After all the speculation about Yahoo! buying Skype, it appears that Om got the scoop on Yahoo buying Dialpad. Boy, I remember being one of the first Dialpad users many years ago. If I recall it was a Java applet within a browser to initiate a VoIP call. They even offered free calling anywhere in the U.S. Ah, those were the days...Give away everything for free to gain marketshare.
Then Dialpad burned through their VC money and had to come up with a business model. I think they first tried interjecting commercials/advertisements into the phone call, but they were still free to the user, then they went with a traditional pay per minute model.
Andy has some thoughts on Yahoo buying Dialpad you should check out.
Update: From Dialpad's website:
Dialpad is thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Yahoo!.We are excited to join forces with Yahoo! to successfully combine the strengths of both companies to bring you even more exciting new services.Yahoo! will leverage Dialpad's IP based services to further build upon its voice services and scale enhanced PC-to-Phone calling services to millions of users.It is your continuous support and loyalty over the past 5 years that have made Dialpad into an Internet Telephony Pioneer and we're excited that this acquisition will give us more resources to bring you improved services and features in the future. We have put together below a quick Q&A about the acquisition that we hope will answer any question you may have. If you have any additional question, please contact us at contact@dialpad.com. |
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| Since our inception back in 1999, Dialpad has always strived to offer low cost, high quality Internet telephony service to users around the world. Yahoo! will leverage Dialpad's IP based services to further build upon its voice services as a core component of Yahoo!'s Communications Products as well as across the Yahoo! network.Both companies are excited about working together and combining our strengths in order to better take advantage of the fast growing IP telephony market and build a range of exciting new services. |
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| Rest assured, you will be able to continue to take advantage of all of your Dialpad services.Dialpad will continue to support all services for the foreseeable future.You will be able to keep using and recharging your dialpadprepaid, dialpadmonthly, dialpadUSA and Europe discount plans as in the past.dialpadcallingcard users will not be able to recharge their accounts, but will be able to keep using their minutes until their account expires. |
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| Of course. We would encourage you to sign up for Dialpad's award-winning Internet Telephony services.We will continue to accept new subscriptions for our core VoIP calling services including: dialpadprepaid, dialpadmonthly, dialpadUSA and our European discount plans. |
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| As of June 13, 2005, we have discontinued taking new subscriptions for dialpadcallingcard.If you already have a subscription for dialpadcallingcard, we will continue to provide you with the same high level of service through the expiration of your account.Additionally, we have dismantled our online store and discontinued selling broadband phones and adaptors, handsets, headsets, and other accessories. |
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| Yahoo! plans on leveraging Dialpad's PC-to-PSTN capabilities to add to Yahoo! Messenger's recently enhanced PC-to-PC voice calling offering.These products are very complementary and we are excited to become part of the Yahoo! team and together we will develop more leading VoIP products and services. |
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