First, it scored a home run. Then, it diversified and scored a touchdown. And now, acquisition shark Google has scored a goal – branching out yet again and adding another boogie to its train of acquisitions – phone management tool GrandCentral.
GrandCentral (Google has announced that the name of the company shall remain the same) was formed in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet – two executives who had previously worked for Dialpad Communications, a company acquired by Yahoo in 2005. It runs a beta, VoIP powered web-based service that allows users to link and manage multiple phones from a single number and voicemail account which they can use for life. Here are a few reasons why you should be so out-of-your-mind so as to spend $10 a month on this service (It’s free for light users, but most of GrandCentral’s users are paying ones) –
1) It allows you to listen to voicemail messages online, or from any phone. You can also forward them to anybody, add the caller to your address book or tag him as spam and block him.
2) It lets you listen to voicemail messages while they’re being recorded, and let’s you switch a call from your cell phone to your desk-phone and back again.
3) If you have multiple phone numbers (home phone, work phone, cell phone), you can get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some or none of your phones, based on who’s calling. Depending on how he’s set up in your address book, the caller will automatically be routed to the appropriate number. This way, your phone number is tied to you and not your location or job.
4) Services provided by GrandCentral have many features that complement existing phone services. All in all, you’ll have a lot more control over your phones.
Ok, so now you’re asking “Where do I sign up?” Glad to hear you’re out-of-your-mind enough. I have both good, and bad news for you.
Let’s start with the tragedy. GrandCentral has announced that while existing customers will continue to have uninterrupted access to their service, new users will be accepted only by invitation, and that there’re only a limited number of them available. That’s one reason to cry. Another is that you can only sign up for an invitation if you have a US telephone number. Now dry up your tears. Getting a US telephone number ain’t that difficult a job. There are many VoIP providers that provide you with a US number upon registering with them, You can read Vinay's post about Free Incoming Numbers
So effectively, you still have a chance of registering with GrandCentral. Remember, the early bird gets the worm, so the sooner you head over to GrandCentral, and register, the better your chances (though why anybody would want to eat worms is beyond my logical and comprehensive ability).
Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet – founders of GrandCentral – declared that the acquisition (which reportedly cost Google $50 Million) will enable them to add more innovative features to GrandCentral, many of which will remain free. Over on Google’s side, the company refrained from declaring any future plan, which led to lots of speculative speculation by news agencies and bloggers alike. From rumors of Google preparing a mobile device, to talks of Google integrating the service in to Gmail and Google Talk, to tittle-tattles of Google including GrandCentral’s technology in a larger telephony offering similar to Skype, weblogs all over the world have discussed them all, with, naturally, no definitive conclusion. What Google REALLY wants to do with GrandCentral is… well, it’s…. umm…. aah forget it. I’m a News Editor, not an investigative journalist, remember?
And so ends the tale of Google acquiring yet another company. If this trend continues, Google will soon become an octopus – so many services, one brand name. And Google, if someday you decide to adopt an octopus image as your logo, just remember – I thought of it first.
This post is written by Samarth Chandola, Full time VOIP News Editor for Free VOIP Guide, The only Free VOIP Guide on the Internet.
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