Voice mail is a pain, but it doesn’t have to be. Just ask the million users who’ve now registered for YouMail, a ‘digital secretary’ type service that offers visual voice mail, smart filtering, voice-to-text transcriptions and custom greetings.
YouMail, which operates only in the United States, says it has not only surpassed the 1 million registered users mark but has also handled over 300 million calls since its inception in 2007.
YouMail offers free applications for the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry platforms, as well as a paid application for Palm’s webOS platform.
Alex Quilici, YouMail’s CEO, says most of its now 1 million strong user base are service professionals who can’t afford to miss critical voice calls and opt to use the service as a virtual assistant to greet callers by name or personal message, route important calls as text or email messages, and take dictation from callers.
YouMail’ has partnerships in place with regional wireless and VoIP carriers such as IMMIX Wireless, Cellular One, Blue Wireless, iSmart Mobile and others. These carriers typically set YouMail as their standard voice mail service or directly offer it as a featured option to their customers.
The service is available to post-paid mobile users in the US on all major carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile. YouMail can also be used to unify a user’s mobile voicemail with their voice messages from VoIP service providers such as Google Voice, MagicJack, OOMA, and Vonage.
YouMail provides its service for free and ad-supported, and also offers a set of premium services, which includes voice-to-text transcription.
The company is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, and backed by $6.4 million from Vantage Point Venture Partners and Tech Coast Angels. YouMail faces competition with Google Voice, although there are some notable differences (for instance, YouMail boasts an API for third-party developers, integration with Facebook, offers personalized greetings for callers, etc.).
