Matt, I don’t consult for mexuar anymore so.... cant comment on their behalf :)
Regards, Dean Collins Cognation Pty Ltd [EMAIL PROTECTED] +1-212-203-4357 +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial). > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Rubenstein [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 4:35 PM > To: Dean Collins > Cc: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion > Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] Ribbit.com ? > > Dean, how would you describe Mexuar, with its embeddable but > proprietary IAX applet, in that context? > > > On Mon, 2007-12-17 at 16:18 -0500, Dean Collins wrote: > > Matt, > > > > As someone who has been pushing voice driven web applications since Astricon > 2006 in both Java with Mexuar and Flash with (a yet to be named company) I > think I > can add some comments here. > > > > The asterisk community has potentially a major part to play in "voipifying" > > websites > and social networks. > > > > For a number of reasons this hasn't come to pass. > > > > I can say however the biggest issue is never technical but often driven by > > corporate > capabilities, lack of foresight; and often just plain greed. > > > > I have looked at Ribbit (thankfully not under NDA otherwise I wouldn't be > > able to > comment here), they have a major 'Achilles heal' - their funding. > > > > The problem with Ribbit is they want to be a big company with a big > > 'swinging > XXXX'. This is often a problem with companies who come up with one good idea > and > then plant their entire retirement/exit strategy/pick up chicks for the rest > of their life > on this one good idea. > > > > The reason Asterisk has been successful is purely because Digium as a > > company > never wanted to have the biggest office on the block. They were quite happy > never to > crack 20 staff for a long time and as such didn't need to take the gobs of VC > money > being offered to them. (will this continue...to be seen - but magic 8 ball > says > doubtful). > > > > This goes back to the tellme concept I was trying to float on the > > voip-info.org site a > few years ago as well. > > > > As long as you have easy and well defined api's developers will come and > > will build > apps around your tools. > > > > Make the price low and the barrier to entry minimal and the customers will > > come. > > > > More important than any of it though....build your business with a clean > > heart and > people will know they aren't developing on your behalf while expecting to get > screwed > at the first opportunity you see. > > > > (oh and VC's are for suckers who cant get laid :) > > > > > > > > Regards, > > > > Dean Collins > > Cognation Pty Ltd > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > +1-212-203-4357 > > +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial). > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:asterisk-biz- > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matthew Rubenstein > > > Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 3:41 PM > > > To: Asterisk -Biz > > > Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Ribbit.com ? > > > > > > Why is it taking so long for OSS SIP or IAX clients embeddable in web > > > pages? There's one or two products out there, while desktop clients are > > > fairly plentiful. If "Web VoIP" clients were as plentiful as, say, MP3 > > > players, then the "Voice Web" would be growing probably as fast as the > > > Web itself once did. > > > > > > > > > On Mon, 2007-12-17 at 07:10 -0700, Rehan Allah Wala wrote: > > > > Any one tried this yet ? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Ribbit Pulls Back the Covers On Its Voice 2.0 Master Plan (And Raises > > > > $10 Million B Round) > > > > Erick Schonfeld > > > > 12 comments ≫ > > > > > > > > > > > > ribbit-small.pngIn case it isn’t abundantly clear by now, voice is > > > > just another application-bits that can be co-mingled with other data > > > > in unexpected ways. Ribbit, a startup that officially launches today > > > > and calls itself “Silicon Valley’s first phone company,” takes that > > > > concept as its basic premise. It wants to be the platform company for > > > > Voice 2.0 applications. If its plans succeed, there will be thousands > > > > of new phone apps appearing soon, and they almost all will be Flash > > > > apps. In other words, these won’t be stand-alone pieces of software > > > > like Skype. They will let people make calls right from the browser and > > > > tie deeply into other apps and data on the Web. > > > > > > > > > > > > “If you were to invent a phone company today,” asks CEO Ted Griggs, > > > > “what would it look like?” It wouldn’t be just cheap calls over the > > > > Web or a one-trick startup built around a single feature like > > > > click-to-call buttons. No, says Griggs, who founded Junction, a VoIP > > > > software company he merged with Summa Four and sold to Cisco in the > > > > late 1990s. It would be a complete end-to-end environment where > > > > developers who know nothing about telephony could plug into and > > > > quickly create Web-based phone applications. Ribbit recently closed a > > > > $10 million B round led by Allegis Capital, with KPG Ventures > > > > participating. The company also raised $3 million (the amount was > > > > previously undisclosed) from Alsop Louie Partners in October, 2006. > > > > > > > > > > > > ribbit-chalk-phone.pngToday’s launch is a developer launch, not a > > > > consumer launch (that will come later in the first quarter of 2008). > > > > It is releasing a more robust version of its APIs for its private > > > > developer beta, which is open to any programmer. Already, about 600 > > > > developers have built Ribbit apps under certain restrictions (they are > > > > not allowed to go live on the Web until early next year). These