Google Voice vs Skype

What was the Skype's killer feature that made it super-popular? Video calling. And on what Skype is making money? On IP-telephony. Google wasn't able to repeat the same trick with GTalk/GMail/Google Voice. Because people got used to Skype already. But maybe Google will succeed with the rapidly growing group video chat Google Hangouts. That's what Google is going to do - integrate Hangouts with IP-telephony. The new tool in Google Hangouts already allows to call landlines and mobile phones and connect people that are not currently by a computer to the online meeting. This is especially important for business meetings when you need to connect client or partner to your meeting. However, meanwhile these external calls work only in the United States and Canada (and work for free). But it's no doubt that soon it will become available in other countries via paid Google Voice calls.

VoIP-service in GMail, which was earlier available only in the U.S. and Canada, has appeared in the user accounts in almost all countries of the world - in 38 languages. Here is the list of countries where Gmail Call Phone is NOT currently available: Argentina, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iran , Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Peru, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam. With this global intervention, Google has lowered its VoIP rates, making them slightly cheaper than rates of its new main rival - Skype. For example, a call to France costs 8 cents (vs. 16.9 cents in Skype), to USA - 1 (vs. 1.9). As before GMail Call Phone requires quick browser plug-in installation - the same plug-in that is used for video calling in GMail.

Sold out to Microsoft, Skype on the one hand secured itself the bright future in the stable Microsoft empire, and on the other hand - killed its bright future as a global public communications service. No one ever will look at Skype, as at the independent service that suits everyone and works everywhere. This niche is now empty and someone has to take it. Besides, we expect that in the near future the communication services, owned by Microsoft rivals, will also make the considerable steps forward in order to keep the balance of power. Here are 5 products that (we think) will compete with Microsoft Skype:

As promised, Google has added the consumer services (that were previously only available for individual users) to the Google Apps suite. Last week they added Google Voice (for US and Canada users only) and today - allowed to add any of 60 Google services. Account administrator can select which services to add and which - not. Moreover, the administrator can define which users or groups will have access to each service. For example, for marketing staff he can add Adwords (for advertising), Google Analytics (for monitoring site stats), Blogger and YouTube (for corporate blog and video blog), and for IT professionals - Google App Engine (for developing business applications). Also potentially useful for business may be Google Reader (as an enterprise RSS reader) and Picasa (for intranet galleries). The opportunity to add new services is also available in the free version of Google Apps.

Few days ago the analytical company Frost & Sullivan stated that Google will soon storm the unified communications market, which is dominated by Cisco, Avaya and Microsoft. After all, Google has GMail, Google Voice, GTalk, Buzz, Gizmo5, Android, GISP and it remains just to combine all these technologies into single offering. And Google has decided to immediately confirm this forecast - from today GMail allows you to make and receive phone calls (thanks to the integration with Google Voice and Gizmo5). Meanwhile the VoIP service in GMail is available only in US.

As you know, Google services are popular both for business and for personal use. That is why, many users often have a need to switch from working to personal account (for example, to check mail). This required multiple logout/login procedures. But now this process will be much more easier - Google is rolling out multi-account sign-in that allows to switch between accounts using the top menu. You can activate this feature and add accounts on this page. However, switching between accounts will work not for all services - only for GMail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Sites, Google Voice, App Engine and Google Code. In addition, those who activate multi-account sign-in - would have to to give up the offline features in Gmail and Calendar. Recall that soon another related problem will be solved soon - some personal services (Google Reader, Blogger, Youtube ...) will become available in Google Apps accounts.

Video chat in GTalk (or more exactly, in GMail) has appeared more than a year ago. And we were confident that Skype will get the very strong competitor. Nevertheless, Skype's market share hasn't suffered at all. Even GMail users mainly continue using Skype for video calls. Probably, it's a question of a habit and Skype's great popularity. And perhaps, when Google adds calls to regular phones with the help of acquired Gizmo5 - this won't also change anything. Without offering some new revolutionary features, pushing Skype from the market will be extremely difficult. Especially now, when Skype introduced group video calling. However, it seems Google has a new idea. Today the company announced the acquisition of Swedish developer of VoIP and videoconferencing solutions - GIPS. GIPS technologies are used in Yahoo Messenger, Cisco WebEx and Lotus Sametime. And in addition, GIPS has created the best engine for video chat on Android.

