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article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=70848&tsp=1 (San Francisco Chronicle's "SFGate") Google launches Internet telephone service with free U.S. calls
Google Inc. unveiled a service on Wednesday that allows Gmail users to initiate free phone calls to the U.S. and Canada from within the e-mail product, directly taking on other Internet calling services and traditional telecommunications companies.The Mountain View search giant is linking together its Google Voice call forwarding service with Gmail's chat feature, allowing users to launch Internet-based calls through the Web browser and talk using their computer's built-in speaker and microphone (or a headset if they prefer).
"Gmail is a great way to handle all your online communications and Google Voice is a great way to handle all your phone communications," said Craig Walker, product manager for real time communications at Google. "We thought, wouldn't it be great if we could bring all these things together."
It's the latest in a series of Gmail additions that are increasingly transforming the service into an all-in-one communications tool, where people can manage their contacts, e-mailing, chatting, video conferencing and now phone calls. For Google, the features all encourage users to spend greater amounts of time within the company's network, providing more opportunity to deliver the targeted ads that are Google's lifeblood.
There are no major technical advances here, as people have been able to make phone calls over the Internet with services like Skype or Vonage for years. But the packaging and pricing might be different enough to represent a new level of competition.
By working through Gmail, Google can automatically tap into its installed base of around 150 million users. Moreover, the service doesn't require any software downloads and, in many cases, will be cheaper than the alternatives.
The company is committing to free calling rates to the U.S. and Canada for at least the rest of the year. Most international calls will be cheaper than typical mobile rates, though not usual landline ones, the company said. Google won't be charging the standard one-time connection fees either.
Click here for a list of calling rates.
The service, which will not be available over mobile phone browsers initially, will roll out to U.S. users over the next few days.
The new unnamed service includes many of the features that have drawn people to Google Voice. Those include the ability for one number to ring several phones, delivery of voice mails as transcribed e-mails and texts, and greetings that can be customized to particular callers.
Users can launch calls by clicking on the "Call phone" option at the top of their chat list and then dialing a number or entering a name from their contact list.
Google Inc. A screenshot of the new Google calling service.
Here's a Google video showcasing the new service:
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