Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

In an announcement that came earlier this morning, Google has purchased Gizmo5. Now for those unfamiliar, Gizmo5 is a VoIP provider similar to Skype. Of course, you may be thinking, Google already has Google Voice, and that is a good point. However, that may only be one piece of the puzzle because while Google Voice allows you to make calls, even calls that can be initiated from your computer—you cannot make computer-to-computer calls. A combination of Google Voice and Gizmo5 could make for a nice all around calling solution, and one that could potentially rival Skype, which is something that Gizmo5 was never really able to accomplish on its own thus far.

With that though, it is important to point out that this is just speculation because while Google has confirmed the purchase of Gizmo5 they have yet to clue anyone else into what their plans for the service are. But when you think about it, that is par for the course. I also would not expect anything to happen quick. After all, look how long it took from the time Google purchased GrandCentral until they rolled out Google Voice. Just as a refresher, Google purchased GrandCentral in July of 2007 and did not roll out Google Voice (in limited beta form) until March of 2009.

Bottom line, while this Gizmo5 purchase is indeed interesting, it is important to keep the past in mind. It likely will be a long time before we see anything come from this purchase.

Read [TechCrunch]