Google Voice Open to All
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 · 
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About a year ago, Google launched Google Voice, a service with cool features such as transcribed voice mail and call control. At that point, it was a limited preview, and required an invitation to join. In May, Google announced it was targeting students, allowing anyone with a .edu email address to have immediate access. Today, Google Voice is now open to anyone — well, anyone living in the United States that is.
“Over the past year, we’ve introduced a mobile web app, an integrated voicemail player in Gmail, the ability to use Google Voice with your existing number and more. Over a million of you are now actively using Google Voice, and many of the features released over the past year (like SMS to email and our Chrome extension) came as a result of your suggestions, so thanks!”
So head on over to Google Voice and try it out. Maybe it will spark some ideas of things you might offer to your customers, but at a minimum, you should see what your competition is up to.
Update: According to Bloomberg (and others), Frontier is suing Google Voice over a patent dispute. Stay tuned to see how this turns out!
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The Google Voice transcript sounds great in principle, but it still has a way to go. It can often lead to some funny transcripts or transcripts that do not make sense, such as:
“Hey Ken, Good afternoon, John become a little before 5:30 on Saturday. Wanted to check with you on pictures piggy backs, I recall trying to get them all together, but I really don’t recall getting you up, drive, or it yet. I’m not sure if I get that. I kinda think I did put and I’m not entirely sure, so I just want to check with you and the if I did give me a call back. Thanks. Bye. “
Very true Ken. Here’s one I received recently:
“Again. That’s the time. The number on the other phone, so gimme a call when you get 3 bye.”
Real message:
“Hey Kev. Must be talking to Amber on the other phone, so gimme a call when you get free. Bye”