Gmail users in the US can now use the Voice & Video Chat service to make phone calls. The new service is accessed directly through Gmail’s Chat interface.
If you have a Google Voice account, the associated phone number will be used for outbound calls. You can also forward calls from Google Voice to Google Voice & Video Chat.
The included call screening feature even allows Google Voice users to listen to callers as they leave messages.
Currently calls to US numbers are free, while there is a charge for calling internationally which varies depending on the country.
Result for: capability
EMI Music has just purchased Digital Stores Limited, a company which provides online stores for artists including The Beatles, Queen & Oasis.
The acquisition is a logical one for EMI, which is in need of revenue streams outside of physical and online music sales. Although the business has been improving since the 2007 purchase by private equity firm Terra Firma, they still lost more than 600 million euros last year.
It also dovetails nicely with the recent trend of labels signing artists to 360 deals. These deals give the label a cut of everything from merchandise to tour revenue, and are becoming an increasingly important part of the modern music business.
Owning a company like Digital Stores also has a lot of potential for selling services to artists not otherwise affilliated with EMI. Both artists on other major labels and those who wouldn’t be signing with any major become potential revenue sources.
If they manage it well, this could be a key part of EMI’s transformation from a traditional label to an all around music marketing and artist services company. Of course any of the major labels could have done that already.
The stumbling block has never been capability. What they’ve lacked has been the will to change. As long as executives are fixated on preserving a dead business model that will remain a problem.
This purchase seems like a good move, but the follow through will determine just how successful it is.
Result for: capability
T-Mobile has teased their upcoming flagship smartphone, the G2, the first phone to access the carrier’s extremely fast HSPA+ data network.
The phone is expected to be the long-awaited successor to the T-Mobile G1, the world’s first Android device.
T-Mobile posted the teaser page today, although it gives little details.
Says the site: The T-Mobile® G1® was the world’s first Android™ -powered phone. Launched nearly two years ago, it created an entirely new class of mobile phones and apps. Its successor, the T-Mobile G2™ with Google™, will continue the revolution.
The T-Mobile G2 will deliver tight integration with Google services and break new ground as the first smartphone designed to run at 4G speeds on our new HSPA+ network. In the coming weeks, we’ll share more details about the G2 and offer exclusive first access to current T-Mobile customers.
Multiple sites have gone wild with speculation on the specifications, and a few have said the device will have dual 1.2GHz processors, a first for phones, as well as incredibly powerful. Additionally, a leaked T-Mobile memo seems to point to a September release.
T-Mobile says the device has “a theoretical peak capability of 14.4 Mbps.”
We will keep you updated.
