Today might be a good day to yell “touchdown.” Two months ago, I had reported that Microsoft had been eyeing Teleo, a small San Francisco-based VoIP provider. Now finally, there is a confirmation via C/Net News.com.
“We’ve been making a lot of investments in voice, but as we looked at continuing…we had that build or buy discussion,” said Brooke Richardson, lead product manager for MSN’s communication services division. “We decided that if we wanted to do things rapidly, Teleo was a good fit.”
According to News.com, Teleo’s technology is going to become part of the MSN Messenger platform. That is keeping in line with what I had speculated.
Teleo is very similar to Microsoft’s Communicator which works well with others Microsoft offerings such as Outlook. But that is primarily an enterprise product, and has been a big area of focus for Microsoft. I am pretty sure Microsoft is looking for ways to add VoIP capabilities to some of their consumer offerings.
10 comments so far
9:25 PM PT
[...] Malik announced it in June and now it is official: Microsoft will buy VoIP player Teneo. Om Malik’s Broadband Blog: According to News.com, Teleo’s technology is going t [...]
10:46 PM PT
Om: You rule. Great catch. I just caught the alert right now. Any more predictions, oh wise one!
11:19 PM PT
[...] n Valley’s version of keeping up with Jones. Yahoo (via DialPad acquisition), Microsoft (via Teleo acquisition), AIM, Google Talk and Apple’s iChat are taking a cue from S [...]
5:27 AM PT
I don’t get it. Is this a buy because there were personal relationships involved? I don’t see why Microsoft/MSN would need a Teleo.
Well, bought into MSN. Goodbye Teleo.
5:48 AM PT
[...] ers in the future," Irving enthused. Teleo / MSN website Om Malik’s site (he reported on the talks two months ago) [...]
5:48 AM PT
[...] tomers in the future," Irving enthused. Teleo / MSN website Om Malik’s site (he reported on the talks two months ago) [...]
12:43 PM PT
[...] ichardson said. The buyout comes as no surprise to some, as Microsoft was reported to be eyeing Telco months prior. Regardless, with the recent Google buyout of Dodgeball an [...]
2:14 PM PT
Nice call Om!
3:28 PM PT
[...] 8217;s Gary Stein has some thoughts on this trend, as he tries to come-up with reasons for why Microsoft bought Teleo. We know that local merchants would rather pay for a ca [...]
9:49 PM PT
[...] The click to call (via Teleo, I am guessing) married to the maps was brilliant. I mean wow! We were only discussing this yesterday on how to marry Google Maps, and Google Talk. Microsoft KOs competition. Think of it as MSN messenger that got smarter, and then found a simpler-easier Friendster, a Plaxo, Intellisync client and well, a bag of chips. My hats off to the team that built Live IM client. It blows that it is not on a Mac. [...]
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