

How long before Google kills Google voice? - dannyanders

Using the reasoning they uesed to kill Reader, I can't imagine them keeping voice around much longer.  I'm sure it has far less users and obviously has very little development resources allocated to it.
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nickm12
The writing is on the wall. As a user since it was GrandCentral in 2008, I
have to say that the writing is on the wall. I can't think of one substantial
new feature that has been added since the initial launch (I guess Android
integration would be one). Looking at the Google Voice blog I see it had 19
updates in 2011, 6 updates in 2012, and none so far in 2013. Also, apparently
Voice recently moved from the "More" heading on the Google homepage to the
"Even more" heading below that. If it makes it through 2014 I'd be shocked.
Maybe it will even be killed this fall.

I don't expect it will be killed outright, but my guess is that some of its
features will be folded into some other Google product (Hangouts? Google
Chat?) and users will be told to migrate.

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canterburry
ehm...I pay lots of money to Google Voice. I think the difference is Google
Voice actually has a revenue stream...

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dannyanders
As much as I would like to use it, their desktop client has never worked for
me so I use Skype instead. Similar rates, much better client. But your point
around revenue is definitely a good one. I wonder how much it actually
generates.

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kencausey
I suggest you install the plugin variation and try it through Gmail, at least
if that is at all a viable option for you. It has been working quite well for
me both in 64bit Debian testing and Win7 on 64bit.

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freefrancisco
Google voice is the main reason why I refuse to use an iPhone even though I am
a big fan of Apple and all my other products are Apple. I hate having a number
that ties me to a phone company, Google Voice made it possible for me to have
a number that is independent from the phone companies. Since it integrates
well with Android I would not even consider switching to iPhone. If they kill
Google Voice, I will be extremely disappointed and I might as well switch to
iPhone. Without Google Voice, there is no killer Android feature to keep me
there.

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arb99
> I hate having a number that ties me to a phone company

Can't you just keep your number when changing phone companies?

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freefrancisco
Yes but that requires extra work. With google voice all I need is get a sim
card, and I am done, I don't even know or care to know what number is
associated with that sim card, my number is my google voice. Also if someone
is texting me and I'm in front of a computer I can reply from the chrome
extension. Plus I can send anonymous callers to spam. I would hate to go back
to the old style phone number!

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Fuzzwah
gwern's amazing analysis puts voice pretty high on the predicted shutdown of
google services list.

<http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions>

44% chance of surviving the next 5 years.

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dannyanders
Great post. I definitely see this as a wake up call to people who think the
cloud is the solution to everything. Speed for the price of control over your
data....

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hatchoo
That's what gets me worried about using these "proprietary" PaaS offerings.

