BT Group, which virtually owns the UK telecommunications market, isn't waiting for Google (GOOG) to launch a full attack. The company probably expects to be under assault from the search engine (and advertising and e-mail) giant, so it's taking early action. Google Voice is still being tested, but words like "free" and "powerful" and "internet-based" are bound to inspire fear in even the most established of companies.
To protect itself from the eventual attack from Mountain View, BT picked up Ribbit Mobile, and testing is in progress. Ribbit's technology has some overlap with Google Voice and even beats it with a few capabilities, according to Bloomberg. Ribbit just launched its beta product this month. It allows either the user's current phone number or a new one from Ribbit -- which is no different from Google's alternative. The product suite is generally the same, with phone- and web-based voicemail retrieval and automatic transcriptions that can be sent by text message or e-mail. For an extra fee, BT's Ribbit does provide human transcription, though it is free during testing. And, calls can be taken directly from a computer, using a microphone and speakers.
The most interesting feature is social media integration with Ribbit's caller ID. You can thus link a status update to the caller's identity. So, if the clown just let Twitter, Facebook and the world know that he can't find a parking space, you can ignore the moron instead of listening to his complaints.
Google Voice remains competitive, however, with the ability to eavesdrop on voicemails that are being left and robust logic that can be used to tell which phones to ring when. This service currently requires an invitation, but that's exactly how Gmail got started, and it didn't take long for the service to spread.
So, it's hardly surprising that the space is being watched closely. Internet telephony, such as eBay's (EBAY) Skype and Gizmo5, isn't new, but the space is maturing, and the competition is heating up. And, the stakes are high, which is why Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) have been fighting over whether to let Google Voice onto the iPhone. The outcome, though, seems inevitable.
BT may not win with Ribbit -- it's hard to beat Google. Fortunately, it realizes that it has no choice but to compete.
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