Back in November 2009 Google acquired Gizmo5, a powerful VoIP telephony service that allows users to place and receive calls from their computer and mobile phone applications. Today, the company has started informing users that it will be shutting down Gizmo5 service on April 3, 2011.
Since acquiring the startup, Google has integrated Gizmo5 technology into Gmail/Gtalk, which has allowed users to make phone calls directly from their Gmail inbox since August of last year. It’s a great feature — particularly if you’re using Google Voice — but we’re hearing that it can’t do everything that Gizmo5 can. For example, using a supported SIP application, Gizmo5 allows users to make/receive phone calls using their Wifi connections on their mobile phones. Google Voice still has yet to enable Wi-fi calls. → Read More
When Google acquired Gizmo5, a Skype competitor, in November Google Voice users rejoiced – presumably they’d be getting a much needed soft phone on the desktop for users to make and receive calls through Google Voice.
We confirmed that the application had been rewritten and was being tested internally at Google in April. Some Google employees continue to use the app, we’ve confirmed.
But don’t expect it to launch publicly any time soon, we’ve heard from multiple sources. Why? an internal religious debate about desktop software. → Read More
Earlier this week we broke the story about Google’s acquisition of Gizmo5. Today Google announced the deal on the Google Voice blog.
They aren’t saying much other than that the Gizmo5 team will join the Google Voice team, and that new Gizmo5 signups will be disabled.
One thing this gives Google – a much needed soft phone on the desktop for users to make calls through Google Voice. And integration with Google Talk is likely as well, which will let users of that service access the normal telephone system for inbound and outbound calls.
All in all this pits Google Voice nicely against Skype, which was also looking to buy the company. From the blog post: → Read More
Last month Skype was in talks to acquire VoIP startup Gizmo5. It was a perfect backup plan in case all that IP litigation didn’t work out. – Gizmo5′s SIP infrastructure could theoretically replace Skype’s proprietary P2P back end.
After the Skype settlement, though, Gizmo5′s strategic value to Skype sort of plummeted. In the meantime, Google bought them, say multiple sources with knowledge of the deal, for around $30 million in cash. The deal is done, say our sources, and will be announced shortly.
Gizmo5 is a good fit with a number of Google products. Google Talk allows voice calls between users but has no PSTN link to allow incoming or outbound calls to real phones. Gizmo5 does this well already.
And Google Voice is a great VoIP and phone identity service, but they have no endpoint for calls. Gizmo5, which by the way already integrates with Google Voice, is a soft phone end point for Google phone users. In other words, you will be able to make and receive calls to your Google Voice phone number from your computer.
This looks to me like Gizmo5 will be the glue that puts Google Voice and Google Talk together into a single product. And that product looks a lot like a Skype competitor. → Read More
Litigation-beleaguered Skype is in negotiations to buy peer-to-peer VoIP startup Gizmo5, say multiple sources. The price tag is said to be in the $50 million range, but the deal is far from consummated. Other potential buyers may be looking at the company as well. Gizmo5, which was founded in April 2003, has raised $6 million to date, plus an unspecified amount from founder/CEO Michael Robertson.
Skype, which is being sold from eBay to a new investor group, doesn’t have control over it’s core P2P technology, and that intellectual property is now the subject of two lawsuits – one against Skype and one against Mike Volpi and Index Ventures, who are part of the buyout group.
That puts Skype at significant risk. Without the technology Skype can’t make Skype to Skype calls, the core of its service. And those lawsuits don’t appear to be close to settlement – some people close to Skype saw that there is a good chance the cases will actually end up being tried in a court.
We’ve heard Joltid wants as much as half of Skype Unless Skype makes huge concessions to plaintiff Joltid and settle the case, they have two backup plans. → Read More
