Ooma

Ooma

Type	Private
Industry	Communications services
Founded	Palo Alto, California, U.S. in 2004 (2004)
Founder(s)	Andrew Frame
Headquarters	Palo Alto, California
Key people	Eric Stang, CEO Jamie Buckley, Vice President of Customer Service Dennis Peng, Vice President of Product Management Toby Farrand, Vice President of Engineering Operations Jim Gustke, Vice President of Corporate Marketing Tim Sullivan, Vice President of Sales
Products	Voice over IP
Owner(s)	Privately Held
Website	http://www.ooma.com/

Ooma is a consumer telecommunications company based in Palo Alto, California, in the United States that allows its users to make phone calls anywhere in the United States with no monthly service fees.^[1] After an initial purchase, customers only pay applicable government taxes and access fees, around $3.50 a month. The company was founded in 2004 by Andrew Frame and released to the public in July 2007. Part of the executive team was actor/producer Ashton Kutcher, who started with Ooma as its Creative Director. However, in the summer of 2008, Ooma revamped its sales and marketing strategy with a new management team,^[2] replacing Kutcher with Rich Buchanan, formerly of Sling Media, as their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).^[3] Ooma's initial product was a "VoIP in a box" device which used peer-to-peer VoIP technology to let users make phone calls over other Ooma users' landline services.^[4] In January 2008, Ooma terminated the use of peer-to-peer technology, allowing users to completely eliminate their current POTS telephone service.^[5] This service is restricted to "residential use only", which is defined as non-commercial usage and under 5000 minutes of outgoing calls per month.^[6] Consumers simply purchase an answering-machine-like device, called Ooma Hub, or Ooma Telo which currently retails for $249.99.^[7][8]

The service, launched in September 2007, is different from other VoIP services in that it is paid for up front through purchase of the Ooma Hub or Telo rather than through monthly fees or a term contract.^[9] So far, Ooma has raised $61 million in venture capital, and its product is sold by over 5,000 prominent retailers.^[10] After the initial purchase, there are no monthly fees besides the government taxes.

On Friday, August 13, 2010, former CMO Buchanan, who left the company in February 2010, died due to health complications, just days after having a 4-hour open-heart surgery.^[11]

Funding

Ooma has received $61.3 million of venture capital funding to date, raising Series A funding of $8 million in January, 2005, Series B funding of $18 million in December, 2006, Series C funding of $16 million in September, 2008, and Series D funding of $18 million in June, 2009. Venture firms involved in these funding rounds include; Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Worldview Technology Partners, Draper Richards, WI Harper Group, The Founders Fund, and TDF Fund (Telecommunications Development Fund).^[10][12][13]

Business model

Ooma relies upon revenue from the initial price of the Ooma box and from subscriptions to its Ooma Premier service.^[14][15] Nearly 25% of Ooma users opt into the Premier service.^[16]

Service outage

As with any VoIP service, calling depends on the uptime of power and broadband. However, Ooma devices can maintain service in the event that either power or broadband is out of service if it is also connected to a legacy POTS line.^[3]

On April 13, 2009, Ooma's calling and voice mail services were unavailable for approximately six hours. This, according to the company, was because of the severing of a fiber-optic cable serving one of the data centers that house its servers. Service was sporadic during the time as back-up systems went online. Following the outage, the status of Ooma's service was made available through Twitter (@ooma_status).^[17]

On January 1, 2010, another outage affected some Ooma customers. Twitter was abuzz with the news, and tweets to @ooma_status allowed customers to interact with the company and receive updates on Ooma's status.^[18]

On August 17, 2011 another brief outage affected all of Ooma's customers. Phone services as well as the Ooma web site were down. The outage was caused by an internet connection problem at Ooma' servers, and affected many Ooma customers. Facebook and Twitter accounts for Ooma were abuzz with angry customers, and Ooma released a statement via Facebook and Twitter that the outage would last approximately 1-2 hours. As of 9:00 AM PST, service had been restored to all customers, while access to Ooma' website was slowed due to heavy traffic from Ooma boxes reconnecting to their servers.

