Good news for the folks at AT&T's CallVantage as PC Magazine has awarded it top marks in a review of six VOIP service providers. That said, it is not the most overwhelming endorsement as the magazine says while CallVantage “isn't the best performer or the cheapest”, it “strikes the best balance overall, solid in every major category.” PC Mag also likes the fact AT&T will send a technician to do in-house installation.
All we need to see now from AT&T are subscriber numbers for CallVantage to see if the service is resonating with consumers. It's fine to have the top-rated service but if no one buys it, what does it matter? The only time CallVantage seems to jump into the spotlight is when it cuts prices to compete with Vonage.
Speaking of Vonage, it has apparently surpassed 400,000 customers. Let's do a little math to see what this means: 400K x $20 a month = $8M x 12 months = $96 million of annual revenue. So what do you think $96M of internet telephony revenue and strong subscriber growth are worth? 8×8 Inc. is worth $151 milliion and it had 26,000 customers as of Sept. 30, 2004. If the same valuation formula is applied to Vonage, the company is worth about $2.3 billion. Of course, no one has any idea of Vonage's bottom line. All CEO Jeff Citron will disclose is Vonage is making profits before marketing costs – and Vonage's marketing costs must be enormous.

With iPod sales riding high, there's plenty of talk about Apple's comeback and its brilliant CEO, Steve Jobs. David Akin, a well-known tech blogger and newspaper/television journalist, takes a good look of what's happening at Apple in today's Globe & Mail.
The story describes Jobs as an “inventor” and talks about how the wild success of the iPod is sparking new Mac sales. I've never thought about Jobs as an inventor but rather a master of motivation and inspiration. During two stints at Apple and his creation of Pixar, he's shown an uncanny knack for recognizing new opportunities for cool, new technology and then supporting them with great marketing.
Jobs is also strong at forming alliances on the idea that both sides win. Pixar's deal with Disney was a blockbuster, while Jobs' stroking of the music industry allowed iTunes to establish a huge lead in the online music market.
My thinking is Jobs is driving Apple to be more of a consumer electronics company than a computer maker. Sure, the Mac is cool and users avoid most of the nasty stuff in cyberspace but the Mac is still a niche product no matter how you want to sugar-coat it. People who think the mini-Mac will jump-start Apple in the mainstream are way too enthusiastic. Despite the iPod's success, Apple still has less than 5% of the computer market. Apple watchers should focus their enthusiasm on whether the company comes out with a new video iPod. Now, that would be cool!

If you thought Nortel's accounting woes were over with the filing of its 10-K to the SEC earlier this week, think again. Buried within the filing is thatt Nortel's audit committee will be conducting an internal investigation into how the company recognized revenue in the late-1990s during the go-go days of the telecom boom. Nortel will be advised by Washington, D.C.-based Wilmer Cutling Pickering, which prepared the independent review that alleges ex-Nortel CEO Frank Dunn and his financial team cooked the books in 2002 and 2003.
If you're John Roth, who has been trying to get by on the $135-million he “earned” after exercising stock options in 2000, it's probably time to call your lawyer. Here's the full story in the Financial Post.

Yak seems have to have changed its pricing plans – based on what's now on
their Web site. They're offering two low-cost services. For $12.99, you get
500 minutes of LD in North America, low-cost LD to international
destinations and a few features such as caller ID. For $18.99, you get a
slew of free features such as caller ID, voice mail and unified messaging,
as well as the same LD plan as the $12.99 package. Yak is clear it's going
after the secondary line market for people who want to make inexpensive
international LD calls. This is a small niche of the market but it reflects
Yak's traditional approach to the market where it has 800,000 dial-around LD
customers.

It looks like Shaw Communications will be the first Canadian cableco to launch an Internet telephony service using VOIP-based technology. At the company's AGM yesterday, CEO Jim Shaw said customers in Edmonton will be offered the service within a few weeks. The service will cost about $60 a month and include 1000 minutes of long-distance and four calling features – similar to what Mr. Shaw said a year ago. The company believes it can win 20% of the telephony market within the next four to five years. It expects to spend $105-million in capital for the first 200,000 customers, and $200-million to $250-million over five years.
Like Comcast earlier this week, Shaw is adopting a premium price approach to Internet telephony. At $60, I have serious doubts they will be able to achieve the market share gains management has targeted. Using traditional service now, even if you use plenty of LD and lots of features, $60 represents a hefty monthly bill. Does it really make sense to switch over to a cableco if the price difference is minimal?

It's inreresting to see AOL Canada selling its VOIP service on the basis of
no LD costs given you can get 1,000 minutes of LD from bell for $5 a month.
VOIP in Canada needs to be sold on low prices or rich features or part of a
bundle to resonate with consumers. Otherwise, it's just regular telephone
service with cool technology. No doubt the folks at AOL will disagree but LD
is a simple but wrong way to go.
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld