The web-to-mobile calling efforts are starting to get interesting. Last week Jaxtr talked about how it planned to make money by selling ads, and today Jangl launches its own ad efforts tied to a partnership with Pudding Media. The plan is to target pre-roll ads on Jangl’s existing voice calls and SMS messages by using location and demographic information provided in the profiles on various social media sites.
Jangl has already made money by selling the ability to receive calls without giving out a phone number on dating web sites, but the ad efforts are targeting bigger money. Jangl’s CEO Michael Cerda estimates the CPMs are around $30 to $60 for SMS messages ads, and around $10 for voice. Now that revenue is entering the equation, we should soon have less subjective ways to judge who is successful in this crowded market. Sales are a better metric than user numbers when it comes to figuring out which services will succeed.
AT&T will spend $1 billion this year to push out its enterprise access and utility computing services internationally. The money will go toward a new undersea cable to Japan and Asia, investments in cables running to the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and the Middle East. It plans to add DSL service in four countries, enhanced Ethernet in 14 cities, and 180,000 square feet to its 38 existing data centers worldwide. Enterprise growth for the carrier was 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, but data services such as VPN and enterprise IP services grew at rates of 31 percent and 21 percent respectively.
RingCentral, a Redwood City, Calif.-based VoIP company, has raised $12 million in Series B funding, doubling the amount it raised in its Series A round. New investor DAG Ventures led the latest funding, with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures participating as well. The company claims some 50,000 customers, making it one of the more successful players in the hosted VoIP sector. I was highly skeptical of RingCentral when it launched, but I guess there are 50,000 reasons why I was wrong. (I am going to post a long overdue review of RingCentral’s service later this month. )
A new report from ABI Research hits the rather obvious note that customers are loyal to good service, not a particular carrier. As geographic boundaries for telco services erode thanks to unlimited wireless pricing plans and potential femtocell deployments, services and service are key. ABI Research Vice President Stuart Carlaw in the report states that:
“[W]ith a very conservative uptake of new innovative services enabled by femtocell solutions, it could take as much as five years before carriers go into the black following the trials on femtocell solutions. It is important to put this into context: nearly 75% of consumers in developments buy the solutions of more than two services. It is apparent that creating services beyond the go-to-market, cheap voice strategy will be crucial. And this will enable marketers to push the femtocell beyond the early adopters.”
It’s just another reminder that while folks out on the bleeding edge may be keen to wirelessly stream data from their laptops to their PCs, and Gen Y and those younger than them are more comfortable texting than talking, for the majority of the people out there paying a telco or cable provider, cheap, quality voice for less is what they want. Build that, and they will come. Keep it working, and they will stay.
Social voice startup Jaxtr has reached 10 million users, doubling its user base in less than three months. The company has also announced the end of its beta and the beginning of revenue, with ads running on the Jaxtr Cafe site. The site essentially turns Jaxtr from an widget-based mobile VoIP platform into a one-stop shop for social voice and text messaging that can be delivered to a mobile phone without the user giving out his or her phone number.
The ingress and egress of executives at Skype has given us much to write about, especially the changes in the C-suite. Niklas Zennstrom (co-founder) left a few months ago and was replaced by interim CEO Michael van Swaaij who is now being replaced by Josh Silverman, currently CEO of Shopping.com, another eBay company.
Silverman faces some interesting challenges - he needs to figure out how to grow the revenues. Skype has seen a sharp increase in Skype-to-Skype minutes. He is making the right noises and is going to be moving to Estonia to spend time at what I personally think is the “heart” of the Skype operation. (Update: We are told this move to Estonia is temporary, about two-to-three months. )
I’m the new guy, and have a lot to learn. To really understand Skype’s cultural and technological DNA, my number one priority is to do a lot of listening and learning. With my wife and kids about to begin their adventure in Estonia as well… As chief executive, I’m stepping into a flight deck first captained by co-founder Niklas Zennström and latterly interim CEO Michael van Swaaij. Both of whom have done great, meaningful things with this company. I don’t yet have the right to expect your enthusiastic two thumbs up. But as we go further on this journey together, I plan to earn it.”
