Today, Google launched a new product – a FREE 411 service called GOOG-411. The 411 industry is a $7 billion dollar/year market, and free alternatives, such as Google’s, are expected to take at least a 50% market share within the next few years.
GOOG-411 can be reached by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411. The service is completely automated and there is no way to talk to a human for any additional information or clarification.
Google accesses local business data from their Google Maps datacenter. You can also have the details of a call forwarded via SMS to your mobile phone, just say “text message.”
For more information, check out Google’s Voice Local Search.
Google has been doing a lot of branching out out lately, expanding their reach beyond just the Internet. Google is also repotedly working on developing a brokerage to start offering radio advertisements.
Our days are only numbered before Google takes over the world… 
They’re in that in-between place right now. Somewhere between ‘coolest company on Earth’ and ‘dark overlord’
They will be watching us all the time soon…
Well that’s weird.
Not only do they read all my email, they know where I buy my pizza. Terrifying and brilliant at the same time
Unlike a lot of areas that Google has got into I think this is very smart. It has a lot of positives to it.
*It links Google to the phone. For the future they have to get into mobile phones. Really. And this a good starting step to connecting mobile search with the Google brand.
*They’re leveraging what they already own. This is a fully automated system that plugs into their existing server infrastructure. A great match up with Maps and Search.
* It’s easy money. As Nate stated, this is a good sized industry and with such a golden brandname, Google will probably do very well out of it.
jee, talk about globalisation, google are moving into every market they can sell advertising, but hey, if someone isnt doing it the best way possible, its better that theres someone who comes along and does it better, and free for consumers, its a win win situation
Wow, thats interesting.
there are quite a few of these already available.
800 FREE 411
and for san diego its
800- san diego
but of course google will kill everyone else