For this analyst, the roll-out of Google Voice has been agonizingly slow. Four days after the launch, our inbox still bears the message “Your account is not yet ready to be upgraded. Please check back shortly.” Still, after nearly two years under Google’s tutelage, we must report that, in addition to international calling (at a small fee) the transcription of voicemail is the most notable enhancement to the original GrandCentral service. According to those who have used the service, it has some inaccuracies, much like the competition from Nuance (VM2Text), Spinvox and a few others. But it is serviceable and starts GrandCentral users along the path of figuring out how transcriptions of voice messages may fit into their personal workflows. Another enhancement that addresses the needs of mobile users is the ability to send and receive text messages, in addition to having the system send a text message as notification when an individual receives a voice mail on his or her landline.

These are the sort of easy-to-set up bells-and-whistles that just about any VoIP service provider can offer, so it will be interesting to see the uptake with the introduction of Google Voice. The underlying question is whether the Google brand helps legitimize and popularize new services, or whether it will proceed along the path of Blogger, where a leading-edge service provider cedes its competitive edge and reputation as innovator while investing energy in efforts to integrate with Google’s back end. Based on the stream of tweets from users who have been upgraded, the new service benefits from an integration with the Gmail address book. Seems like it could be both a feature and a ‘lock-in’.

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