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Om Malik sums up the problems over at Joost quite well... The company is having a large round of layoffs and is losing the video war to Hulu and others. While Om explains all the factors which led to the company's demise such as their rapid growth, lack of focus and geographic distribution, I wonder if the biggest problem isn't the lack of intriguing or popular content (which he points out and elaborates on). The few times I used the service I was amazed at how little interesting content it had.

Personally, I would use an inferior service to view better content any day. I suppose many viewers would agree with me on this point.

A long while back Niklas Zennstrom mentioned that there could be a future tie-in between Joost and Skype. This may have helped a few years back but at this point it is too late.

Then again Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Skype's founders still own some of the technology which runs the world's most popular internet telephony service and they have threatened to pull the plug on Skype. The impending lawsuit is even threatening the upcoming Skype IPO. Perhaps there will be a settlement which includes Skype/Joost integration?

One of the great things about this entry from Om is the list of mistakes Joost made. I recommend all tech entrepreneurs or those affected by technology read the piece so history doesn't repeat itself.

See Also:

Joost Changes Business Model

Just when you thought VoIP and IP fax service could not get cheaper, along comes sipgate, a company offering a similar service to Skype/Vonage but with lower international rates than Skype and lots of free features like a free phone number, free toll-free calling, free inbound calling and free inbound faxes. sipgate one is the name of the service and company CEO Thilo Salmon tells Tom Keating in a scoop mini-review of the service that most users will spend less than $5/month.

To be fair, MagicJack starts at $29.95/year and doesn't offer some of the features of sipgate one. Tom seems impressed with the product and this new offering just shows you that prices on IP communications services can get cheaper indeed.

Today OpenTable (Nasdaq: OPEN) had a successful IPO allowing VCs to recoup investment dollars. This statement could be one of the most important you can imagine for the tech sector as it signals the IPO market is no longer frozen and in fact the stock was up to $31.89 as of this writing and was planned to price between $16-$18. This number in fact represents an 88% increase over the average $17 price! This as you imagine is the best IPO in some time - 18 months to be exact.

Not surprisingly, this price increase reminds some of the dotcom boom and it does indicate that there is an appetite (pun sort of intended) for tech IPOs if the company has a business model which people think makes sense.

But then again, you could argue the state of the restaurant market is so bad at the moment that this IPO shouldn't have received any premium at all. And with this in mind, the tech IPO market could have a lot more potential than you may think. For the moment at least, investors are willing to discount the negative effects of the economy on entire sectors in exchange for the potential of future growth.

It is obviously worth mentioning the other tech IPO of the week -- SolarWinds had a successful IPO as the original price average set was $10.50 and as of this writing the stock is trading at $13.79 or a 31% increase.

While we can't expect investor checkbooks to open overnight as a result of this news - we need to realize there has been unprecedented wealth destruction in the past two years, this news could signal we are on the leading edge of a healthier tech IPO market. Certainly this could be great news for Skype as they should be going public next year.

For nearly 13 years, Greg Galitzine has been a tremendously valuable part of the TMC team. His career started as an editor for CTI Magazine in 1996. Where he reported on the collision of the computer and communications spaces including what we called IP telephony back in the day. In 1997 we convened a meeting with Greg to explore whether it made sense to launch a publication in the IP telephony space. The outcome of the meeting was to launch what we hoped would become a cornerstone of what we hoped would be a new industry - Internet Telephony Magazine.

Greg became the editor of this publication and had the vision to see this is where the industry was going. Many companies in the communications space told us we were nuts for launching this publication as at the time there was no industry, just a few nerds calling each other on softphones.

Lo and behold, over the past decade this nerdy, niche technology revolutionized telecom to the point where business models have changed, new entrants have come into the telecom market and entire industries were transformed through international outsourcing made possible by inexpensive VoIP-based telephony.

In the last few years, Greg did a great job helping transform TMCnet into a major web force in communications and technology news. We are grateful to him for the years he has put in.

I am very happy for Greg as recently he has been given a great opportunity which involves a move to a new industry altogether. Galitzine has accepted a position with ISA, Inc., a prime contractor to the National Nuclear Security Administration and working in about 18 countries through Central and Eastern Europe to identify and interdict the illegal movement of materials for weapons of mass destruction. Greg will be taking his analytical and editorial skills to a higher level, contributing to national-level policy and operational support analysis for these major international nonproliferation undertakings.

