Gizmo – A free phone for your computer - Learn More Call Out Rates Friday, July 21, 2006
Gizmo – A free phone for your computer - Learn More Call Out Rates is another company fighting for your messaging airtime. I use a number of messaging solutions, partly because I'm caught in the game of netwrk externalities - you need to use a solution that allows you to connect to everyone else, and right now (sadly) not everyone is using skype, messenger live or userplane. And even if they were, they're not permantly online. In contrast the phone is fairly ubiquitous thanks to the advent of the mobile!
Connecting with the "unenlightened" by phone and particularly overseas has remained relatively expensive (ok, there are some solutions to this in the UK and most likely elsewhere). So its excellent news that the messenging firms have now bridged that gap and done so in such an inexpensive manner. Both Skype and Gizmo have cheap calling plans which offers me a single device through which I can speak to my online and offline contacts. And using the PC as a phone is not alien anymore either - even Tesco is selling an online phone service with loss leading headsets, thereby bringing it to the attention of the mass market.
All we need now is more bi-lateral (better yet, multi-lateral) agreements between messenging firms to support interoperability ala MSN & Yahoo, and I may yet get to consolidate on a single app - at least when I'm online.
posted by John Wilson @ 12:31 AM Permanent Link
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