You may remember at CES this year we had a chance to meet with MagicJack and see the prototype for their Femtocell technology, which they said would be coming out in the first half of the year. Well they missed their projected launch date, but it’s looking like the Femtocell product may still be coming this year. → Read More
Back when we were at CES, we were given a case of MagicJacks to give away to contest winners and the like. After scratching our heads about about what to do with them, we threw the question out to you, our valued readers. Based on your suggestions, we found a new home for the entire case of the things. → Read More
I love CEO spats. A few days ago the MagicJack CEO, Dan Borislow (Shown above at his party at CES. Seriously. It was just like that.) was talking about his femtocell and was all like: I’m sure you’ve heard of netTALK, the new magicJack rival. Any opinions on the device? It’s a piece of sh*t. It has static. The call quality is pathetic. There’s no phone numbers available, and it’s run by a bunch of fly-by-nights with no assets. They’ll be bankrupt soon. We’re a real company with the best network and best software. BAM! TWO HITS! I HIT YOU, YOU HIT THE GROUND. → Read More
We saw MagicJack’s femtocell design live in their suite and came away dazzled and slightly bemused. The device itself is far from finished – it’s basically just a PCB right now – but the concept is compelling. For about the price of the MagicJack ($40 or whatever) you stream your cellphone calls through their device, bypassing the cell carriers completely. Will it work? Sure. It’s essentially like a cell booster in a package about as big as a deck of cards. → Read More
Here’s a fun story cut down to the only detail you need to know: we got a gigantic box of 72 MagicJacks while checking out the new MagicJack Femtocell last night. It was that crazy of a party. Well, we don’t know what to do with them and don’t want to take them home. Suggestions? → Read More
More proof (see: the Perfect Pushup and the Snuggie.) that having a quirky, on-all-the-time commercial is a step in the right direction toward Big Success. MagicJack is selling something at the rate of 9,000 to 10,000 units per day, making its parent company, YMax Communications, some $100 million this year alone. But, in this age of Skype, who’s buying this thing? → Read More
You have a great idea for a product. You have a great designer. You have a manufacturer willing to pump something out for not much money. You’re on your way to gadget riches, right? Wrong.
Dan Costa wrote a cautionary tale for all those looking to produce a consumer electronics product. His focus is magicJack, a company that we wrote about in August 2007, a post that currently has 167 comments, none of them particularly good. Here’s an example from our own comments:
How do you CONTACT these people I can find NO way to send them a message?
MagicJack is basically a VOIP dongle that plugs into your USB port. You then add a telephone and make calls. It costs $40 and then $20 a year. It should be plug and play but, as with everything in life, it often isn’t. Fair enough, you say. Just make a phone call to the support line and you’ve got it solved. Sadly, this is not the case.
MagicJack is one of the reasons we gadget writers are so cynical. We see a great idea but there is something missing either during the review or on delivery. After a while you get a sixth sense about these things but unfortunately I couldn’t see the problems with this device until far along the product life cycle. I didn’t know the company would fail so badly at support and marketing. → Read More
Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that the future will be characterized by free, high-quality communication around the world. He was originally talking about satellite telephony, but it seems his predictions have come to pass, albeit using a few more wires. MagicJack is a phone company that charges about $20 a year for unlimited local and long distance calling. You can’t call Japan, but you can call Grandma. That’s right, peeps. That’s $20 a year, not $20 a month or $20 a minute. And, if you buy the dongle for $40, you get the first year free. → Read More
