From the EDge

Most telephony new products are about mobile, but I pay almost no attention to every kind of accessory or feature for your mobile phone. No need to hear from me since the mobile mainstream is covered in many places—see Palm in the news. I still use a Palm IIIc (occasionally) and liked the work they did on the human interface, so I hope the new phone is as good as claimed. We know the mobile world needs plenty of advances in that category. Read about it elsewhere.

Of course, VoIP is on my view screen, but there is not much new to report. Try as you might, I don’t think there was a Skype phone anywhere except under the counter, which was a trend started last year. By changing management frequently no one can be responsible for where there should be embarrassment and concern at Skype. Partners are long ago lost in the dust bin. At least they did have a press conference promising new directions and an evening party. It’s good being king. I hope it works out.

The two VoIP consumer plays at CES live in a space I can’t quite imagine. Both Ooma and MagicJack have product and company strengths that defy logic and economics. Ooma has a pending DECT phone with features that I conceived of years ago, then as an open platform. Maybe someday that could happen, but no matter what evolution comes to pass I see a huge money pit that will be difficult to escape from. Too little too late, but they still look cool.

MagicJack has pulled off a significant integration of technology and network, but I don’t see where a business model based on upgrade revenue can work well. The first premise of selling to the most cost-sensitive users and then selling upgrades seems a contradiction. At least Ooma requires an entry fee that establishes some financial commitment. The greater fool theory of investment requires an environment of “irrational exuberance,” which seems quite unlikely in the foreseeable future for both of these companies.

Packet 8 was there representing the mainstream of VoIP, but like many exhibitors had plenty of time to talk to anyone who ventured by. A few other vendors were in evidence with small/medium office contributions. I did not recall seeing the Teligent phone system (by CSI Design) before. It looks like another in a long line of interesting products, but with no means to penetrate the small business market.

The one telephony play of interest was Newber. There have been various alternate or virtual phone number plays in the past and I think it remains a good area for innovation. Newber allows you to use a virtual number to control separate business and personal calls on a single mobile phone– now on iPhone. A fairly simple concept that should have many users, especially if it can work without subscribing to their more comprehensive VoIP hosted solutions.. It also has a location aware function so that calls can be auto-routed to the phone you are near. Pretty cool.

The most under-exploited telephone capability is text messaging. Unfortunately it is mostly locked up in proprietary islands and costly use cases. Cherple looks to have broken through this land of silos. Especially attractive is the consumer solution that allows text messages to be originated on the Internet and sentwithout cost to any US phone. Phones can respond, subject to the user’s text plan cost. This would be a winner in any market where it is possible. I see a big upside for this venture.