On today’s Telephony 2.0 radar:
- Home page service Pageflakes sold itself today (a nice move in the midst of general Web 2.0 slowdown). Probably wouldn’t be a bad time for managers at telco Web portal decisions to do some bargain shopping. Pageflake’s component/widget-based approach to the user start page is pretty much the de facto standard and the way Google, Yahoo and Microsoft users start their day. The biggest remaining start page indie: NetVibes.
- Verizon handed off its mobile/online advertising to AOL’s ad agency, staying far clear of the battles between Google and Microsoft/Yahoo.
- Google and Salesforce.com announced an integrated product offering today, perhaps the least surprising pairing in the history of the Internet. Both are squarely focused on software-as-a-service and beating Microsoft, making them natural allies and perhaps signaling a future acquisition. Both also have an “app-named” Web development platform, Google’s AppEngine and Salesforce’s AppExchange.
- Three simple reasons why telcos can breathe easy that VoIP-over-wifi won’t disrupt service revenues: VoIP user interfaces are (too often) not integrated into the handset; running a VoIP app kills cycle time and battery life; and at least for U.S. domestic calls, the savings aren’t that great (though international calls, a huge target for calling cards and VoIP services, are a different matter).
- Finally, if telcos aren’t dipping into Google’s search war chest, others (Apple, Firefox, etc) certainly will….check out this map that shows Google’s cloud/data centers around the world….a nice wrap-up of rumors and realities for the soon-to-come 3G Apple iPhone….
