Ever since Google relaunched GrandCentral as Google voice a few weeks ago I’ve been thinking about what Google voice’s true purpose and future might entail. Many have over-hyped the launch as the death of hardware based phone systems, while others have ho-hummed Google’s efforts as half-baked.
Personally I think that Google voice is merely a feature of greater service offering Google is trying to put together. But what that greater service offering might be is still to be determined.
A hint as to what Google may looking to do with Google voice was uncovered in a BBC story late last week. The story, entitled “Google see voice search as core” speaks to Google’s ambition to dominate the mobile search space through voice activated search.
According to their VP of Engineering Vic Gundota, “[Google] believes voice search is a new form of search and that it is core to [Goolge’s] business.” There’s even talks about voice enabling Google’s email product, Gmail.
It seems likely (given this information) that Google is prepping Google voice as a front end for their search and mail products, NOT preparing an assault on the hosted VoIP or Virtual PBX space.
This of course would be good for business VoIP providers and users of Google’s services. Google can be a force in any market, but it also has not shown the ability to drive successful product offerings outside of its core of search and advertising.
Since it’s Monday and many of you are still clearing the cobwebs, I’m leaving the comments open for your thoughts on what Google might be doing with Google voice.
I know you’ve got something to say…
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I have had GV for about 2 weeks and I love it. If you want to see it in action I just posted a walkthrough / review to my blog at techietalker.com
I think there are practical uses for anyone and best of all the service is free.