Google Voice: Now You Can Read Your Voice Mails
The new feature is based on the technology of GrandCentral Communications, which Google acquired in 2007, and positions Google opposite both Internet phone providers like eBay's Skype and traditional phone services.
"The new application improves the way you use your phone," said Google Voice product managers Craig Walker, Vincent Paquet and Wesley Chan in a Wednesday night post to the Google blog. "You can get transcripts of your voice mail and archive and search all of the SMS text messages you receive. You can also use the service to make low-priced international calls and easily access Goog-411 directory assistance."
The original GrandCentral design gave users a universal phone number to route calls to home, office and cell phones, and Google has preserved that functionality in Google Voice. The updates are in new Google speech-recognition technology that integrates Google's Goog-411 telephone directory service to automatically transcribe voice mails into text that can then be saved in Gmail or forwarded as SMS text messages.
A user can make calls via the Internet for free in the U.S. and call internationally for a small fee. Some of Google voice's features, including voice-mail transcription, also require a fee through Spinvox, Phone Tag and other start-ups, according to The New York Times.
The Times reported that international calls to land lines through Google Voice are "marginally cheaper" than Skype, but calls to international mobile devices are up to a third cheaper.
Some of the additional features, as described on the Google Voice home page include call screening, listen-in, call blocking, greeting personalization, the ability to forward and download voice mails, conference calling, call record, phone switch for calls in progress, and the ability to view your inbox from a mobile device.
According to Google, only current GrandCentral users can start using the feature immediately. Walker, Paquet and Chan wrote in the blog post that Google Voice will be rolled out for public consumption "soon," and set up an e-mail notification for updates.
Google and GrandCentral representatives told the Times and other news services Wednesday they don't see Google Voice as a threat to Skype or the AT&Ts and Verizons of the world, and don't plan for Google Voice to carrying Google's advertising platform.
"We can generate enough revenue from international calling to support the service," said Paquet, also GrandCentral's founder, to the Times.