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Operating systems have recently been the most visible signs of Google's bid to dominate the converging worlds of web services and mobility, but Google Voice is another important weapon in the battle to disrupt the internet status quo - and now it is going fully mobile.

The product, which Google acquired with GrandCentral and has now relaunched (so far by invitation only), has always been accessible from cellphones, but this was a far less slick experience than is usual on a handset. Now Google is unveiling a version of the application specifically for mobile phones.

Initially, it is available only for Android and BlackBerry, though Google is working on an iPhone implementation. Most importantly, it enables users to make calls directly, without dialling into Voice separately, and with integration into the address book. Those receiving the call or text will see the user's Google Voice number, rather than their mobile number. The app will also allow users to access voicemail, view message transcripts and read them in 'karaoke style', with the app highlighting the words being read.

Such mobile enhancements make Voice a viable alternative to Skype (once it is more widely available) and, more importantly, to cellcos' own services, because of the integration with other messaging and telephone services. Users can assign a single number to ring their home, work, and cellphones. The approach is different from that of Skype or VoIP since it uses the cellco's network - Wi-Fi not required, but it does continue to use the customer's hoard of voice minutes. The impact for Google is to make the number assigned by the operator "less relevant", as Vincent Paquet, co-founder of GrandCentral and now at Google, puts it. As the Google Voice number becomes the default - because of the added value features like transcripts, and the single-number support - the operator becomes relegated to the dreaded bitpipe role. The Android version of the app already provides a set-up option to 'make all calls using Google Voice' - and in that lies the nub of the challenge to the carriers, and the reason some people worry about the tight integration of Google applications with Android.

Hurdles remain however - Google said it was working on number portability, which will be a key driver of user uptake, but that the experience was not yet "quite up to Google's standards" for anything but carrier-to-carrier ports. And while broad-based US availability is expected soon, timescales for international expansion are unclear.

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