Yet another VoIP application in Facebook! This time babyTEL has launched a Facebook application called Telephone. Well, it is obviously good news for Facebook fans but I really had a tough time thinking of a practical use of this application, which cannot be accomplished with any of the existing applications that you already use. And, I could not come up with anything (let me know if you can find one).
Telephone allows you to make free calls to your Facebook friends. You can make calls using a small java runtime, eggphone. You can also initiate a call right from Facebook, provided both you and your friend have the eggphone up and running. In case your friend is not online, you can leave a voicemail. I do not want to spend too much time about the application, as I really feel it does not merit a long discussion. All of what Telephone has to offer can be achieved through any IM, which sits in your taskbar all the time.
The application works for both Facebook and babyTEL, but not the users.
Facebook: Facebook is just a platform and it needs content or application to increase the stickiness of the users. Applications like this just do that. They provide some additional functionality, even though it is infinitesimally small, to the user to motivate him to use Facebook for longer.
babyTEL: The company does not have a big name in VoIP. To gain some share of the VoIP market, it needs to create some noise in the market. Telephone does just that. It creates noise in the market and makes the user aware of the existence of the company. The cost …almost nil! Well, that's a smart move by babyTEL
Poor, Facebook users, they are just being used as scapegoats. Till last count there were 30 active users. I hope they will realize their mistake fast and leave the boat. Companies like babyTEL should realize that Facebookers' or people in general are not idiots to use an application like Telephone.
This article is written by our VoIP news editor Alok R. Saboo. Alok is pursuing his PhD in Marketing at the Pennsylvania State University.
0 comments:
Post a Comment