Click to call phone numbers
With the ability to call phones built right into Gmail, you no longer have to get out your phone and retype a number anytime someone send you one in an email or chat message. Starting today, you'll see that phone numbers appear as links, like this:
Context & Ripple Effects
Gmail added phone calling in August 2010 after a testing phase for voice calls inside the inbox, following plans to integrate Google Voice as a VoIP service. The March update removes a separate copying step when a number appears in email or chat, making that calling capability part of ordinary message handling.
The change extends Gmail’s pattern of adding workflow features such as delegation and Priority Inbox: communication and inbox management are being joined inside the same interface.
First-order effects
- Gmail users can launch an integrated phone call directly from phone numbers received in email or chat rather than manually re-entering them.
- Google makes its existing Gmail calling feature more reachable at the moment a user encounters a contact number, including for users who had not sought out the calling interface.
Second-order effects
- Email and chat correspondents become a more direct source of call activity for Gmail, tying the value of the calling feature to the volume of messages containing phone numbers.
- Gmail’s communication workflow becomes more integrated than products that leave users to transfer numbers between a message window and a separate phone or calling application.
Third-order effects
- If Gmail continues to turn message content into actions, the inbox is shifting from a destination for correspondence toward a hub that coordinates email, chat, and voice interactions.
The trend: Google is embedding voice functions into Gmail’s existing messaging workflows, reducing the boundaries between inbox communication and phone calling.