Comments on: SIPphone on Rupert Murdoch’s Radar?

By: Om Malik on Broadband : » SIPphone Gets VC Cash

Om Malik on Broadband : » SIPphone Gets VC Cash — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 07:27:42 +0000

[...] “There is no doubt that the price of voice calls is headed towards near zero, and companies like us need to make money off premium services and features that consumers are willing to pay for,” says Robertson. [ Read: The great VoIP implosion.] SIPphone is going to announce a new “premium offering” later this week. Robertson, who previously had started MP3.com, says he is working on creating a private label business for SIPphone as well, and is already powering a low-cost calling service called iPhox. SIPphone was rumored to be in talks with News Corp, for adding voice functionality to MySpace.com. There were rumors of a $50 million buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch. While those talks haven’t gone anywhere, this new round of funding will give SIPphone the runway it needs to get market traction. [...]

By: Charles Dodd

Charles Dodd — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:51:13 +0000

Dude, as a bigtime Gizmo user, I love that thing. I don’t use MySpace but everyone I know does. Like an earlier post, I would think the two together would give AOL a real run for its money. Plus MySpace is all about dating, so P2P phone would make that place the biggest friggin hook-up service ever. I guess I better get a MySpace page going.

By: tech_pundit

tech_pundit — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 18:04:26 +0000

sipphone/gizmo project would definitely be a cool fit here. i’d love to have a tool to use with myspace. i’ve used gizmo a bit and always had a good experience, but never had to deal with support.

i must say that there’s a lot of speculation in this article. how many of these rumors end up being true anyway?

By: s.f.

s.f. — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 05:58:10 +0000

sipphone (mickey mouse) and newscorp ( the giant) in partnership with a mouse who cannot even roar? never….
sipphone support and staff act like primadonnas,they think the world owes them a living…..no way…jose
chances of newscorp acquiring an operation like sipphone is slim or none….newscorp owned telecom companies 1000x larger than sipphone, and decided to let it go.

By: Frank Ortiz

Frank Ortiz — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 02:13:33 +0000

Who even cares about Gizmo’s user base…it is the client and backend that matters. Gizmo + MySpace would be such a massive deal. 50 mm active users with MySpace with a new IM network + voice would make the network almost as big as AIM in the US. Plus when you pull out the MySpace users from AIM (aim is very lame), you would have a network maybe even bigger than AIM.

Plus, Gizmo does Mac, PC and Linux. No one, not G Talk, AIM, not MSN, not AOL have all these platforms.

Anyway, I would be stoked to see myspace + gizmo.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 20:01:54 +0000

That’s classic Michael … he starts a project, gets it going, and then moves on to something else. i guess being focussed on a single project is not his strength. perhaps that’s why you and others find gizmo project stuck in the second gear. i am pretty certain with enough resources, this could be a mega play.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:52:51 +0000

I have been disappointed in the progress on the Gizmo Project. It came out somewhat interesting, but has not really improved.

By: PaidContent.org

PaidContent.org — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:26:57 +0000

SIPphone on Murdochs Radar?

: News Corp might be interested in Michael Robertson’s SIPphone, the VOIP service, according to Om. Robertson is the founder of MP3.com, and a bunch of other things after that. The two companies have had advanced level conversations, but no…