Google Acquires Phone Number Consolidation Company, GrandCentral

GrandCentral^[1] is a service that has the ability to connect one phone number to all the devices that one owns. For example, a home, work, and cell phone can all ring at once and can be used interchangeably in mid-conversation.

Rules can also be set so that family members or friends get redirected to certain devices. There is also a feature called ListenIn that allows users to listen to their voicemail in real-time while callers are leaving messages. Voicemails can be made from MP3s and conversations can be recorded at any time.

And now Google owns the company. Google bought the company because they believe GrandCentral “enhances the collaborative exchange of information between our users^[2].” Google is moving the technology onto their own networks and GrandCentral’s team will start working at Google. The service is still in Beta mode and to gain access, invitations are needed.

TechCrunch broke the acquistion rumor about a week ago^[3]. The suspected amount spent on GrandCentral is roughly $50 million.

[1] GrandCentral.com
[2] Official Google Blog: All aboard
[3] TechCrunch: Deal is Confirmed: Google Acquired GrandCentral

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