Exclusive Video Of Unreleased Google Voice Desktop App
When Google acquired Skype competitor Gizmo5 in November 2009 it wasn't much of a stretch to anticipate a soft phone application for Google Voice to be coming soon. A few months later we heard that Google was dogfooding Google Voice Desktop internally.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google Voice began as the long-delayed relaunch of GrandCentral in March 2009 (GrandCentral finally launching as Google Voice), and the November 2009 acquisition of Gizmo5 — a Skype competitor with its own softphone technology — made a desktop client the obvious next step. By spring 2010 Google was reportedly dogfooding one internally.
Three weeks ago TechCrunch reported that the Google Voice Desktop launch had been delayed and might be scrapped entirely, leaving the project's fate unclear just after Google opened Voice to all users in June 2010 with free U.S. and Canada calling. Today's exclusive video is the first hard proof the app actually runs, which reframes the question from 'was it built?' to 'will Google ship it?' — and shipping it would put free PC-based calling head-to-head with Skype's core paid product.
First-order effects
- The footage resolves the doubt raised by the June 11 report: the client exists and functions, so Google's pending decision is a ship/no-ship call, not a build question.
- Skype's flagship desktop softphone — the exact category Gizmo5 played in before Google absorbed it — gains a credible, potentially free rival inside Google if the app launches.
Second-order effects
- Free domestic calling, which Google Voice extended to everyone in June 2010, moves from the phone network onto the PC next to Skype's per-minute PC-to-phone business, pressuring Skype's pricing model.
- Apple's tight control over iPhone applications sharpens as a strategic variable: a native desktop client lets Google reach users directly, outside any app-store gatekeeper.
Third-order effects
- If Google ships the client, voice calling completes its shift from a standalone product you buy to a feature bundled into a platform account — the same consolidation that folded GrandCentral into Google Voice.
- Independent VoIP vendors face structural pressure as OS-and-web platforms absorb the softphone, giving regulators a fresh test case on whether giving away what incumbents charge for constitutes anticompetitive bundling.
The trend: Consumer VoIP is moving from standalone paid softphones toward voice features bundled into free platform accounts, with Google's Gizmo5-derived desktop client the newest data point.