Is Google Hangouts Trying to Get Rid of your Phone Number?

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Geek Smack: Is Google Gearing Hangouts to Replace the Telephone Number?

If I say “Klondide 5-1212” do you know what I mean? What about “Watson, come here! I need you?”

These are what we would do before the North American Numbering Plan – aka the 10 digit phone number – came into play. Klondike 5-1212 was the standard 555-1212 number you would hear about in TV or movies. But we don’t “Klondike” anymore because we don’t talk to the operator.

We don’t talk to anyone on the phone.

The phone number has been incorporated into today’s technology in cell and smartphones. Voice over IP pretty much replaced land line technology. But in order to remember who to call, we used a system we were familiar with – one that really could have been retired over 5 years ago.So what if the phone number was no longer part of the equation?

Today, it was rumored that Google is merging their “Google Voice” into Hangouts. If you have an Android phone running Kit Kat, you know they already merged the messages and IM into this one service. But with Voice moving to Hangouts, will that ultimately get rid of your phone number?

Lets hope so.

Think about it – we don’t call anyone anymore. We text, MMS, chat and – in some cases – hangout. To have to call someone seems like a big inconvenience for everyone.Up until 5 years ago, if I said “Tell me your spouses phone number”, most would be able to recite without issue. Jump forward to today.

Every now and then I seem to run into that ubiquitous part of the conversation where we realize we don’t know those phone numbers we used to memorize.

Thank you Smartphone.

If you are still paying high prices for talk and text minutes, you should really call your cell phone provider. Most of them have changed those 450 minutes and night and weekends free options into a $30 unlimited plan. Why? We don’t use them anymore.

The CTIA has noted that we don’t talk on our phones anymore. In fact, since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, average talk time plateaued. We still take up 2.2 trillion minutes of talk time a year, but compared to the ratio of new phone numbers out there, that number is dropping. Add in more people using Hangouts and Facetime, that number will start to drop faster in the next 5 years.

People can find us using Google+ or Facebook. Why can’t we just push a “Call” button without even having to remember a 10 digit number? Better yet, not having to know that international code to call someone in Europe, Japan, Russia, or another country?

I would not be surprised if the first “Numberless” smartphone will hit the market within the next year. In five years, the decline of phone numbers will begin to the point that in 10 years, we’ll be trying to remember our old cell phone numbers…

In the meantime, let me know what you think! Call me at 608-205-4378!