GMail users made more than 10 million calls through the web-based email service’s new ‘Call Phones’ feature during its first week of availability, Google announced yesterday.

Since August 25, Google has been allowing users to make free VoIP calls to landline and cellular phones within the U.S. and Canada. Calls outside of North America start at just $0.02 per minute.

The service can be integrated with Google Voice, allowing Google’s existing VoIP users to have their personal web-based phone numbers displayed as their caller ID. Other features include call screening and the ability to record conversations and send them to a GMail inbox.

Magic Talk is similar to Skype in that it allows users to place VoIP calls through a broadband internet connection. Skype charges a small fee for calls to ‘SkypeOut’ calls to landline and cellular phones, however, whereas all Magic Talk calls are free.

The company hopes to make money by charging other phone companies for incoming calls to Magic Talk numbers. Whether such a business model is viable remains to be seen.

Mobile VoIP users, who make calls over platforms such as Truphone and Skype, will rack up 15 billion minutes of talk time this year – a figure that will double each subsequent year through 2015, according to a new report by Juniper Research.

By 2015, Juniper expects mobile VoIP services to account for 470.6 million minutes to annual talk time. 135 billion of these minutes will come out of the highly-lucrative U.S. wireless market.

As smartphones become increasingly advanced and feature-rich, more and more users are able to place VoIP calls over a mobile broadband connection, or even through a Wi-Fi hotspot, rather than using a carrier’s wireless voice network.

“There are several flavours of mobile VoIP,” explained Anthony Cox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research. “Wi-Fi mobile VoIP is potentially the most damaging [to carriers], as it bypasses the mobile networks altogether. We forecast that mobile VoIP over Wi-Fi will cost operators $5 billion globally by 2015.”

Skype 2.0 for iPhone has become available through the Apple App Store, giving users the ability to place Skype-to-Skype calls using the iPhone’s built-in 3G internet connection.

The new application also features improved startup time and near CD-quality sound for mobile VoIP calls.

Mobile Skype calls will be free for the moment, but will be subject to a “small monthly fee” after the end of August. It will remain possible to place free Skype-to-Skype calls over a Wi-Fi connection.

For small businesses seeking to cut costs and remain competitive, enterprise VoIP solutions are becoming increasingly available and realistic.

One company that offers such solutions is Scottsdale, Arizona-based Nextiva, which promises to “transform the way small businesses communicate” by providing “big business phone features at a small business price.”

Nextiva’s products include ‘Nextiva Connect,’ which starts at just $8.95/month and provides a single local or toll-free phone line that can be redirected to a cell phone, home phone, or other number. Also available is ‘Nextiva Connect 360,’ a complete digital telephone offering that allows small businesses to replace their traditional telephone services and save up to 80% on monthly telephone bills.

Nextiva Connect 360 includes numerous advanced features such as the ability to forward voicemail messages to your email inbox, as well as a virtual PBX auto attendant system allowing callers to navigate through the departments and extensions of your business. This is one of the features designed to project a big business image within a small business budget.

Nextiva offers its clients a 100% satisfaction guarantee and has won numerous awards, including the 2008 telephony product of the year award and the 2009 award for best VoIP service. More information about the company’s services is available at http://www.nextiva.com/.

This article is a sponsored review, facilitated by ReviewMe.com.