Next-generation model

Ooma Telo is the next generation product that was released on October 1, 2009.^[19]

The Telo offers unlimited, free VoIP calls within the United States and features bluetooth integration, and HD voice. A new, cordless DECT 6.0 handset was also released as an optional complement to the Ooma Telo. The handset, dubbed the Ooma Telo Handset, features HD voice capabilities, an online phone book, speaker phone, and musical ring tones. The kit is expandable to four handsets. According to Rich Buchanan, Ooma's former chief marketing officer, Telo "helps combine the home phone and cell phone so you can enjoy the benefits of both without any compromises."^[20]

Feature and pricing changes

Along with the release of their next generation model, Ooma introduced new pricing and terms of condition.^[21]

Ooma Premier service's price has been raised to $119.99/year or $9.99/month With the premier package, users will get Multi-Ring, Do Not Disturb, Enhanced Voicemail, etc. Users will also receive Caller-ID with Name, which was removed from the basic package following the release of the Ooma Telo. Ooma Premier now offers access to Google Voice extensions for customers with Google Voice accounts (Ooma Telo only).^[22]

Ooma Telo and Ooma Hub Only (non-core) customers who do not subscribe to the Ooma Premier service will continue to get unlimited calling within the U.S., basic voice mail, Caller-ID Number only, basic call-waiting, and E911 service. Other features, such as 3-way conferencing and remote access to voicemail,^[23] will continue to be part of Ooma Premier service.^[15]

Ooma Telo and Ooma Hub Only customers are now charged roughly $3.50 a month in taxes and regulatory recovery fees (which may vary depending on where you live). Customers who purchase the ooma Hub/Scout combination (also known as the Ooma Core), regardless of when it was purchased, will continue to receive service under the previous Terms and Conditions, which include NOT being subjected to pay the applicable taxes. Core customers will also get a maximum of 5,000 minutes calling per month within the U.S., voicemail, Caller-ID (With Name/Number), and Call Waiting (with Caller-ID) included as well as E911 services in the basic package.

Number porting

Ooma allows customers with existing landline, cable, DSL-based VoIP service, or mobile service to port their number to Ooma, provided their number is available and able to be ported. There is a one-time charge of $39.99, which is waived for subscribers who pay $119.99 for 12 months of Ooma Premier service. Since the number is being ported to a VoIP service, number porting can take as long as 3–4 weeks, but is frequently completed within ten days.

Executive departures

In 2010, five executives either resigned or were terminated by Ooma. With the five resignations or termination came four replacements. A replacement for Ooma's CMO still has yet to be announced.

On February 7, 2010, Rich Buchanan resigned as Chief Marketing Officer of Ooma. He posted his goodbye on his Twitter page, stating that "It has been an awesome two years with Ooma as their Chief Marketing Officer...It’s time for Ooma to soar and for me to focus on a new project and build another world-class team. I will miss the awesome team we have assembled at Ooma and I promise to see all of you again." He also spoke about the great sales that Ooma had been experiencing in the past.^[24] Buchanan's replacement has not yet been announced by Ooma. As noted in the open of this article, on August 13, 2010, Rich Buchanan died due to health complications, just days after having a 4 hour open heart surgery.

On Ooma's web page www.ooma.com accesed on July 30, 2010, Andrew Galligan, Ooma's CFO, was removed as one of the company executives. Whether he resigned or was terminated by Ooma is not known. After the leave of Galligan, Ooma brought a new executive on board: Peter Scocimara, as Ooma's "Vice President of Customer Support and Administration".

In August 2010, Tami Bhaumik resigned from her position at Ooma as the Vice President of Marketing, and was later replaced by Jim Gustke. She commented on her resignation through her Twitter page, and said that she was "still a huge supporter of the company and product, but I have moved on to a new start-up".^[25]

On Ooma's web page www.ooma.com accessed on November 4, 2010, Peter Scocimara, Vice President of Customer Support and Engineering, along with Aaron Duran, Vice President of Sales, were removed from the website. Whether these two executives were terminated or had resigned is unknown. Both positions were replaced, with Jamie Buckley becoming the new "Vice President of Customer Service", and Tim Sullivan becoming the new "Vice President of Sales".

