VoiceGlo To Promote Via eDonkey

In a move that says “if it’s free it’s me, if I gotta pay, it’s no way” and that VoiceGlo want people who don’t want to pay for services, and some would say like to rip off content, Florida based VoiceGlo has linked up with eDonkey to spread their GloPhone software via download, according to Tom Keating’s blog.

Now, in fairness to VoiceGlo, this is not a bad way to spread adoption, stimulate trial and build a customer base. I mean, a lot of free samples get distributed at Costco too. And sampling is a proven winner in building a customer base, except in technology, where the people who want only free, rarely seem to convert in high numbers. I recall when Lockergnome drove thousands of readers to the Webley web site and drove signups for a limited trial. The conversion factor wasn’t even a blip on the heart monitor.

If GloPhone can create a model that keeps the users on their systems, and converts them to paying customers for non network calls then they may be onto something. However, if you subscribe to the theory that you’re known by the company you keep, running around with eDonkey’s will have more corporate enemies than friends, especially in Hollywood, entertainment and other Intellectual Property based industries.

Imagine, if someone traded the source code for GloPhone over the network, or passed trade secrets of VoiceGlo over eDonkey. I wonder how much they would like that. For filmmakers and television networks which pay huge rights fees, eDonkey provided a royalty free transport medium and works around the payment mechanism. While the network is not a criminal enterprise, a crime is being done (i.e. ripping off the artist) and supporting an enterprise like that, may not be something to be shouting about.