Google Voice is a free service that lets you unify multiple phone numbers such as your work, home and mobile lines into one number. If you receive a call, all your phones will ring at once, allowing you to pick up your call no matter which phone you’re near. In June, Google made Voice available to all U.S.-based users after more than a year as an invitation-only preview.
Google Voice Video
The online petition asking Google to release the Google Voice desktop app was inspired by a TechCrunch video demonstrating a desktop telephony program called Gizmo5 by Google. The application takes its name from Gizmo5, an Internet-based telephony service for PCs and mobile devices, that Google acquired in late 2009. At the time of the acquisition many pundits believed Google purchased Gizmo5 to produce Google Voice software and with Internet-based telephony services like Skype.
Despite the prognostications, however, Google never announced it would produce a desktop telephony client. In fact, in a recent interview with eWeek, Vincent Paquet, Google’s product manager for Google Voice said the search giant was focused on improving Google Voice as a Web app. “The direction in which [Google Voice is] going to keep working is to use the Web, which is probably the best UI there is in the world,” Paquet said.
Despite the company’s focus on the Web, Google originally tried to get a Google Voice iPhone app into the iTunes App Store, but was ultimately rejected by Apple. Now, it appears the company also has been working on Google Voice desktop software, but has yet to announce any plans for its public release.
If you’re interested in signing the application, visit Giveusgvdesktop.com and click on “Sign This Petition.” You can then sign using your Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace ID, or you can simply provide your name, e-mail address, and ZIP code.
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