Alec goes on the record with a response to recent hounding Ken and I have given Rebtel and Jajah, of whom Alec is a fan. Alec argues that Voice 2.0 isn’t going to be built in a day, and that Rebtel and Jajah are concrete steps towards the ideal. This may be true–if these guys want to shift revenue from the cell carriers, be my guest. But isn’t that business model essentially why XO and other CLECs spent so much time in bankruptcy court over the last ten years?
Check out Alec’s thoughts on the 2.0 ideal, here illustrated through a description of AOL’s relatively open developer arena, which I feel is going to be around long after Jajah is forgotten (btw I completely agree with Alec’s assessment [a] that AOL is doing the right thing and [b] that AOL’s approach is basically a good one):
Perhaps the most important step forward on the road to Voice 2.0 this year was AOL’s very gutsy developer play. [...] And, unlike Skype or SipPhone, AOL has a shared revenue model, which insures that the applications developer and AOL are aligned around a common goal, and that AOL can participate in the success of the developer.
Think about that for a minute. As a developer of applications, you do not need to source terminations and originations. AOL has done that for you. You do not need to build the network infrastructure. AOL has also done that. All you need do is focus on your application.
[...]
Speaking from personal experience, it was this lack of platform that caused iotum to focus so much attention on Asterisk, and subsequently AIM Phoneline. [...] We use the identity and presence information you have already by interfacing with AIM and MSN today, and tomorrow any IM client you wish. We simply provide the applications layer. Until recently, this pure Voice 2.0 approach has been way ahead of the market.
I think it still is way ahead of the market. Right now the market consists of cellular carrier customers and landline carrier customers. Well, 99% of the market anyhow. We must compel the market with solutions that break the endless sugar-daddy reliance on these services. I’m not sure I believe Jajah takes us to that break or reinforces it in some way.
The other thing that occured to me is the Napster effect–if Jajah and Rebtel have intellectual property that could aide the merger of two large carriers (which I think is a fabulous possibility based on what I know about what they do), then is there an acquisition exit strategy in the cards for these guys?