References

1. ^ Malik, Om (July 19, 2007,). "Ooma wants voice to be free". Gigaom.com. http://gigaom.com/2007/07/19/ooma/. Retrieved 2008-08-29. 
2. ^ Kim, Ryan (March 9, 2009). "Ooma rebounds after cutting price for service". SF Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/09/BUFJ15SEF3.DTL&type=tech. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Baig, Edward (September 19, 2007). "Want a free phone line? Make rooma for Ooma". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2007-09-19-ooma_N.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-29. 
4. ^ "Ooma FAQ". Ooma. http://www.ooma.com/learn/ooma_faq.php#q16. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
5. ^ "Ooma FAQ: Landline vs. Non-landline". Ooma. http://cp-ooma.talismaonline.com/al/12652/14888/article.asp?aid=261419&tab=faq&bt=4&r=3.493899E-02. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
6. ^ "Terms and Conditions of Agreement Between a Customer and ooma". Ooma. http://www.ooma.com/termsandconditions/. Retrieved 2009-04-03. 
7. ^ "Buy Ooma". Ooma. http://www.ooma.com/buy/index.php. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
8. ^ Taub, Eric (April 29, 2009). "Talk is cheap, if you ask". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/technology/personaltech/30basics.html?_r=1. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
9. ^ Arrington, Michael (July 18, 2007). "Ooma Launches Free Consumer Phone Service". TechCrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/18/ooma-launches-free-consumer-phone-service/. Retrieved 2008-08-29. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Ooma Gets $18.3M in New Funding". San Francisco Business Times. June 23, 2009. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/06/22/daily20.html. Retrieved 2009-07-07. 
11. ^ Malik, Om (August 13, 2010). "Goodbye Rich". GigaOM. http://gigaom.com/2010/08/13/rich-buchanan-rip/. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
12. ^ "Ooma gets $16M in 3rd round". Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. September 23, 2008. http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/othercities/sanjose/stories/2008/09/22/daily25.html. Retrieved 2009-05-15. ^{[dead link]}
13. ^ Arrington, Michael (April 15, 2009). "Ooma Company Profile". TechCrunch. http://www.crunchbase.com/company/ooma. Retrieved 2009-05-15. 
14. ^ "Let's Talk Money". http://www.ooma.com/company/our-business-model. Retrieved 2010-02-01. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Mordy Gilden (December 23, 2009). "Ooma Telo Editorial Review". http://www.infonotmercial.com/ooma-telo-review.html. Retrieved January 27, 2010. 
16. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ooma#Business_model
17. ^ Kincaid, Jason (April 13, 2009). "Ooma Offline: If You Wanna Be ...". TechCrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/13/ooma-offline-if-you-wanna-be-a-phone-company-you-can%E2%80%99t-go-dead-redux/. Retrieved 2009-05-15. ^{[dead link]}
18. ^ http://twitter.com/ooma_status
19. ^ "Ooma.com Official Forum posting". Ooma Product Team. http://forums.ooma.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2008. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
20. ^ "Ooma's Telo steps up to DECT 6.0 for free calls across the US". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/07/oomas-telo-steps-up-to-dect-6-0-still-free-calls-in-the-us/. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
21. ^ http://www.ooma.com/blog/2009/10/02/how-oomas-terms-conditions-affect-current-new-ooma-customers
22. ^ "ooma Adds Features to Enhance Google Voice™ Experience". March 18, 2009. http://www.ooma.com/media/press-releases/ooma-adds-features-enhance-google-voice%E2%84%A2-experience. Retrieved July 20, 2010. 
23. ^ http://www.ooma.com/premier/features
24. ^ "Rich Buchanan (richbucanan) on Twitter". February 7, 2010. http://twitter.com/richbuchanan. Retrieved 2010-06-04. 
25. ^ "Tami Bhaumik (tamibhaumik) on Twitter". August 10, 2010. http://twitter.com/tamibhaumik. Retrieved 2010-08-10. ^{[dead link]}