New Google Service

"Google doesn’t confuse me very often. Like most people, I find the company’s products very easy to use; and generally easy to learn too. But once in a while they make me scratch me head.


Earlier this week, Google announced that it was integrating voice and video chats into Gmail. The company apparently confused others too, as the New York Times wrote: “Google entered a new business beyond Internet search … with a service within Gmail to make phone calls over the Web to landlines or cellphones.” The Times even asserted that the service “will thrust Google into direct competition with Skype.”



In reality, Google has been in the phone business for quite some time — and has been directly competing with Skype, whether it admits it or not. It has been offering voice calls; and has been in the video business too, although in a somewhat different way — through the company’s ubiquitous YouTube.



It’s almost impossible while watching TV or reading the paper (or even your own U.S. Postal mail) to avoid Verizon commercials featuring Droids, phones based on Google’s own Android software. You don’t even need an Android phone to use Google for voice communications, because it can be added to some Blackberry, Palm, Nokia, Windows Mobile smart phones, and even iPhones.



Google’s latest offering is to integrate the voice and video conferencing service through Gmail. That’s a good thing if you’re a Gmail user who wants to dump a Skype account and maybe even Vonage or other IP phone — because it puts these capabilities at your fingertips within your Gmail account. But anybody who had been using GoogleTalk in the past was able to instigate a voice call.



The biggest difference that I can see so far is the ability to reach out to telephones that aren’t in your contacts — even landlines. Dial the number; then start talking. In GoogleTalk, you need a previous connection to the person through your GoogleTalk contacts.

That’s a big advantage because it means you don’t have to have a phone near you to reach somebody else’s home phone. But who doesn’t have a phone near them these days? Almost every adult I know has at least a cell phone — most of them seem to have these devices attached to their ears.




So beyond my “what’s the big deal?” thoughts, is my confusion over the way Google is offering the product. I installed the required software plug-in, called “voice and video chat,” and it did all the right things, I thought. But I can’t make a call.



The company says I can start making calls when the phone icon appears on my screen. But that hasn’t happened. Does that mean there’s a delay of hours or days to get it to appear? Or does it mean I’m in a waiting line to be accepted into the program?



Not a good start for a product with promise.



We can hope Google overcomes this bad start. I can see where I might use the service when I don’t want to walk across the room to grab a real phone. Still it depends on how much Google charges for calls. They’re free until the end of the year for domestic calls, but will cost you anywhere from 2 cents to 19 cents for international calls based on destination."

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