Now hear me out. I realize the title of my article is baffling and your brain is already calculating all the different ways you will flame this piece with negative comments.

 

You may be thinking of all the differences between these two companies. For example: Google makes money and Vonage does not. Google can easily afford the lawsuits it is in. Google is not being threatened by Verizon to be shut down. I am sure there are a number of other comments you may be thinking as well like how it may be time for me to retire or rethink my career as a writer.

 

But before you get a chance to think seriously about any of the above, hear me out.

 

Vonage is absolutely everywhere. They get more press than virtually any company out there in technology. Just take a look at the sampling at the bottom of this page of the press they received from top sources regarding a CEO replacement and some layoffs. Last week there was a potential for the company to get shut down and I received calls from almost a dozen reporters for analysis on Vonage, the VoIP and IP communications space.

 

All this for a VoIP company? This is a PSTN replacement after all. Is the company worthy of just so much press.

 

The irony in all this is if you talk to many bloggers who follow the IP communications market they have little positive to say about internal Vonage PR.

 

Bearing this in mind the fact the company has become a media darling is absolutely amazing. Now by media darling I mean it in the Donald Trump sort of way which means there is no such thing as bad press. Sure many are writing about how the company is doomed and they don’t know what they are doing but in reality the more press they get the more free publicity they get.

 

If they can get beyond this patent mess – and many people believe the Verizon patents are too broad and really shouldn’t have been granted in the first place, then Vonage has a chance of growing even more quickly.

 

In the blogosphere I am one of the few who thinks this company has a future and a potentially bright one at that. So far I would have predicted the company would have a higher stock price but then again until today there hasn’t been a serious goal of generating profit.

 

We are talking after all about a company with about three million customers. That is $60/month in revenue at a minimum. This is no small sum. The company’s base just grows and grows. If nothing else Vonage is the undisputed VoIP marketing king.

 

The question is whether Citron and company will continue to focus the company on profit now… Cut the cost of customer acquisition and generate earnings. At three million customers they are a formidable force and the company has real value now.

 

Let’s see how they navigate through the sea of patent issues and if they can focus more on external damage control. The media just seems to love to write about this company… The question is whether the New Jersey based VoIP services leader will give them something positive to write about in the near future.

 

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Here is a brief sampling of the press Vonage has received over their recent restructuring courtesy of Google News: