As promised, we said we would get back to you once this deal was confirmed, and now it is, somewhere in the region of US$ 50 Million.

Waking-up this morning to discover at least ten of the blogs we visit were reporting this story, we found it hard to select the one that deserved the block-quote, but in the end, we settled for the perspective of the Download Squad:

My, how time flies. It seems like just last week we were telling you that Google was going to purchase internet telephone company GrandCentral. And now… they have.

What’s GrandCentral? It’s a service that lets you receive calls from all your phone numbers on a single phone. You can also combine all of your voice mailboxes into one simple account which you can access over the phone or on the web.

In announcing the acquisition, Google product manager Wesley Chan describes the technology as fitting well “into Google’s efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users.”

Does this mean GrandCentral’s technology will be integrated with GTalk? It’s not clear just yet, but we wouldn’t rule it out. Google promises that service will be uninterrupted for existing customers while GrandCentral’s technology is migrated over to Google’s servers. In the meantime, Google says a limited number of beta invitations will be available for new customers.

However, it is worth noting that Webware were the only one to pick-up on the following:

The other big change in place as of today is GrandCentral’s RingShare service. Previously, users were able to upload their own MP3 sound files for callers to hear instead of the classic tone. Users are now limited to a small selection of licensed music.