Mobivox

Mobivox is an international calling service utilizing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to bring recuced rate calling to those that register as Mobivox users. Mobivox combines VoIP and IVR to create a new telephony product. This is a direct challenge to Skype as Mobivox uses many of the same principles of Skype, but works without additional hardware or software.^[1] Mobivox further distinguishes itself with its IVR component dubbed “VoxGirl” and its suite of supporting features.^[2]

History

Mobivox, based in Montreal, began operations in early spring of 2007, having previously existed as VoxLib and co-founded by Christian Varin and Eric Reiher.^[3] The full beta launch of the new Mobivox calling system occurred in May, 2007, ^[4] and just a few months later, in October 2007, Mobivox received an eleven million dollar investment^{[5][dead link]} from a group of venture capital funds led by the Boston, China, and Vietnam branches of IDG Ventures, Skypoint Capital, and Brightspark.^[6] Most recently, Mobivox was named as a finalist for the 2008 Webware 100 Awards.^[7]

Competitors

In June 2006, Swedes Hjalmar Winbladh and Jonas Lindroth launched Rebtel. Rebtel is a Mobile VoIP service based on local numbers that allows users to make international long distance calls only paying the rate of a regular local call. The Rebtel service is designed to work without any additional software downloads, without computer, Internet connections and with any handset and carrier. ^[8]

In September 2006, Jajah launched their equivalent service enabling users with the means of making international mobile-to-mobile calling at local rates.

In June 2008, Jaxtr announced out-of-network international calling based on local numbers.^[9]

Voxofon, a mobile VoIP company also allows international calling routed via local numbers, and these services can be used from any mobile or landline phone. Some of these services were introduced in August 2008.

Features

Mobivox offers several features which are available to registered users. Mobivox maintains a contact list for every user available whenever they access their account. Other features include “Instant Conferencing,” “Group Calls,” “Mobile to Home Call Transfer,” contacts importing, “GiftVOX,” and the “Call Me” button.

“Instant Conferencing” allows a caller to add up to nine people to any call. The “Group Calling” feature can be used to originate calls with up to nine different numbers. “Mobile to Home Transfers” lets a caller transfer an ongoing call on their mobile phone to their home or office phone.” Using the Mobivox website, a user can import contacts from Gmail, Outlook, or Skype. “GiftVOX” enables a user to sign up their friends or family as users, add contacts to their contact list, and to provide credits to those accounts. The “Call Me” button can be embedded into email, websites, blogs, or social network profiles. The button is used to initiate a call between anyone and the user without revealing the user's phone number.

Impact

Mobivox has transferred VoIP technology to mobile devices using Mobile VoIP.^{[10][unreliable source?]}.

Leadership

Mobivox's Board of Directors includes David Aronoff of IDG Ventures as General Partner, and Sophie Forest of Brightspark as Managing Partner and Peter Deidrich as CEO.

Other Senior Management includes Eric Reiher, who co-founder of Mobivox, as chief Technical Officer (CTO),Nina Silverstone as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Larry Lisser Vice President.^[11]

References

1. ^ Granelli, James (November 25, 2007). "Say hello to lower phone costs on Net". LA Times. pp. C-1. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/25/business/fi-voip25. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
2. ^ LaGesse, David (March 11, 2008). "5 Simple Choices for Cheap Long Distance". U.S. News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/technology/2008/03/11/5-simple-choices-for-cheap-long-distance.html. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
3. ^ Newtelephony.com^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "MOBIVOX rings up $11 million in funding from top-tier global investors". Mobivox. http://www.mobivox.com/about/news/newspress/#n6. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
5. ^ Moneycentral
6. ^ "We're invested in connecting you to your world!". Mobivox. http://www.mobivox.com/about/invest/. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
7. ^ Needleman, Rafe (March 2, 2008). "All the Webware 100 finalists in one place". Cnet. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9883960-2.html. Retrieved 2009-05-25. 
8. ^ "The Rebtel Story" (PDF). Rebtel. http://www.rebtel.com/upload/global/media/The%20Rebtel%20Story%20edit%201.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
9. ^ Poe, Robert (June 24, 2008). "Jaxtr Scores $10 Million in Funding and Introduces Outbound Calling". VoIP News. http://www.voip-news.com/feature/jaxtr-10-million-funding-062408/. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
10. ^ Taylor, Paul (November 15, 2007). "How to ring the changes". Financial Times. http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=mobivox&aje=true&id=071115000463&ct=0&nclick_check=1. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
11. ^ "Meet the MOBIVOX team!". Mobivox. http://www.mobivox.com/about/exec/. Retrieved 2008-11-04.