Rumors have been buzzing about since June, but Google just made it official -- the company's baking Google Voice calls right into Gmail today. Like the Google Chat text, voice and video chat integrated into the web-based email client last year, full phone calls will also be an option. Google's demoing the service for us in San Francisco this morning, and it's looking like it's not free, but fairly cheap -- a product manager just called Paris for $0.02 a minute. Incoming calls pop up as a chat window in Gmail (and ring your Google Voice-equipped phones simultaneously) and you press a 'Call phone' button that appears near the top of the Chat window to send an outbound call, at which point a dialer appears where you can copy/paste numbers or tap them in manually. Users can screen incoming calls or send them to voicemail with a single tap.
Google just announced you'll be able to make calls to US and Canadian landlines completely free of charge. You'll be able to buy prepaid credits using Google Checkout for international landline calling at $0.02 a minute and up to $0.19 for calls to international mobile devices, with credits available in a few weeks, but the Voice in Gmail service goes live today in the US and will begin rolling out to users immediately. Google's only committed to free calls to US and Canadian landlines through the end of the year, as paid international calls are the sole revenue stream here: 'Our hope is we'll be able to make enough margin on international calls to keep offering it at that low price,' a product manager told us.
Google introduces Voice in Gmail, free calls to US and Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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