Wireless Utopia

VoIP services these days are all about low cost calling services. But once in a while you do see an innovative application. TringMe is one such service. I guess a disclaimer is due here: I happen to know the founder for some time and relate to his passion about VoIP. So this might be a biased view. But here is what TC had to say about it. Here is a VoIP Guide article. The key differentiator is that there is no software to download, nor a phone required to make a call. It can be initiated from the web browser itself.

Here is how it works. It provides you with a embeddable widget (much like Jaxtr) which can be put up on your blog or your profile page. Anyone who clicks there can talk to you on your phone or GTalk or send a voice mail (currently the only option supported). So all you need is a browser and a headset (maybe). Right now phones to US, UK and Canada are supported. The cool part of the application is really integration with GTalk. It works flawlessly. I think that would be a killer application. Wish they could add Skype support as well.

There are obvious issues with Spam but not very hard to solve it. And questions about business models. But its not very hard to imagine it would be very useful to replace those 1 800 support numbers you see on websites. Much better than publishing the phone numbers. It would also be useful to bloggers who want to be reachable. Or maybe it can even evolve into a voice based comments system. There are just so many possibilities.

With Flash 9 with H.264 and VoIP support on the way, things are going to get better and more competitive. Lookout for more such services in the near future. It would be pretty frustrating for Ribbit I guess. They have been working on such a system for quite some time. Makes you wonder about the wisdom of the "release early, release frequent" paradigm!

Drop me a line if you need invites.