Google on Wednesday began offering free and low-cost online phone
calls to Gmail users in the US through the integration of its Gmail
and Google Voice services.
At a media event at its San Francisco office, Gmail product manager
Todd Jackson, Google Voice product manager Vincent Paquet, and
Google communications product manager Craig Walker recounted how
Gmail has grown from an e-mail client into a communications hub
that supports Google Talk instant messaging, video and voice chat,
and now phone calls.
"We have this communications platform between computers and
phones," said Paquet. "Up until now, those platforms didn't
communicate with each other, and that's what's about to
change."
By integrating Google Voice with Gmail, Google may be able to help
Google Voice avoid the fate of another one of its perhaps too
innovative services, Google Wave. Gmail has hundreds of millions of
active users and exposing them to the opportunity to make free and
low-cost calls should encourage wider use of Google Voice.
Google Voice was made available to the public in June after a
lengthy period of closed testing. Walker declined to reveal current
user numbers for the service; in June, Google said it had over a
million active users of Google Voice.
Gmail users will be able to make calls from their Web browser --
provided there's a mic and speakers -- to the phones of people in
the U.S. and Canada for free, at least for the remainder of the
year, and at a low rate internationally.
"We're saving people a lot of money," said Walker. "The prices we
offer this at are super-competitive."
According to a price comparison chart published by Google, a call
from Gmail to a U.K. landline is billed at USD 0.02 per minute,
compared to USD 0.021 plus a connection fee using a "leading
Internet telephony provider," presumably Skype. A call from Gmail
to a UK mobile phone is billed at USD 0.18 per minute, compared to
USD 0.253 per minute plus a connection fee.
Walker said that Google is committed to maintaining free calls to
the U.S. and Canada through the end of the year, and that the
current plan is to maintain this rate. He said that Google believes
it can make enough money on international calls to sustain the
service.
Gmail users can make calls without a Google Voice account but
cannot receive them; those doing so will appear to be calling from
a generic number, which, if called, will promote Google Voice.
Paquet said Google was not ready to offer Gmail calling to business
customers using Google Apps. While he would not explicitly state
that Google is working on administrative controls to make the
service manageable by IT administrators, he made it clear that
Gmail calling for Google Apps users will appear eventually.
Gmail calling for users outside the US is also under development
and localized versions can be expected in the months ahead.
Walker said that Google continues to work aggressively to allow
users to port their existing phone numbers to Google Voice.
However, he was unwilling to commit to a specific timeline for
availability.
To promote Gmail calling, Google will be deploying Google Voice
phone booths at airports and on campuses for travelers and
students.