It appears that Google is looking to challenge the recently launched services from Skype and Truphone, with its Google Voice, which it launched on Thursday.

Based on the technology of Grand Central Communications, the telephone company Google acquired in 2007, Google Voice helps to make free local and cheap international calls that are routed through the internet. The service provides one number that can receives any calls, whether to home, work, or mobile number.

Google Voice also automatically transliterates a voicemail into text and then transfers it to a user's Gmail inbox or through SMS to a user's cell phone, so that the user can read rather than listen to the voicemail. It offers the same function for any text messages that a user receives on mobile phone.

In a blog, the group product manager for real time communications at Google and co-founder of GrandCentral, Craig Walker wrote, "We will transcribe voicemails and convert it into text and put it in your inbox so that it's searchable and you will always have a record of that voicemail. They [the transcribed voicemails] may include mistakes but we plan to make accuracy improvements over time. This is about allowing your existing phone to work better. It's not that we are replacing your phone, we are giving [it] the ability to work better."

Google Voice is presently only available for the people of United States. Initially, the service is only available from subscribers of GrandCentral Telephone Company. The service offers the benefits similar to a service recently launched by VoIP company Skype and Spinvox.