 |
After Microsoft acquired VoIP technology company Teleo last August, there was lots of speculation about Microsoft’s VoIP plans. Olga Kharif at BusinessWeek provides a detailed update on the current state of play in Voice over Microsoft Protocol? Some excerpts:
Microsoft has yet to make public its plans for Teleo, but BusinessWeek Online has learned that the software maker plans to weave Teleo’s bells and whistles into a number of applications, such as Hotmail and instant messaging. Microsoft also hopes to integrate VoIP into its new paid-search platform, which is being rolled out worldwide, as well as a planned classified-ad service.
The VoIP efforts are aimed at gaining traction in online advertising, where growth has been stunted by the outfit’s anemic Web-search share.
Ouch, but it’s true. Not to mention the slow roll out of adCenter.
Other parts of MSN are under pressure, too. Visits to MSN’s Instant Messenger site, where users can download Microsoft’s IM software, have dropped since the summer, according to Web consultancy Hitwise.
…
VoIP entrepreneur Jeff Pulver says Microsoft is losing IM users to Skype. Traffic woes were a major reason for MSN’s September management restructuring, says Matt Rosoff, an analyst with consultancy Directions on Microsoft.
…
As Microsoft tries to fight back, VoIP will be one of its major technology weapons this year. The software giant will roll out the various VoIP capabilities between February and August, sources tell BusinessWeek Online. Brooke Richardson, Microsoft’s group product manager at MSN, confirms that the company is considering adding VoIP functionality to many of its applications and services. “Voice is becoming not a nice-to-have, but a must-have” feature, she explains.Here’s how it’s expected to work. Microsoft will add PC-to-phone calling capabilities to its IM and e-mail services. That means Hotmail or IM users, for instance, will be able to place calls directly from their e-mail or IM address books. Microsoft plans to introduce Windows Live Messenger, or LM, offering such features this year.
…
Finally, VoIP technology will come in handy as part of Windows Live Expo, an upcoming classifieds service from Microsoft that’s expected to jump-start an era of social-networked search.
Much more by following the link. I don’t believe VoIP is sufficient for a turnaround, but Microsoft will surely need it to get into the game.
Sam Gustin in the NY Post reports that
New York-based Rates Technology Inc. has slapped Google with a lawsuit claiming that Google Talk, the company’s voice-over-Internet-protocol service, infringes on patents covering technology that facilitates cheap ‘Net-based telephone service.
They’re threatening “to bring Google to its knees.” Apparently Rates has been making a pass through the IT industry:
Over 120 firms, including Microsoft, Lucent and Avaya have paid RTI one-time payments in exchange for a promise to not sue them for patent infringement, he said, adding that the company is currently in settlement talks with eBay’s recently acquired Skype division.
Update: Ed Oswald has more on RTI at BetaNews.
As anticipated yesterday, Microsoft is rolling out a limited beta of Windows Live Messenger with VoIP and calling to regular phones through a partnership with MCI:
Microsoft Corp. and MCI Inc. (NASDAQ: MCIP) today announced a global, multiyear partnership to provide software and services that enable customers to place calls from a personal computer to virtually any phone. The solution, MCI Web Calling for Windows Live™ Call, will be available through Windows Live Messenger, the upcoming successor to MSN® Messenger, which has more than 185 million active accounts around the world. The solution combines Windows Live software, advanced voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities and the strengths of MCI’s expansive global network to give consumers an easy-to-use, convenient and cost-effective way to stay connected.
That clarifies the branding question.
MCI and Microsoft are testing the service as part of a Windows Live Messenger limited beta with subscriptions initially available in the United States, and expect to jointly deliver the PC-to-phone calling capabilities to France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom in the coming weeks. Once subscribed to the service, customers can place calls to and from more than 220 countries with rates starting at $.023 per minute to the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Western Europe during the beta testing period. Upon sign-up, MCI Web Calling customers will receive up to one hour of free calls. Final pricing will be determined when the product officially launches in 2006.
The tentative pricing seems roughly comparable to SkypeOut, but more than the $.01 per minute for the service Yahoo announced last week. Note however, that no mention is made of any provision for calls from a regular phone to a user of the service, unlike the extra cost SkypeIn or Yahoo PhoneIn services.
