By Just like TechCrunch claimed would happen, Google has officially announced their purchase of Gizmo5:
Today we’re pleased to announce we’ve acquired Gizmo5, a company that provides Internet-based calling software for mobile phones and computers. While we don’t have any specific features to announce right now, Gizmo5’s engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience. Current Gizmo5 users will still be able to use the service, though we will be suspending new signups for the time being, and existing users will no longer be able to sign up for a call-in number.
This is great news for Android enthusiasts as you can expect the integration between your Android Phone and Google Voice to grow with time, especially considering the implications of this purchase. I’ve graciously dismissed suggestions that Google will launch it’s own gPhone, but if they ever do, I’m betting it’ll be a solution that utilizes Google Voice as the core calling functionality with a dramatically smaller need for a traditional calling plan.
The dots are far from connected… but each purchase is carefully plotted point on the map and I’m sure Google engineers are working hard to wind all these seemingly separate solutions into one ultra-integrated and seamless experience. And that my friends… that is extremely exciting.
I love Google Voice and Gizmo5 integration on a smart phone will be exciting. But you still need data plan for that (unless you only use it over WiFi at home and work). I’m afraid that the carrier will just increase the price for data plan in the future.
That was all GV was missing. A true VOIP experience. Wireless telcos have just been put on notice, Google is ready to stir up some trouble! It was only a matter of time before Google setup a true VOIP experience with Google Voice thus eliminating the need to use actual plan minutes to make WiFi calls. Woot!
all i want is a UMA android app.
a simple ubiquitous app that works for outgoing and incoming with ease.
just like those crackberries have.
my g-1 does everything but, talk on wifi.
i don’t even care about paying for air time.
just give me wifi calling.
I like free and everything but will there ever be a point where using products that circumvent paying for a service is going to backfire? All companies have to make a profit to stay in business and if Google and other companies find ways to eliminate their revenue stream they will have to raise their prices for the average non-techie consumer or they will go out of business. If they go out of business then the companies that have used them to provide free services will also be SOL. I love how people can come up with ingenious technologies like Google Voice and Gizmo5 but I wonder if there are going to be long term repercussions that won’t be so desirable. I’m not complaining but slightly concerned.
Very Happy using Skype on Win-mobile with wifi. Works at home with free wifi hotspot (access by CPE wifi repeater on roof mount for long range). Works at free wifi hotspots on the go. (unobstructed proximity to wifi router is critical for good voice flow).
$60 year Skype unlimited /w incoming local number, 10 cent min cell phone for backup ($100 year) and equipment costs (Skype LAN node /w DECT phone $150, $130 for wifi CPE).
Dear Google, thank you for taking over the world. You’re like Microsoft, but more fun and free. You never do the bait and switch (it’s free but I’ll jab ya later) like Gizmo5, so you will no doubt change that business model stat. I plan to continue to let you take over my life and I am ok with that. Love, basschica
This is interesting. Phones in the future will not even need minutes or text messaging plans, all they’ll need is data. Unfortunately, since we live in a corrupt capitalist society, all that means is the phone companies will just arbitrarily raise the price of data for people who want to us Google Voice.
GV still has a long way to go though.. for example, without SMS push notifications, their SMS feature is basically useless to me.
Well it may be that we don’t need plans, that’s good. It’s right that they loose that as it’s all just data anyways. Data plans will always be expensive I guess, but won’t a lot of the costs just be for paying off the auctions for 3G services (ie it’s actually a tax!).
@Nu3us2
I want to do the same but on an android phone. :) I pay for skypeout now but skypein is not available in Canada. Just wondering can you make calls via G3 when out of wifi range?
@mikeeeee,
Its called Sipdroid
@Buckalou: you’ve been skipping your history classes haven’t you ;)
@nom – my thoughts exactly! I remember when everyone said that about Gmail too….
bring on dumb pipe wireless broadband. but once that gets here, there will be so much competition and so no profit in providing internet service, or super consolidation and high prices with no choice. its a natural monopoly and it will only make sense to eventually treat it like highways, run by the government and paid for with taxes. but that reality could provide a really cool world of open source technology and a choice of providers for all these different services as wild as your choice of web host is today. imagine all these services, truly independent. like today, you could roll your own. or the tech becomes so simple and the data so interchangeable that you just choose your host for like $30 a month and have your own domain transferred around. all these cloud-type services become connected services on your host’s servers, but its easy to switch. email, voip, im/sms, social, feed cloud, data backup, calendar, maps – all on a host’s servers or one you roll yourself, but so modular that its super easy to migrate. but ill take gvoip till then
Watch for GuerrillaTel… rumour has it that they plan to launch an international LD service for Android that handles calls over wi-fi (& 3G) by December. Free to other SIP clients anywhere in the world. Super cheap if terminating the call on the PSTN.
Gizmo5 isn’t rocket science. The carriers are dumb pipes… they just keep repackaging the same tired “value adds” so that consumers have a hard time comparison shopping.
These services are already combined in a poor yet operable app called guava. Doesn’t work great, but it does give you free calls using voip.
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I’m with Basschica, keep up the good work Google and hurry up with getting Gizmo5 live again. It’s only a matter of time before cell carriers raise their rates to offset the increased bandwith from the mobile internet users. I say charge it off to the dumbphone users…lol