Broadvoice video phone

October 5th, 2007

As a happy Broadvoice customer, I like to tell friends about the merits of the service and what not.
However, they just launched a new video phone service that I have to LOL at. Here is their pitch:

BroadVoice has announced an amazing offer that will provide each account a FREE** Ojo 900 video phone that can be used to make video calls or regular telephone calls. If you call another BroadVoice customer that has the video service the call will be in full motion video. If you call a regular telephone line it will be the normal high quality telephone call.

Ok, so in order to enjoy it, I have to find to:

  1. Mount the phone somewhere it will point to my face
  2. Figure out who else has the service or promote it
  3. Pay additional monthly fees

I can use my webcam now and it will work with a bunch of different IM clients and services (based on who has what) the same way for free.

Admittedly, our bias here is that phones are for audio anyway, but nonetheless, I can’t see this making business sense apart from Broadvoice wanting to stake a claim on establishing a standard that will help them with PR and marketing. The service itself has a tiny addressable market.

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Posted by Andrew Deal Filed in Mobile Trends, VoIP, Misc

One Response to “Broadvoice video phone”

  1. mdboss Says:
    November 25th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

    Andrew -

    I read your above commentary with great interest and agree with you. The right tool for the job always provides the most satisfaction. Standalone videophones serve a dedicated purpose and offer very high quality at extremely low prices nowadays. I certainly wouldn’t reach for a Broadvoice Ojo if I intended to make an audio only call. Just like I wouldn’t use my cell phone to listen to a radio program or as a GPS navigation device. Over the next few years, several major MSOs will be deploying standalone videophones as bundled offerings because of the value they bring to communication. You may want to familiarize yourself with a reputable resource like Insight Research http://www.insight-corp.com/reports/ipappsrvt.asp before coming to any premature conclusions about new technology like that seen with the Ojo videophone.

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