November 17, 2009 by James Oliver
Google has purchased an Internet Phone company called gizmo5 with a view to integrating the service with the embryonic Google Voice. The sale took place for an undisclosed sum and was described on the Google blog thus, “Gizmo5′s engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience.”
Cynical commentators – like me – might point out that the focus might be more on the Google Voice side of things than the Gizmo5, though Google are maintaining that current Gizmo5 five users will be able to continue using the service though, tellingly, the service has been suspended for new users, with Gizmo5 unable to take on new users until further notice.
All of this reinforces the notion that the search engine leader may be attempting to design its own full internet telephony service, maybe even attempting to compete with skype, the current market leaders.
It won’t be an easy path, however. Google has already been forced to defend itself against complaints from AT&T that Google voice is selective and discriminates against users in high charge rural areas. Delegates from Google Voice are in Washington this week making their case to the FCC.
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