In what could possibly be a longterm blow to MagicJack, i2Telecom looks like they are on their way to winning a few patents on their VoiceStick technology. When I spoke with Magic Jack’s folks a few weeks ago I raised the similarity to i2Telecom’s USB implementation, but they seemed to be unmoved by the assertion. I’m wondering if their own patent attorneys are reading the news now to see what may or may not apply. While the i2Telecom patent has yet to be finalized the notice they received has to be warming to their hearts (and wallets.)
On the subject of patents, a lot of people are wondering why I haven’t weighed in on the Vonage fiasco caused by yet another defeat in court, this time to Sprint. I learned a long time ago not to speak ill of the dead. Assuming Vonage makes seven dollars a month on an average customer out of the $24.95 a month they charge that means almost 10 million customer months of profits are needed to cover the fine. With their roughly two million customers that basically burns five months of profits. I have to think a third party softswitch would have been far less costly at this point and at any point along the way.
Digium has acquired SwitchVox. This ups the ante in the battle against Fonality.
The inquirer out of the UK continues the runaway coverage of client Truphone and their debut at DEMO 2007 here in San Diego of their Apple iPhone application. The news is so big that Wired’s Blog Network has a second story on it today.
Jaxtr reports a lot of growth. This is coming at a time when I’m hearing from some former Jajah insiders that the bloom has fallen off their rose and that growth has slowed. Clearly there is a crowd that moves from one free service to the next. The key is not how many of them there are though. It’s will they ever pay?
Tom Keating goes on a long and insightful post about Skype, Facebook and the new category I am calling Social Communications which embraces VoIP.
PC World has a story on How To Switch To VoIP. It’s geared for the small business customer.
Just in time for the Skype Developer Day BBQ Skype Journal’s Jim Courtney has a nice round up post of facts, figures and direction, citing Alec Saunders and others.