Phone calls via Gmail cross 1 million mark in first 24 hours: Google

In less than two days of introduction of Voice in Gmail or Google's new internet-based phone service saw an exponential surge in calls crossing one million all over the world from US and Canada, where it is available free.

"Over 1,000,000 calls placed from Gmail in just 24 hours! Thanks to everyone using this new feature" said the company in a tweet.

Voice in Gmail, which was introduced by search engine Google on Wednesday, allows users call cellphones and land lines from their Google e-mail accounts. Currently, only users in the U.S. will be able to make calls using their Gmail account. Making calls anywhere in the U.S. and Canada will be free of charge for at least a year.

Users can also make international calls for a low fee starting at $0.02 per minute to landlines in the UK, France, Germany, China, Taiwan or Japan with mobile phones at higher rates of at 98 cents a minute to countries like Cuba, or Nauru. Google is planning to roll out the service to other regions in course of time.