Recently in VoIP Category

Aswath then Andy via Alec have uncovered what looks to be the first final word from AOL on their TotalTalk service. Aswath mentioned that he thinks it might be an html hi-jack but I doubt it. Of course, this all pure speculation considering AOL has not announced anything regarding the closure of TotalTalk.

In my honest opinion AOL ran screaming into this broadband telephony race with what would seem little or no pre-thought. Andy makes mention of Phone 2.0 being partially represented by AOL AIM Phoneline. I am not sure about Phone 2.0 but I do think they are on the right track and should stick with messaging. Hmm, didn't Google just buy $1B worth of AOL? Yes, I would say the softphone + IM strategy is better for AOL and they should pour more resources at that initiative. Vonage seems to be on the same page who look to be throwing a lot of resources towards their new V-phone product (a launch party for a USB softphone?? <ugh>).

For SMBs email, fax and calendaring are equally as important as Voice something I call SMB 2.0 (tongue firmly planted in cheek). Presence is also gaining some height on the hit list for Small and Medium Businesses, useful for click-to-call address books and alike.

 

 

LuLa Drops the Linen

April 3, 2006 8:38 AM | 0 Comments

Fellow blogger Om does a good job of summarizing yesterday's Lucent Alcatel announcement. Our analyst Angelo and I have been speculating what this will do to the market, check out the podcast for some Wall Street perspective.

Office Live not so Lively

February 16, 2006 10:54 AM | 0 Comments

Russel Shaw has kicked the crap out of MSFT for not including any VoIP functionality in their new Office Live beta, rightfully so in my mind.

I can't count the number of times people have asked me in recent weeks, "Don't you think that Microsoft will decimate VoIP start-ups relying on Network Edge revenue with this new Live Office release?"

Judging by this beta of Office Live I would say companies like Counterpath have nothing to worry about.

It looks like Michael isn't wasting any time, he's launching a new service today that lets anyone get a new Area775 phone number for free and of course it runs on.. SIP.

Michael-Robertson-Area775.mp3

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I spoke with Michael about Area775 and his foray into the Mobile and WiFi world. He also speaks to the recent injection of $6M and what those funds will be used for. The podcast starts off with a demo of Area775 and later gets into very good overview of Area775 features including...

* Free U.S. based telephone number assigned to your computer and any phone 

* Dual Ring - Incoming calls simultaneously ring computer and regular phone!

* Call Screening - Listen to callers leave messages in real time (press 1 to take the call)

* Transfer Calls - You can transfer any call to any phone by pressing 2

* Voicemail (email and phone)

* SMS notification

Yes you will have to pay if you want to answer calls on your normal phone but he has to make it pay somehow. For a small monthly fee you can:

* Choose from a list of 775 numbers as well as other area codes

* Answer calls to your regular phone (cell or landline) free.

* Get a fax number

* Toll Free access for voicemail

Check out Area775.com for more info. And as usual Andy &  Alec are all over this.

SIPphone gets $6M

February 15, 2006 11:19 AM | 0 Comments

Michael sent me this Press Release yesterday announcing that SIPphone had just secured $6M in funding to bolster the Gizmo Project with a Mobile and WiFi extension.

"The release of Gizmo Project has driven over 400,000 registered users to our PC based service, but our goals go beyond free calls between PCs," says SIPphone CEO, Michael Robertson. "We want to seamlessly link the internet and the traditional calling world of landlines and mobile phones and that's becoming possible as low cost SIP based devices such as dual mode mobile phones and wifi phones become a reality."

Apparently Michael plans to expand the San Diego office by 3-fold in order to build this next generation of Gizmo.

The financing round was lead by New York based venture firm Dawntreader Ventures and is the first external funding for SIPphone. Joining the board of SIPphone is Dawntreader managing director Edward G. Sim. Private investors from Michael Robertson's previous digital music startup MP3.com Inc. also participated in the funding.

It looks like the VCs are making their moves into VoIP and IP Communications in a big way which means great things for the technologies and consumers that use them. I am going to try and catch up with Michael over the next few days and see if I can get a phone interview for the podcast.

Final Entry - 2005

December 31, 2005 6:12 PM | 1 Comment

I spent the day with my wife and son hiking through the rain forest in North Vancouver, very refreshing indeed. If anyone is interested in some of the best mountain biking and hiking on the continent, check out Seymour Mountain in North Van, even now it's like +10 C.

As for VoIP Predictions, I will give only one... there will be a free VoIP service in 2006 not unlike Dial Pad, if you can sell minutes at 1 cent you can certainly give them away + advertising. Since online advertising is on the rise (faster than most expected) it's very possible this could work. Yep, all one needs is a few peering agreements and a good marketing plan, the company could easily become the chosen service provider, that is until the major providers follow along. 2006 should be another interesting year.

I wish you all the very best and may you all be healthy and happy!! Happy New Year!!

Google Buys 5% of AOL

December 21, 2005 11:29 AM | 2 Comments

What does this deal mean for Google's VoIP and IM strategy? Hmm, I would guess that GTalk will federate with AIM not unlike Yahoo! and MSN. Going a little further I can see GTalk's super grande VoIP service working over the AOL network and visa versa. Yep, that's cool I guess but I still have boatloads of contacts that are spread over 4 different networks. Which means I will still have to run 2 IM clients.

Om has some details and insight on the deal.

Mee too, MCI and Microsoft

December 14, 2005 10:41 AM | 1 Comment

MCI and <a href=Microsoft VoIP" hspace="0" src="http://digital-lifestyles.info/copy_images/microsoft-mci-voip-lg2.jpg" align="baseline" border="0" />

So it looks as though the Teleo purchase is starting to take shape as promised by MS earlier this year. These offerings seem to be focusing on reduced rate PC-to-phone calls, hmmm.. and the consumers are probably asking themsleves "How is this different than the first VoIP wave that happened several years ago?", "Why should I pay more than 1 cent per minute?".

Some of you might rember how the promise of VoIP was going to change our lives, I know because I was one of those advocates. It's kinda weird to see history repeating itself with little more than a half dozen years since the beginning of the last VoIP mini-boom. My next questions is, when are we going to see another DialPad - offering free calls to the PSTN from anywhere to the US? It probably won't be long, nope not long at all.

It looks like the incumbents are unlikely to give up their territory (at least in Europe) so easily. According to Forrester Research VoIP players like Skype and Vonage are going to have a hard time competing against the all powerful ILECS. They said the same thing about Vonage in the states and it would seem as though they are still the winners in the category of Broadband Telephony, AT&T's results here are pale in comparison.

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