Google announced via Twitter on Thursday that their Google Voice service received one million Gmail calls on its first day.
While Google Voice was actually opened to the public back in July, they didn't see a lot of initial success. The service is similar to Skype and many others, providing free calling to the US and Canada, and low rates on international calls. Google puts their own spin on Google Voice, providing free phone numbers, universal voicemail, and now integration with your Gmail account.
It is the latter that has led to Google's recent success with Google Voice. After integrating with Gmail on Wednesday, Google reported Thursday via Twitter that they had “Over 1,000,000 calls placed from Gmail in just 24 hours!”
While there is not a mobile app that integrates Gmail and Google Voice, there is a standalone Google Voice application available for Android and Blackberry. The app lets you place and receive calls from your phone using the devices data service, meaning you can sign up for the Google Voice and not have to sit by your computer to use it.
The service is based on Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, and it uses the internet to transfer conversations digitally from one place to another, negating the need for the old telephony infrastructure. Because of this, the cost of providing VoIP service is just a fraction of what it costs to provide standard telephone service. This translates into cheaper prices for the consumer, or in the case of Google Voice, no prices at all for domestic calls.
Google has an uphill battle to break into the VoIP market, but the same thing was said about the search engine market, the email market, the cellphone market, internet advertising, and many others. Google has shown the innovation needed to break into nearly any market they wish, in large part to their firm belief in the aggregation of information, and in the business model of providing free-to-consumer advertising supported versions of every product they provide.
It isn't going to be easy, but Google Voice will most likely stake its claim as a contender in the VoIP market.
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