While we all selfishly wish Greg wouldn't move on, we are happy for him and are sure he will make a tremendous impact in his new position.

If you look at TMC from the outside and find yourself asking how you can get a job as an intern at this global integrated media company which builds communities online, in print and in person while gaining marketshare regardless of economic climate, I have some great news to share. We are looking for a small army of interns who want to learn what it's like to take on major multibillion dollar media companies with infinite resources and consistently win.

We will teach you how to sell collaboratively - how to listen and to be loved by your customers (well most of them anyway).

We will teach you integrated marketing and online marketing - not theory but ever-evolving practice.

If you love media and want to work at the company that is light years ahead online, contact us ASAP. We are very picky so if you aren't a super-hard worker and collaboration and hat-wearing are not your middle names, let's end our relationship now as friends (it's not you it's me).

One last thought about TMC - our culture is unusual - we have the financial stability of a 37 year-old company with the energy and enthusiasm of a start-up.

The Sales & Marketing internship position at TMC is designed to provide hands-on experience that will be mutually beneficial for both the intern and the organization. The internship position is designed to challenge students and provide them with practical experience in the advertising and media industry.

TMC is looking for a dynamic, creative, enthusiastic, high energy professional to support the Sales organization, to help build advertising and marketing presentations for prospects and clients.

• Work with sales & marketing team to assist in the implementation of various campaigns
• Contribute to the creative input in building campaigns and support the campaigns
• Copyediting and proofreading
• Communicate with customers and peers
• Minimum Qualifications:
• Working towards completion of a college degree program in business, marketing or communication
• Excellent communication skills verbal and written
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite, specifically PowerPoint and Excel
• Excellent communication skills
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Contact (mgenaro at tmcnet dot com) for more.

Who is the best potential acquirer of Joost, the web-based TV service which was launched by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom? The cable companies of course and although you would imagine the cablecos would be all over this deal, so far they have opted out of buying the company that is supposedly shopping itself. As this article points out, Joost lost momentum and does not have a great deal of traffic. A cable company however could certainly boost the traffic with content deals and promotion through its various vehicles.

The question is, why not start from scratch if you are a cable company and are doing so much of the work?

I guess if no cable companies come to the table there is always eBay.

Although Portfolio was a truly fantastic magazine -- one of the best financial resources around, it was obvious to me that a startup magazine which had over $100 million invested in it would have a tough time weathering the dual storm of print advertising decline and  financial crisis. Sadly today is the day of the official demise of this publication and website. I was a happy subscriber to this publication which had a total of just under 450,000 subscribers according to Folio.

The similarities the media business is facing is very similar to what is happening in communications. Just as newspaper and magazine owners are trying to figure out how to make a living in a web dominated world of free information, many telecom companies are trying to figure out how to make a living in a world where VoIP can be had for free.

For media companies though the problem is one of timing. By now the web needed to be a more substantial revenue source than it currently is for most companies. It is very late to start a serious internet advertising strategy. This needed to be done in 2002-4.

Getting back to telecom, as carriers have seen their PSTN revenues decline, many have focused more on wireless, broadband and IPTV. But it is unclear how the media business in general can follow a similar migration path. Certainly Amazon's Kindle offers some hope but I for one think it is silly to think the majority of people will pay for content on a device when they can get it free on other devices.

It will be interesting to see how print publishers adapt to the web. The transformation is happening faster than most expected and there is less investment money floating around so my concern is more quality print publications will fold before they get a chance to explore alternatives online.

Update: April 27, 2009 6:00 PM:

Here is a great article from a former staffer on the magazine. It is great because it is detailed but it paints a picture of poor quality editorial which doomed the publication. But the quality of the publication was good. I can't speak to how efficient the company's editorial team was but it seems tough to imagine that poor editorial quality and other editorial decisions are the major reason for the publication's demise.

