers
Those guys and gals at Google have been going gangbusters — giving Gmail users the capability to make outbound calls from their computers to the PSTN. Using the Gmail subscriber’s computers speakers and microphone, the Gmail softphone application provides “click to call” capabilities. The new service was used to make over a million phone calls in the first 24 hours following its official launch on Aug. 25, 2010.
Those guys and gals at Google have been going gangbusters — giving Gmail users the capability to make outbound calls from their computers to the PSTN. Using the Gmail subscriber’s computers speakers and microphone, the Gmail softphone application provides click-to-call capabilities. The new service was used to make over a million phone calls in the first 24 hours following its official launch on Aug. 25, 2010.
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Gmail users have had the capability to make PC-to-PC voice calls since 2008, but the service adds the capability to place calls to “off net” mobile and wireline phones. Users can click to call from their Gmail contact list or dial with an on-screen “button” in a fashion similar to other softphone applications. Users will also need to install Google’s voice and video plug-in to enable the application.
For those who also have a Google Voice phone number, the outbound caller ID associated with the subscribers Google Voice phone number will appear. At least for the rest of 2010, calls made to the phone numbers in the United States and Canada will be free and international calls to countries such as the United Kingdom, France, China and Japan start at 2 cents per minute.
Google Voice subscribers can also receive inbound calls on their Google Voice phone number using the Gmail application.
Our observations: The free price tag will certainly get the attention of domestic callers who use Skype-Out, although in its blog post, Google only committed to making the service free for the rest of this year. And the service is certainly no match compared to the business-grade unified communications options and features currently offered by more traditional VoIP service providers. Even Skype offers a greater level of integration with IP-PBX manufacturers, as we have discussed in some of our previous newsletters.
However, one sentence in the Google Blog caught our attention that may have more acute implications for business VoIP service provider; according to the blog found here: “If you’re using Google Apps for your school or business, then you won’t see it quite yet. We’re working on making this available more broadly — so stay tuned!”
We will certainly be watching and waiting to see what’s next from the gang at Google.
