Google Gearing Up For VoIP and Other Telephony Services

Google and VoIP
On November 9, reports came out that Google purchased Gizmo5, a VoIP company, for $30 million. Skype was looking into buying Gizmo5 during their IP litigation, but were bought by Google instead. This merger is opening the door for Google to be a big contender in the VoIP world. With services like Google Voice and Google Talk already in place, some believe this was Google’s next step.

Before being acquired by Google, Gizmo5 already had the capabilities to use Google Voice, but now Google can use this merger and integrate Google Voice and Google Talk into one product.

With the New Year just around the corner, critics are wondering how much competition Gizmo5 will be for Skype. With gaining popularity within the last year, Skype has seen very few competitors, and Google seems to be leading the pack. Google has suspended Gizmo5 to new customers until the new reconstruction of its services have been completed, but existing customers still have access to their accounts. Even with all this speculation in the VoIP phone world, Google still might have something even bigger their sleeve.

The Google Phone
Rumors of an actual Goggle phone have been leaking out since October, but we should be hearing more about this phone early next year. Because Google hasn’t made an official statement on the phone, there are only well-sourced “rumors” at this time. Although we will probably have to wait until 2010 to get a better idea of what the phone will actually look like, everyone is wondering if it will be contending with the Droid and iPhone.

All in all it is looking like 2010 might be the year of Google’s telephony services. Business VoIP and VoIP services in general are going to see new services like Gizmo5 out with its new Google features, and even possibly a new Google phone. We all will just have to wait and see if Google can actually compete with services like Skype, Droid and iPhone.