When I see a press release on PRWeb, sort of a no cost, low cost distribution service that few people follow compared to Business Wire or PR NewsWire, I always feel someone tried to “hide” the news. That’s the sense I have around the so called acquisition of Jaxtr by the founder of HotMail’s India based operating company.
To me, given the lack of details about the purchase, this sounds more like a dump the company into something that has a shot by putting Jaxtr in the hands of someone who is a known quantity to the investors, vs. just winding it down. That means someone felt there was something with the Intellectual Property worth handing over, in exchange for some level of equity in the surviving company.
For those who forgot about Jaxtr, the company offered free calling over a mobile phone and was using an advertising based model. I’ve always been skeptical about these types of operations that plan to rely on ad dollars, due to a variety of factors, all before the economy cratered and the ad market dried up. My biggest concern has always been the lack of the ability to really target calls between individuals and the reluctance of many to want their calling habits known. The third and most important reason has been the emergence of services like Skype, Gizmo and other Instant Messaging to Voice services which are siphoning away millions of minutes a day from traditional calling networks.
Note: Hat Tip to Mr. Blog who also shares some thoughts and perspective.