Vonage has been battling Skype for many, many years, but they’re not letting up now that the latter has been acquired by Microsoft. The Internet calling company, which came dangerously close to dying a few years ago, this morning launched a new Vonage Mobile app for iPhone and Android, offering free calls and texts to anyone who also has the app installed (as predicted a few weeks ago).
This is hardly the first time Vonage has debuted apps for smartphone platforms, but this one is definitely worth checking out. → Read More
One of my favorite recent blog posts is Seth Godin’s “Getting funded is not the same as succeeding.” Whether or not we’re in a bubble, it’s a sign of the times that this post has to be written in the first place. As Josh Elman tweets, we’ve gone from RIP Good Times to funding a grilled cheese company in less than three years (Sequoia was involved in both interestingly). Instead of focusing on the companies that are creating the most value for their customers, we’re talking about who raised the largest round or who’s part of the billion dollar valuation club.
And this is dangerous. It’s dangerous because we’re celebrating the “success” of fund raisings rather than the success of building truly valuable businesses. → Read More
Have you been looking for a way to call your Facebook friends on your iPhone or your Android device? Haven’t figured out their numbers yet? A new solution from Vonage offers free calls to all you Facebook friends who, virally, have downloaded the same app. The calls work over WiFi and 3G/4G networks. The app, called Vonage Mobile for Facebook, is an odd, viral solution for voice communications. The app trolls your Facebook profile for compatible friends and shows you that they are able to either take voice calls or chat. Regular updates remind you to tell your buds about the service via Facebook, thereby completing the human centipede of Vonage connected-ness. → Read More
Ooma is stepping up their offering in the international calling game. The VoIP service providers latest plans are about as competitive as can be. Watch out, Vonage, Ooma has your mom’s number. → Read More
MSI just announced their latest, the GE600 gaming notebook, is now available for purchase. Built around an Intel Core i5 processor and the ATI Radeon HD5730 GPU, the GE600 is billed at MSI’s lightest gaming notebook yet at 5.9 lbs, and this latest addition to their stable is also DirectX11 capable. → Read More
I mean, seriously.
Apple’s chief complaint against the Google Voice application was “The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls…”
And that’s ok, because we all know that the real reason Apple won’t let Google Voice through is that they are scared out of their mind that Android and Google Voice will eat their iPhone lunch over the long term. Apple can’t win the fight over the long term, but they sure are willing to say and do anything in the short term to stop the advance of Google.
But you’d think they’d at least be consistent and apply the same arguments to other third party apps. At least until this whole FCC thing blows over. → Read More
I have been using Vonage since July 2004 and have had zero complaints with the service. It constantly works well and the price was right. That’s what I thought until I just noticed that my rate plan went up from $14.99 to $17.99. Sure, not a huge increase and a warning would be nice, but it’s the fees and taxes that have slowly been added on over the years I have beef with. My first bill for the 500 minute basic rate plan came to $16.94 once taxes were added in. My latest bill was $23.18 for the same plan, which includes a ton of extra fees and taxes now.
Altogether the fees and taxes add up to $5.19 for a $17.99 rate plan. That’s almost 29% of the total bill. Still, I know Vonage is a great deal even at that price but I was curious about why I am paying three different fees for 911 service so I called Vonage up. No one could answer why I need to pay these besides that’s what my county, state, and the US Government requires Vonage to charge its customers. Alright, then what about the Federal Program Fee? → Read More
A couple of weeks ago, we reported that Sprint ordered Vonage to cough up almost $70 million plus 5 percent of future revenue for patent infringement damages. Today the fiasco has been settled for $80 million, straight up and Sprint has agreed to license Vonage some of its VOIP technology in return. For a company like Vonage that’s been hemmoraging money due to legal misunderstandings, it’s a positive sign that after settling with Sprint, its stock went up 74% to $2. That’s still far less than Vonage’s IPO price of $17 per share. Sprint’s stock went down 1.5% to settle at $18.73 per share. Sprint and Vonage settle patent dispute [Reuters] → Read More
That’s gonna leave a mark. Apparently Vonage infringed upon six of Sprint Nextel’s patents, which is a big, expensive no-no. Sprint will receive $69.5 million plus 5 percent of Vonage’s future revenue. Earlier this year, Vonage lost a cool $58 million, plus 5.5% future royalties to Verizon. That now seems somewhat tame. All told, that brings the grand total to $127.5 million plus 10.5% of all future revenue that Vonage is going to have to dish out. Guess who might be picking up some or all of that bill? Vonage customers. → Read More
Vonage released its second quarter financial results today (I’ve embedded the release below with the new Zoho Viewer that launched last night). And while the stock continues to slide, revenues are way up and losses are slowing. Perhaps they can avoid the fate of competitor SunRocket, which shut down last month. The company also says that they have “substantially completed” the workaround deployment for two of the patents at issue in the company-threatening patent litigation with Verizon. And development of the workaround for the third patent at issue is completed says Chairman Jeffrey Citron. A Federal court will have to agree before the company is in the clear. Revenues for the quarter were a record $206 million, a 43% increase from the same period last year. Net losses were $34 million, down from $74 million in Q2 2006. The company still has $344 million in cash, although $66 million of that is reserved for collateral in the patent litigation. Some bad news, though – customer churn increased to 2.5%/month. The company says they are extending the grace period for non-payment to encourage retention…but they may be retaining the deadbeats. I am a long time Vonage customer but will soon be switching to Ooma (which, by the way, became available for purchase this morning) and getting rid of that $25/month Vonage fee. Vonage is a lot cheaper than a normal phone line, but free is hard to compete with. Perhaps some of the new hardware Vonage is testing with some customers will help them. → Read More
Consumer VOIP service Vonage is beta testing a new, self-described “cool and sleek, yet simplistic and approachable” gateway device produced by Ambit. The device, an Ambit VDV21, includes a LCD screen that displays caller ID and voicemail notifications. The hope, Vonage says in an email, is that it will “inspire consumers to proudly display their Vonage router rather than hide it under their desk.” It is not yet listed on their product page. It sounds like they’re taking a page out of Ooma’s playbook. Ooma offers users a much more compelling VOIP device as part of their service; it includes a speaker, voicemail controls and other features. Ooma is also free once the hardware is purchased. The Vonage gateway also includes other features – see the email sent to us below. If you’d like to test it, they are offering a month of free service during the test, plus a credit of $30 on your Vonage account. You must return the device at the end of the month, however. Sign up here. Text of email: → Read More