I would like to welcome back Patrick Barnard to the TMC editorial team. Patrick has covered a number of different editorial areas at TMC over the years and recently left TMC to work on Multichannel Merchant. He is now back and his return is just a continuing reinforcement of how TMC is continually investing in its editorial talent -- just as we are constantly evolving our web technology, graphics, analytics, reporting and more.

Thanks to influential readers like you TMC has been blessed with hundreds of advertisers and exhibitors each year who partner with TMC to grow -- even in the face of challenging economic conditions.

We take sponsor and reader loyalty seriously -- looking to constantly improve to provide you with the best products we can.

Recently I detailed how a single device - the iPhone changed the fortunes of AT&T Wireless. Every wireless carrier is looking for a way to have that one amazing gadget that drives traffic and reduces churn. But what if another way to achieve a similar goal is to enable free Skype calling on your network? It may sound stupid that I would suggest such a thing but Skype execs argue that you generate more revenue by Skype-enabling your wireless network than you do by blocking it. So far 3 UK seems to be one of the leading wireless carriers actively touting unlimited free Skype to Skype calling on their network for less than the price of a cup of coffee as they put it.

But what if this move by the carrier is the equivalent of getting a killer gadget that everyone wants?

I find that there is tremendous irony in this concept because recently AT&T went on record saying Skype is a competitor which of course they are. But what if Skype is right and allowing its usage on your network - even if you are AT&T will reduce churn and increase ARPU? And what if AT&T loses the lock on the iPhone it has now? Can you see a world where AT&T is forced to allow Skype use to get customers back? I can.

But while they have iPhone exclusivity this won't happen. It will be very interesting to watch if other wireless carriers decide to become more Skype friendly in the mean time and whether or not AT&T throws an olive branch to Skype or even buys a few shares of their potential IPO.

But what analysts may have missed is the fact that the iPhone is the stickiest phone in the history of the wireless business because of the App Store which enables these devices to be powerful pocket computing devices which run a plethora of applications. Sure, many applications are able to run across other platforms but they generally run less effectively as they other devices don't have the UI Apple does. Regardless, no other device has the plethora of apps that run on the iPhone meaning every day that goes by where new apps are developed, more consumers are effectively locked in.

On the wireline front, voice revenue is down 5.4% but the company added 359,000 broadband customers and 284,000 U-Verse TV customers. Revenue per household is actually up. Business revenue was down 4.4% which is not surprising when you consider the volume of layoffs in the last year.

Although AT&T is in control of its broadband and TV business, it is extremely reliant on Apple for wireless revenue. The company is also a master of marketing. They run ads which tout the quality of their 3G network and how it faster than the competition but it is clear to everyone I know that Verizon has a superior wireless network in virtually all parts of the country.

I have always believed that in marketing, perception is reality but it seems that consumer education is so great that people do not believe the multimillion dollar ad campaign AT&T runs touting its network as the best and fastest in the world.

After all, if people believed the ads, why are they mostly buying iPhones and not other devices? But AT&T has to keep building its wireless brand because if it loses iPhone exclusivity, its wireless unit could be doomed with a capital D.

Years back I stated Verizon made one of the biggest blunders in business history (corporate malpractice really) by not carrying the iPhone. I still believe this to be true. But Verizon has done a marvelous job of making its wireless network better and this is where the profit is to be made.

This morning I was reading an article from Seeking Alpha which compared AT&T and Verizon and in the post which Greg Galitzine summarized, it says the AT&T 3G network is better than Verizon. Here is the amazing part to me... No one ever in my life has told me their experience with AT&T is better than Verizon. And I ask constantly. In fact, people reluctantly switch from Verizon to AT&T in every case I am aware of. And this is in virtually every case because of the Blackberry Bold or iPhone. How is it this isn't common knowledge in the financial community?

Also, I should point out I carry a Verizon device and an iPhone because AT&T service has issues in so many places. I should also mention that on Metro North trains in Grand Central Station and between Connecticut and New York, AT&T is far superior to Verizon Wireless - but that's about it as far as I have seen.

So in the end, AT&T marketing seems to be influencing the influencers but it has to work on its network quickly to be considered a wireless carrier people don't reluctantly use.

And the company really needs to take wireless coverage more seriously because in 3-5 years, Internet TV will become a serious competitor to U-Verse meaning broadband and wireless will be the two areas of growth.