Nine months (!) after Microsoft announced the acquisition of Skype, this messenger finally comes to Windows Phone (in beta version so far). Interestingly, already after the deal with Microsoft, Skype appeared on the competing platform Android and before that it worked on the iPhone. The things got so bad that in November 2011 Microsoft began to preinstall the alternative video chat app Tango on Windows Phones. But now this circus is over - Skype for Windows Phone is already available for free download from the marketplace. However, it doesn't work in the background, so for now you have to launch it every time to make a call or send a message (or launch it to receive a call). Also  the beta version doesn't allow to add/edit contacts. And if the absence of Skype was the only thing that stopped you from buying Windows Phone, do not forget about the main thing - check that the Windows Phone has a front camera when you buy it.

The new version of Skype for Windows 5.8 is already available. And it adds support of high-quality video calls in Full HD (1080p). However, to use this feature you'll need an internet channel not less than 2 Mbps and a special HD web-camera that can perform hardware video compression (e.g. Logitech C920). In addition, now it's possible to share your screen (or a separate application) to a group of people. Earlier, screen-sharing in Skype worked only in one-to-one calls. However, this feature is only available in the paid version. But the free version of Skype now allows to make video calls to your contacts from Facebook. Even if these contacts don't have installed Skype. They just have to open a browser window with Facebook.

Today in London, Nokia unveiled its first smartphones on Windows Phone (Mango) platform - Lumia 710 and Lumia 800. In general, they haven't disappointed anyone. Stylish, high quality, fast and reliable smartphones with pre-installed Mobile Office and Outlook, integrated to Exchange, SkyDrive, SharePoint, Office 365 - will surely attract business users. Of course, the price $580 (Lumia 800) - is not much different from the iPhone, but otherwise it has all chances to compete with iPhone and Android-devices. The only big cons - is that Nokia Lumia has no front camera, which means it doesn't support video chat, so important for business users. Why wasn't it installed? Nokia representative said that they simply had not enough time. But this is not the most shocking news about the video chat on Windows Phone.

Skype is making the second attempt to create the developer ecosystem around its service. The first attempt - Skype Extras - left an unpleasant aftertaste for developers. In 2009, after Skype was sold, the company unexpectedly announced that the Skype Extras catalog will be closed. Nevertheless the Extras where accessible in the Skype client until now, but users couldn't buy them using Skype credits. The new app directory is called Skype Apps and it replaces Extras in the Skype's Tools menu. But you also can't buy the applications in Skype Apps using Skype-credits. You have to go to the third-party site and order each application separately. The Skype Apps includes the special section for business apps. Basically there are apps for Call-Centers, call recording, screen-sharing, faxing and integration with other systems.

Mobile group-messaging services hit the social Web this year. Basically they are designed for communication and interaction with friends and family, but (as we know) such social technologies are rapidly find their way into Enterprise. One of such services GroupMe was yesterday bought by Skype for as much as $80 million. GroupMe allows to create a group and send text messages, photos to its members, start conference calls and share your location. For example, you send a message and all group members instantly receive it. Or you can call all them at once. Such a service could be useful for mobile work-groups, which need real-time communications. For example, equipment service companies.

Last March, before Skype was acquired by Microsoft, it announced that the GoToMeating web-conferencing tools will be integrated into Skype's client. It could be a logical partnership because GoToMeeting and Skype are often used together to organize online meetings. But then Microsoft bought Skype, and apparently the plan was changed. After all, Microsoft and Citrix (the owner of GoToMeeting) - are more rivals than friends. Anyway, yesterday GoToMeeting launched the new version with its own video tool called HDFaces. Moreover, HDFaces can not just replace Skype for GoToMeeting users, but also compete with Skype in the global enterprise video meating market.

After Microsoft's Skype acquisition we started looking for its replacement as of public communication service. And, apparently, not only we, but also the investors who want to raise money on this project. From now one of the main contenders for the Skype's place - is Tango. It has just closed $42 million in its Series B round of funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, notably the first outside investors in Skype. Tango launched 18 months ago and already has 18 million users. Every 2 weeks it adds a million. Until now, Tango was a mobile service. It allowed to make video calls on iPhone, iPad and Android (smartphones and tablets). But now it introduced the Windows app, and soon plans to create the Mac-client. So how is Tango different from Skype?