Google Testing Google Voice Desktop App Internally
Last November Google acquired Gizmo5, a VoIP service that competed with Skype by making P2P VoIP calls as well as making and receiving calls with POTS (normal landlines) and mobile phones. — Gizmo5 fills some of the holes in the Google Voice product …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google’s November Gizmo5 acquisition added peer-to-peer VoIP and landline/mobile calling capabilities adjacent to Google Voice. An internally tested desktop client suggests Google is examining how to bring those pieces into a PC-based calling experience.
Google Voice’s calling features had already prompted telecoms to respond to its approach to calling. A desktop endpoint would extend that competitive pressure from phone-number management into the software clients where Skype operates.
First-order effects
- Google can test whether Gizmo5’s VoIP capabilities and Google Voice’s call-management functions work together in a desktop application before making a public product commitment.
- Skype faces a potential challenge from a Google service that can pair desktop calling with Google Voice’s existing phone-number and routing features.
Second-order effects
- Telecom providers responding to Google Voice must account for a service that could reach users through desktop software as well as phone-based calling workflows.
- A combined Google Voice-Gizmo5 client would make the desktop application, rather than the underlying VoIP connection alone, a more important point of competition with Skype.
Third-order effects
- If Google turns internal testing into a product, Internet calling competition shifts toward integrated identity, phone-number control, and multi-endpoint software rather than stand-alone desktop VoIP clients.
- The Gizmo5 deal illustrates how an acquired communications network can be used to fill product gaps in a broader calling platform.
The trend: Voice services are converging around software platforms that combine conventional phone connectivity with VoIP across multiple user endpoints.