(Update 0133hrs 23062010) Ok we were pretty excited about the service but when we wanted to sign up for Google Voice, the screen below greated us. Turns out Google Voice is only available in the US at the moment. The post titled “Google Voice for everyone” on Google’s official blog sure did an awesome job in confusing us. We’re sorry if we managed to inadvertently confuse you as well.

It was very mysterious that Google didn’t allow you to create a label called “voicemail” in your Gmail inbox.

We speculated that Google might be on the verge of lauching a VOIP service that runs from Gmail where users can make VOIP calls (ala Skype) directly from their Gmail account.

We added that its then US only service called Google Voice was the frontrunner of this VOIP service that we thought Google would launch. Well, it turns out, we were pretty close.

Google today just announced on its blog that it has made its Google Voice service — it’s web-based platform for managing voice communications — available to everyone.

Basically Google Voice gives you one number to ring all your phones, voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages, low-priced international calls and more.

Don’t quite understand how Google Voice works and what it can do for you? Check out Google’s official introductory video after the jump.

We’ve just signed up for the service and found out, by “for everyone”, Google meant everyone in the US. Thanks for the confusion Google. still learning the ropes on this one as well. We’ll report back on findings as we discover them. In the meantime if you’ve tried Google Voice, let us know in the comments your experience.

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If you have a Gmail account try creating a label called “voicemail” and see what happens.

You’ll be greeted with an error massage “Sorry, you can’t create label named “voicemail” (it’s a reserved system label). Please try another name”.

This, ladies and gentlemen is the basis of the latest rumour that’s emanating from Googleplex. Word has it that Google is getting ready to release a VOIP service that runs from Gmail.

With the service, you can make VOIP calls right from Gmail and apparently, the release of this service is not too far away.

At the moment Google has something like a voicemail service called Google Voice but that’s only available in the US and even then, it’s by invitation only.

What this means right now, we’re not too sure. If there is an impending VOIP service coming from Google, will it be available for people outside the US? We can’t really tell.

Only way to know for sure is to get the word from Google direct. For that, we’ll have to wait – hopefully, not for long.

Head on over to after the jump to see a video about what Google Voice is all about.

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