I'm adding a VOIP category to cover Skype, Vivox, Gizmo and emerging Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) products and services. There's so much happening in this space as it directly relates to dating and social networking sites that it deserves it's own category.
Ether launches: From Ingenio, who powered Match.com's discontinued profile help service. Provides a free anonymous phone number you forward to your regular phone #. Set your rate and availability and market yourself. If I'm an expert in dung beetles, call me to ask questions about the mating habits of the dung beetle and I'll charge you $5.00 per minute. Looks extremely interesting, great platform supporting lots of business models. Closed beta.
Vivox is chairing a pre-con Summit at the Spring VON event in San Jose the week of March 13th. A great opportunity for players in the dating industry to hear more about the technological advancements in IP communications, as well as learn more about the business benefits of implementing.
TelTel raises $8M, takes on Skype. Why care? Silicon Beat tells all. In short, Skype is proprietary, everyone else uses SIP protocol. I'm liking Gizmo these days. Whoever gets multi-user video to work with these services will win a huge chunk of users from Yahoo and MSN chat.
Business 2.0 just names Vivox to their Next Net 25 list as one of the top 25 start-ups that are reinventing the web.
Nate Elliot (who owes me a call for an interview), tells Businesweek he is enthusiastic about the prospect of niche-oriented networks like TripConnect, which aims to convert travel advice into a business.
Finally, I fixed the sidebar width problem in Safari on OS X.
Technorati Tags: ether, teltel, vivox
1. John Engstrom on March 3, 2006 9:43 AM writes...
Hi Dave! Hope all is well with you. I'm lucky to be well connected with Avaya who sells one of the niftiest phone switch systems in existence. I'm starting to build new features for AppleDates built on the plain old telephone. I feel that at this point the telephone is a ubiquitous and perfectly well integrated device for connecting people in my target market---New York City. My survey of women tells me that they would prefer to use their existing telephone as a connection device rather than computer based solutions. Skype, et, al, make sense in an international call savings scenario but for dating, where both parties are likely to be local, I think that what I'm testing today is going to blow the doors of anything computer based, at least in terms of ease of use and accessibility. Who wants to fuss with a computer microphone, save a file as an mp3 and upload a file when I you can dial an 800 number, enter a 7 digit PIN and record a message that is posted to your profile in a second. I'm a strong believer in computer assisted telephony as opposed to computer replaced telephony. What do you think?
Permalink to Comment2. conedude13 on March 3, 2006 9:47 AM writes...
That url to the sign-up page asks for an access code to finish the signing up process. Do you know where I can get one? Was there one for you when you signed up or did you go through a link that provided one for you? I just wanted to know, because beta testers get a 10% fee taken out of profit to pay for services while everyone else get a 15%. Just trying to squeeze every cent if I can. Thanks!
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