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Gizmo bucks

Michael (MP3.com) Robertson’s SIPphone and Gizmo Project just got a big investment led by my friend Ed Sim at Dawntreader (full disclosures: Ed and I were on the board of Moreover together and I’m advising on his next fund). Om (Scoop) Malik has more details, of course. What I’m waiting for is to see phoning become more than phoning and I think that’s on the way from Skype, Gizmo, et al. It’s not about calls. It’s about connectivity, the whole world on push-to-talk if I want to talk to them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 at 5:16 pm and was tagged , .

3 Responses to “Gizmo bucks”

  1. Ben says:
    February 15, 2006 at 8:06 pm

    So you are shame-lessly hyping a company in which you have a financial interest?

    Reply
  2. Jeff Jarvis says:
    February 15, 2006 at 8:55 pm

    No, as far as I know, I do not have a financial interest but even if I did I can write about it and that is precisely the point of disclosing. I consult for the New York Times and link to them. I own stock in Microsoft and Amazon and Time Warner but I can’t ever mention an HBO show or PowerPoint or a book. So shoot me. Don’t be ridiculous.

    And shamelessly doesn’t take a hyphen.

    Reply
  3. KirkH says:
    February 16, 2006 at 1:35 pm

    If in a few years we look at voice traffic the same way we now look at email then there won’t be many opportunities to make much money, except for Apple, which will no doubt come out with a SIPPod all in one blackberryish device.

    Found this on Wikipedia, might be relevant to the future of Skype.

    In the long term, IP appears to replace other networks. Here’s a brief explanation. IP transmits generic data. The data can serve any purpose, and can easily replace data previously provided by proprietary data networks. Here’s the usual sequence:

    1. A proprietary data network is developed for a specialized purpose. If it works well, users will adopt it.
    2. IP service is provided as a convenience, often to get e-mail or chat, usually tunneling through the proprietary data service in some fashion. The tunneling method may be quite inefficient at first, because e-mail and chat require only low bandwidth.
    3. IP infrastructure is emplaced by gradual investment at the edges of the proprietary data network.
    4. A substitute for the proprietary service is developed using IP, often by a user.
    5. The IP substitute spreads over the entire internet, making the IP substitute more valuable (because of network effects) than the original proprietary network.
    6. The proprietary network is deprecated. Most users begin maintaining a duplicate facility that uses the IP substitute.
    7. IP packets have very low overheads, less than 1%, and therefore compete very effectively on cost. An inexpensive transmission medium is developed that can carry IP to most of the users of the proprietary network.
    8. The proprietary network is removed by most users to cut costs.
    9. Die-hard users of the proprietary network are therefore forced to adopt.

    Reply

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