14 DAY TRIAL // Google has notched another acquisition on its belt, the company bought SayNow, a startup focusing on calls and voice messaging services. No financial details have been disclosed nor have future plans. The SayNow team will be working with the existing Google Voice team, but it's unclear if the product will be integrate in some way or this was simply a talent acquisition.
"We are thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Google," cofounder Nikhyl Singhal and Ujjwal Singh announced.
"Since 2005, we've explored fun and entertaining ways for people to talk with each other. Through the web, smartphones, and even land lines, our products brought communities together through the power of voice," they wrote.
"And as Google has some of the best voice products in the world, we believe combining forces with the Google Voice team will let us innovate in new and unexplored areas," they added.
SayNow offers a way for users to have group calls and leave voice messages.
Its platform can be integrated in a number of social networks, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and is accessible through mobile applications for Android and the iPhone.
The startup boasts some 15 million users across the applications built on top of its platform. It is also known for enabling celebrities to have conference calls in which fans could phone in. Celebrities could also leave voicemail messages for fans.
It's unclear how will the technology fit in at Google and the acquisition announcement is no help either.
"We have no specific product plans to announce at this time, but we'll have more to say about our roadmap as we integrate with Google, so stay tuned. We couldn't be more excited about what is yet to come," it read.
According to some sources, there are plans to expand Google Voice's capabilities and become more than just the 'plumbing' behind voice calls by adding more user-facing features.