Yep. That was my question off the bat. (That and what did Gruber mean by "private"). I think the TL;DR is "they don't sell your information to advertisers/use your call information to market to you". And perhaps some ease of use advantages, especially for iOS users.

At first, that didn't seem appealing to me. I've been a GV user since way back in the GrandCentral days. But, frankly, it is an essential service for me. And you know what they say, "If you aren't the [paying] customer, then you are the product." It would be nice to have actual customer support and actual accountability. GV is wonderful, but it's also a complete support black hole.