Google Voice announced

[ktinkel]

There was once a clever service called Grand Central. It provided its users with a unified phone number so they would receive their calls regardless of what line the call was made to. It was acquired by Google a couple of years ago, and pretty much drifted out of sight.

Today Google announced what it has done with it: Google Voice. They are rolling it out first for the orphaned Grand Central subscribers, and then to all of us. It has many interesting features, including very fast transcription so you can read voicemail in your e-mail. And much, much more.

Free, evidently (except for calls abroad, which cost less than with Skype).

David Pogue’s NY Times column today describes the service. It mainly describes Grand Central, but also notes some differences in the Google version. Still very interesting.

I guess people are taking this seriously. There was also a piece in the Times today that considers the market effect of Google Voice: “Google’s Free Phone Manager Could Threaten a Variety of Services.”