apps > > > > range from an Adobe AIR iPhone that can make calls from your computer > > > > to a Flash phone with a chalkboard interface to a browser-based phone > > > > that works inside Salesforce.com (see screen shot below). > > > > > > > > > > > > All of these phones can call other Web-based phones (including Skype), > > > > VoIP phones, or regular landline and mobile phones. Ribbit handles the > > > > calls and other voice-related services (call logs, voice messages, > > > > speech-to-text transcription,contact imports, directories, > > > > provisioning, billing, security, authentication) and provides the APIs > > > > to developers, who build their apps with Adobe’s Flex development > > > > tools. (Ribbit does not support Ajax apps because Ajax does not let > > > > you access the computer’s microphone, says Griggs, but he might > > > > consider extending support to Silverlight, which does). Ribbit will > > > > create its own consumer and enterprise phone apps, but it will also > > > > host a marketplace where consumers and businesses can find (and buy) > > > > Ribbit apps. > > > > > > > > > > > > For the most part, Ribbit plans on charging for its calls. “There is a > > > > company a week that tries to avoid paying for the call. We are not > > > > doing that,” says Crick Waters, senior vice president of strategy. It > > > > is free to play with the API’s and develop a Ribbit phone application, > > > > but once it goes into production and actual calls begin, Ribbit will > > > > start charging. Pricing will start at $30 a month for 20 simultaneous > > > > sessions, or seats (for, say, call center reps logged into the > > > > application making and receiving calls), plus per-minute fees to the > > > > regular phone network. (Internet calls are free). The developer can > > > > then choose to charge its customers or provide it for free, and make > > > > up the cost in other ways. There probably will be free consumer apps > > > > from both Ribbit and its developers, but the business opportunity here > > > > is for enterprise voice applications that can be charged for. Instead > > > > of developing a custom call-center application for $250,000, for > > > > instance, an entrepreneur could build the same thing for much less on > > > > Ribbit and charge, say, $5 a month per customer service rep (with > > > > Ribbit taking $1.50). > > > > > > > > > > > > ribbit-diagram-2.png > > > > > > > > > > > > At its core, Ribbit has built a telephone switch in software, known as > > > > a soft switch. It works just like a switch made by Lucent or Nortel. > > > > Except that it is software running on hosted Linux servers. Ribbit’s > > > > “class 5″ switch has been tested in Lucent’s labs and passed with > > > > flying colors-meaning it is as reliable as any telco switch, Griggs > > > > assures me. Ribbit’s soft switch can send calls to regular phones, > > > > mobiles, Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-IM, and Web pages. It supports many > > > > voice protocols (SIP, Skype, Google Talk’s XMPP). Through its APIs, > > > > Ribbit will give developers access to all the functionality of its > > > > phone switch. “In the old days,” says Griggs, “it was a hardware box > > > > Lucent built talking to a hardware box that Nortel built. Today, there > > > > are a lot of clients people are using.” Want to create a unified > > > > messaging service that follows you wherever you are, even ringing on > > > > your IM or in your browser? No problem. > > > > > > > > > > > > Sending phone calls over the Web is not what makes Ribbit interesting, > > > > though. What makes it interesting is that it offers a way to create > > > > voice apps in a familiar Web application development environment that > > > > can easily be linked to other Web apps. Voice is just a feature of the > > > > Web, and Ribbit recognizes that. The Ribbit phone created as a demo > > > > for Salesforce.com, for instance, will not only let sales people make > > > > calls to prospects directly from the browser-based CRM application. It > > > > will also log the call. And in the next release, it will be able to > > > > record portions of a call at a click of the button and transcribe it > > > > (Ribbit uses speech-to-text technology from SimulScribe). Other > > > > developers have used the same transcription functionality to create > > > > phone apps that let people leave voice messages on blogs or on > > > > people’s Facebook FunWalls that then get turned into text comments. In > > > > the future you might call a friend and hear, “Press 1 to leave a > > > > private message, Press 2 to leave a message on my FunWall.” Ribbit has > > > > big ambitions. If it can deliver on half of them, it just might become > > > > Silicon Valley’s first phone company. > > > > > > > > > > > > Here is a screen shot of the Salesforce app (click to enlarge): > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Rehan Ahmed AllahWala > > > > Msn/Yahoo/GoogleTalk/Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.supertec.com/ - Internet Telephony Solutions > > > > Http://www.DIDX.net - DID Number Market Place. > > > > Don't Remember Me ? Visit http://www.Rehan.com > > > > > > > > > > > > ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ > > > > "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, > > > > then you win." > > > > By Gandhi. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- > > > > > > > > asterisk-biz mailing list > > > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > > > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz > > > -- > > > > > > (C) Matthew Rubenstein > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- > > > > > > asterisk-biz mailing list > > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz > -- > > (C) Matthew Rubenstein _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
