Key points• Google has announce it will launch a £2 billion online phone service
• Google Talk will also allow users to send text messages
• Experts say the service posed a further threat to landline services
Key quote
“People making calls over the internet will be able to use video and send files as well as talking. It offers more opportunities than the old restrictive phone calls.” - Andrew Craig, editor of Web User magazine
Story in fullSEARCH engine giant Google yesterday announced it is taking on the world’s phone operators with a £2 billion service enabling users to make free calls over the internet.
Google Talk will let surfers with broadband connections make voice calls to any computer in the world which has the same software installed.
Although smaller companies are already offering the service, Google’s massive spending power and online user base should see the technology moving into the mainstream.
Industry experts predicted that the launch posed a further threat to the future of the landline as more telephone voice traffic is transferred to the internet and mobiles.
BT has seen revenues from its traditional landline business slide while profits from “new wave” services such as broadband have soared.
Andrew Craig, editor of Web User magazine, said: “People making calls over the internet will be able to use video and send files as well as talking. It offers more opportunities than the old restrictive phone calls.”
Google claims little technical know-how is needed, and the calls will require only a headset and a microphone attached to the user’s computer.
Google Talk is also an instant messaging client which allows users to swap text messages with each other. It pitches Google into direct competition with similar instant messaging services from rivals such as AOL, Yahoo and MSN’s messenger.
However, the ability to use the software to make free phone calls over broadband, technically known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is seen as the explosive growth area for online companies.
That market has been grown in the last two years by Skype, the Luxembourg-based software firm which claims 51 million users worldwide, half of those in Europe. It offers a basic free service but also premium paid-for facilities like SkypeOut, which allows users to call a conventional landline or mobile phone from their computer.
To install Google Talk, surfers must have one of the search engine’s e-mail accounts, called Gmail.
Georges Harik, Google Talk product management director, said the software “enriches our users’ communications experience, whether they choose to communicate via e-mail, instant messaging, or a call.”
Google Talk will initially only let users connect to others running the same software, but the company is understood to be planning versions that will dial landlines or mobiles.
However Google chat users will not be able to talk to the instant messaging communities of AOL, Yahoo and MSN, which operate their chat systems as closed worlds to avoid haemorrhaging users to rivals.
Analysts believe instant messaging is a good way of tying surfers to an online brand.
Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, said: “It makes sense for Google to come up with additional ways to attract users and keep them on the Google website longer.”
COMPUTER SPEAK
SYSTEMS like Google Talk use a system called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) which does not involve ordinary phone lines.
To make calls, users download software from the company offering the service and register with a user name. They also need a microphone and speakers or phone headset attached to their computers.
To place a call, users click on a list of contacts who have installed the same programme.
Speech is then broken up into small data packets and sent via the internet.
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