Back in May, a screenshot from an Adobe Breeze presentation yielded an interesting Google Talk screenshot which included new links like “show dial-pad,” “call details,” and “close.” This gave us great indication that Google has plans of incorporating a calling feature where users would be able to dial-out and place phone calls right from Google Talk.
Today’s rumors that Google has acquired GrandCentral gives further indication that you’ll be calling family and friends from Google Talk soon. GrandCentral is a fairly new start-up who proudly states that their services provide you with “The New Way to Use Your Phones.” Their goal is to simplify your life by providing “one phone number for all your phones, for life.” My initial thought is since they currently ring all of your phones (home, work, cell based upon who’s calling, and rules you’ve set), they would also be able to ring your Google Talk.
They also offer one voicemail box where all of your messages are stored. This means that you’re able to check your messages by phone, email, or online. Their virtual inbox allows you to actually view who messages are from before listening to them (similar to Visual Voicemail with the iPhone). With their service, you could also block callers with their spam filtering.
Given that GrandCentral allows you to view a list of your voicemails in a virtual inbox online and then play them, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Google incorporated this feature into Gmail. Users would be able receive all of their voicemails right in their Gmail inbox, and then play them with the built-in MP3 player. They already offer this option with Google Talk using their VoIP calling, so this would be a likely integration.
TechCrunch reports that they have a “high degree of confidence that the deal has actually been closed,” but no official announcement from Google has been made yet.
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Tags: Google, Acquisition
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Wonder if Google will allow free calling to land and cell phone lines like Skype did for a while. *tear* I miss that.
Google buying Grand Central seems like a perfect fit. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Techcrunch’s “high degree of confidence” turns out to be right.
That was definitely nice, although I didn’t take advantage of it much. Knowing Google though they would do something similar. Maybe they’ll insert ads into the middle of a conversation.
Yeah, more often than not he is right.