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Last updated: Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Google’s push into the Web phone-calling market is likely to cut into sales by Internet phone companies such as eBay’s Skype unit, and could put pressure on Microsoft and Cisco, which sell online calling software to businesses. On July 15, Google released a downloadable Google Voice application for BlackBerrys and smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system, which could make the voice service more popular. In late June, Google concluded a private test of Google Voice and began inviting consumers on its waiting list to sign up for the service. Users of Google Voice use the Internet to make phone calls, listen to voice mails and read transcripts of them, and also to get a unified phone number that can track them down based on what phone they’re near. Google hopes to make inroads in the market for so-called Voice-over-Internet-Protocol phone calls by taking a friendlier stance toward wireless service providers than other VoIP companies have done. Google has additional advantages in the market: Upcoming products, including its Wave collaboration software and Chrome OS operating system could help spur usage of Google Voice on devices from smartphones to netbooks. “Our point is to make your existing services better, not to replace them,” says Craig Walker, a product manager at Google and founder of GrandCentral, the company Google acquired in 2007 that serves as the basis for its Voice software. Skype’s Hurdles in the Mobile Market Skype could be among the first to feel the pressure. A foray into mobile phones has been at the top of Skype’s agenda this year as the Web-calling company seeks to step up its revenue growth and prepare for an initial public offering next year. “It’s probably the biggest current threat to Skype,” Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, says of Google’s VoIP foray. Eventually, “it could…

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Google Voice: Trouble Calling for Skype?

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