As Google Voice approaches the point of being available to the masses, it’s garnering a lot of attention from mobile and hosted VoIP nuts (like me). In case you haven’t been following along as closely, Google Voice is a repackaged and retooled version of GrandCentral, a free “one number” VoIP voicemail service that Google bought while still in Beta testing back in July of 2007.
In the two years that have passed since the acquisition, however, Google has done a less than stellar job of maintaining this phone service and the droves of testers it inherited. New invitations were frozen, and the support forums became a barren wasteland devoid of developer response. At the beginning of this year, the gauntlet was finally thrown down by Judi Sohn of Salon.com, saying what everyone else was thinking.
Fast forward to now, and you have Google Voice finally on the diving board, ready to make a splash. But the question on the mind of many in the VoIP industry is, “is it too late?”
Everyone likes nifty gadgets that make our lives a little easier, and Google creates some of the best. But most of the time, they have the sense to make things that do one thing really simply and really well. The obvious example is found in their roots – today’s most dominant search engine. Google.com is the epitome of clarity meets power.
With Google Voice, however, they’re trying to do too much with too little. They’ve set out to be a one-stop shop for free VoIP unified communications, simplifying our lives with a host of communications tools like live call transfer, online voicemail, and conference calling. That’s a novel goal, sure, but the problem is they’re several years late to the game in many areas and are touting features that others have been doing better and faster for a long time.
For example, Google is boasting transcribed voicemail messages like it’s a revolutionary innovation. James Siminoff, CEO of PhoneTag, certainly had some choice words about the service’s voice transcription quality when it resurfaced back in March. PhoneTag’s solution is what has powered FreedomIQ’s TalkText™ voicemail transcription feature for several years, and what we’ve seen coming out of Google Voice isn’t even close.
The one major clincher that is going to draw people to Google Voice, outside of the simple fact that it’s from Google, is the word, “free”. I don’t question the advantage they can hold versus non-free competitors like Skype, but I do question just how much time they’re going to spend developing, troubleshooting, or improving a product that they’re giving away. When it comes to products I use for business, I would almost always rather chip in a few bucks a month if it means the service will be properly supported. You get what you pay for, and all that.
Don’t get me completely wrong – Google Voice has the potential to be great. At the end of the day, I hope the amazing talents at Google can produce something truly outstanding and become a player in pushing the limits of VoIP. But given just how little attention Google has paid to the product by shelving it for a couple of years and letting everyone else pass them by, I have serious doubts that Google Voice is going to do much but jog behind the rest of the pack as a free alternative to something good.
Google has invested in a million DID numbers, a new browser, new mobile phone OS, and new netbook OS – all while making powerful applications available online and formenting a new “app” community. I respectfully suggest you rethink your assumptions.
Hi Fred,
First, let it be known that I’m a fan of most everything Google does and has done recently — from Wave to Chrome to Chrome OS. I mean, Chrome is my default browser. How many people can say that?
Google’s apps and anything VoIP are easily my two favorite flavors of technology. I had my fingers crossed every time Google was cutting apps from development, hoping that Voice wouldn’t be one of them. Perhaps that’s why I’m more disappointed than anything about what I’m seeing. Google makes killer apps, hands down, and Google Voice is playing catch-up to the rest of the VoIP unified communications industry.
I didn’t expect Google Voice to be “on par” at best or “behind the curve” at worst when it finally landed — free or not. There remains a lot to be seen, but if Google Voice remains a free, “it is what it is” VoIP application, they’re squandering a lot of potential to really challenge Skype and other VoIP providers. It will nibble at market share, like Chrome, Android, etc., instead of leading the pack.
Maybe I’m being unfair in my expectations, but I think not in my assessment.
Question – How is GV handling things like PSTN gateways? Do they have POPs all over the US to handle going from PSTN to VoIP? Have they been schmoozing all the big telcos? I just have to wonder if AT&T is really going to play nice with a competitor like this.
Other questions I have: what codecs will GV support? Are they going to join the race to the bottom and use crap like GSM and G.729A? Say what you will about Skype and SILK but at least it sounds a lot better than G.711/GSM/G.729/etc.
I, too, am very interested in what Google is doing. However, after having worked with FreeSWITCH for a few years I’ve grown to have pretty high standards for what my voice services should be able to accomplish. :)
-MC
According the new book “What Would Google Do”, a large part of Googles effort is to sell stuff “for free”. I see this as proof of concept. Google is investing $1M in DID numbers alone, so using this as a bell weather, let’s say they need to recoup ad revenue at some pennies per click or voice minutes at pennies per minute to break even. That means their ROI is 20 clicks or 80 talk minutes per month.
Now, there is nothing saying Google will give the DIDs awat for free, but it can be seen they won’t lose anything if they charge, say, $10.00 a year for the number. Now you are a captive audience, because “one number anywhere” is a very compelling product.
But what if you are retrieving a voice mail from Google and want to call someone back in Timbuctu right NOW? Well, you click “call them back”, make the call instantly, and only pay $0.12 for the convenience. Now you are introduced to Googles voice network. Google made $.02 on the call.
Imagine you are now out and about and need to call Timbuctu again. You simply call your Google number, click “call them back” again and you have now paid another $.12 – coincidentally $.12 less than if you had used the phone back home, and again, Google made $.02 on the call.
This time imagine you are at home and want to call “Mom” and you remember how you saved $.12 on that call to Timbuctu. Now you pick up your phone at home, call your Google number, dial in “Mom” and are using Google’s network to make routine calls. You save $.12 and Google makes $.02.
Now you make all your calls through your Google number.
And let’s not forget the initial application, “one number anywhere”, is really keeping people off your back and best of all – it’s “free”!
That’s just one way they will make money doing this. There will a lot more.
IMHO there are some smart people working at Google.
Fred,
One number voicemail services have been around for ages. We here at FreedomVOICE have been doing this as a business/professional application in the US & Canada with toll free numbers and local DIDs since 1996.
And these services include everything Google Voice and you are now touting like they’re new — online voicemail management, click-to-call, “cardless calling card” for making outbound calls through your number, live call transfer, voicemail transcription, and features Google Voice doesn’t have like an auto attendant and automatic call distribution (ACD). This service is not new. This service is not revolutionary. In fact, as I’ve stated, the product is somewhat behind the rest of the industry when it comes to some of these key features.
The only things that will serve as a differentiator will be brand and price, and price only if it’s “free,” in the strict sense. The minute they start charging per minute and/or monthly fees to recoup their DID, advertising, and per minute costs, the product will lose its mysterious “free” luster and be lost amidst a sea of inexpensive one number voicemail providers that are frankly more stable and more experienced in telecommunications.
Hi Nick,
Right you are – that these services have been around for years.
Indeed, most of us already know DISA, AA, and all the rest.
Wrong you are – that the “only” way Google can sell is for “free”.
Look at the iPhone. Nothing new there. We’ve all seen apps before.
But now, it’s the perfect storm. For Apple and for Google.
The technology is right and now, even the people are right.
Never mind FreedomVOICE thought of it first.
FreedomVOICE is not Google.
Never mind I get my VoIP for $1.00 a month and $.01 a minute.
I am not Google.
That’s not the point.
The point is I expect to make money from Googles iniative.
IMHO, it’s not about selling VoIP apps anymore.
It’s about selling the mix that’s right at the right time.
Anyway, Nick, I never meant to put you on the defensive.
Especially in your own house. And very especially since
we’re not really talking apples to apples, anyway, are we?