Google to Integrate Google Voice with Gmail [RUMOR]
Google is testing a new feature in Gmail, in which a phone icon opens a special Gmail chat window consisting of a dialpad, contact search, credit balance and a call button. The feature is not yet publicly available.
A couple
of weeks ago we asked whether Google (
) was
building a Skype
competitor after Google acquired VoIP company Global IP Solutions
(GIPS). Google also acquired another VoIP-related company, Gizmo5, in late 2009 and integrated its team with
Google’s own Google Voice team.
Now, it’s all coming together in Gmail (),
which already offers voice chat to users. Google Voice (
) lets
you do VoIP over the phone, but integrating that with Gmail’s voice
chat feature means that you could call anyone directly from Gmail,
finally solidifying Google’s VoIP offering as a true Skype ()
competitor.