The Microsoft and MCI technology builds on Microsoft’s PC-to-PC voice investments, and will enable customers to call from a PC to phones around the world, including mobile phones, by simply clicking on an entry within their contact list in Windows Live Messenger or typing a phone number into the Windows Live Call softphone, taking the instant messaging experience to a new level.
Besides internal Microsoft development, this likely includes the August acquisition of Teleo although it is not mentioned.
Interested parties can learn more about Windows Live Messenger at http://ideas.live.com.
Customers will be able to sign up for MCI Web Calling via the Windows Live Messenger client. MCI will manage customer registration, terminating calls, customer account management, customer support and billing for the PC-to-phone voice service, and will work closely with Microsoft on delivering a high-quality software service and customer experience. Customers will purchase prepaid calling time from MCI in $5, $10 or $25 blocks for use with the service.
…
Windows Live, a new set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services.
And eventually the final demarcation between MSN and Windows Live will be clarified.
One final observation – a key aspect of all VoIP offerings is call quality and comparisons will have to await to the actual delivery of the services.
Robert A. Guth has the story at the Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates has endorsed a radical reshaping of how his company develops software and services, citing an internal memo that says much about the challenges Microsoft faces, and underscores the rise of an emerging technical leader at the company.
That memo, in turn, is from Ray Ozzie:
The core of Mr. Gates’s email, which was examined by The Wall Street Journal, is a memo from Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief technology officer, who describes some of Microsoft’s missed opportunities and also tips a hat to companies such as Google Inc., Salesforce.com Inc., Skype Technologies SA and other start-ups that have pioneered Internet services.
The memo by Mr. Ozzie is a window to the announcement in September that Microsoft would reorganize into three major business divisions, each tasked with adding new online services to the company’s existing product lines.
It also confirms the role that Mr. Ozzie is playing in pushing the newly formed groups to create online services that can be paid for by subscription or through advertising. Last week, Messrs. Gates and Ozzie announced a step toward that goal — new online services coupled with Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Office suite of software.
In his memo, Mr. Ozzie directs each of Microsoft’s three business units to start mapping out a strategy for developing their own services — two of which were announced last week. He also describes a plan to appoint by Dec. 15 top executives at each of the three business groups.
By January, those executives will work to map the changes needed to better tap into the Internet’s advertising boom and online services in general, Mr. Ozzie said.
More by following the link and Dave Winer has posted the full text of the two memos, received from an anonymous source.
Update: Some pundit reaction:
Michael Gartenberg – The Gates and Ozzie Memos – deja vu all over again:
Interesting reading but no real surprises here. In fact, to some extent we’ve seen it before. Gates more than anyone understands the importance of being proactive and not reactive. He understands that while these new service offerings aren’t a direct threat today, they well could be over time.
So what are we to make of all this? Microsoft’s reaction to the Google threat is both predictable and suspiciously similar to past “turn the ship around” incidents. Gates seems to have latched on to the notion that he must lead his company on a new crusade every five years in order to keep employees motivated. And Microsoft’s self-critical stance is as manipulative now as it was ten years ago. Increasingly, companies such as Google, Skype, and Yahoo are determining the direction of communications and computing. That Microsoft needs to move more quickly and begin innovating should be obvious. What I want to know is why there is such a regular failure of leadership and direction at this company. Does Microsoft really need to be rebooted every five years to keep the company competitive?
Intentional leak of the memos wouldn’t be far fetched. Microsoft is embarking on a major, new strategy with almost no products to show. Meanwhile, hype increases around Web 2.0 and vendors like Google, Salesforce.com or Yahoo! offer sophisticated Web-based products or services. The memos signal Microsoft’s intention to shift course and that the other boats had better get out of the way. Similarly, the strategy leak is meant to tell passengers of competitor boats that they might want to wait for Microsoft’s ship to sail. If intentional, the leak is a classic vaporware maneuver.
Mary Jo Foley provides a Cliffs Notes version of the Ozzie memo and observes:
Tech evangelist Robert Scoble’s interpretation of CTO Ray Ozzie’s and Chairman Bill Gates’ services memos: “Yes, the guys at top are now yelling ‘turn, turn, turn.’” We say: Watch out for those Web 2.0 rocks, guys.
