There are no “new trends” to VoIP, unless you can magically create a new codec to compress data faster and smaller, and that won’t happen. VoIP is a dead end for VC and angel investing.

The business ideas I pitch to angels are profitable, expandable, and have almost no competition, but the morons who run the joints only want to hear about Web 2.0 and the Internet, even though future profitable investments will rely on P2P manual services rather than B2B electronic services.

If I see another VoIP business plan come through my email box, I’ll croak. Telecom is dead, unless you’re designing something that is truly P2P without software or signifcant user install intervention.

I have to say that in the current climate it’s a safe choice… we have in the pipeline prospective customers that are scaling back all other investments and freezing their 2009 budgets. If you sell cheaper and cheaper minutes you end up giving free airtime and subsidize it with ads, which puts you in competition with Google and possibly Blyk in the UK. Notwhistanding the fact that mobile operators (assuming you’re not only on wifi) they can simply charge you a lump sum and give you free calls in the first place.

The basic issues facing mobile VoIP are battery consumption due to radio turned on, traffic on the spectrum which is not really consumer friendly (hate them or love them, mobile operators have paid dearly for that spectrum and they have to protect it) and this coupled with the fact that the end user does not get any advantage by making a plain VoIP call vs. a circuit swicthed one.

John http://forums.socalphonepros.com http://www.socalphonepros.com

I think the value proposition hasn’t gone beyond cheap or free calls so there is very little opportunity for a long term sustainable model. I think there are some folks who are doing well because they make gear/back end software but even those success stories are hard to find.