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Calling The World: Vox.io Just Might Be The Next Euro Startup Sensation

Posted: 18 Jan 2012 05:11 AM PST

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A European company by the name of Skype taught the world that enabling people to make free voice and video calls over the Internet would be an enticing offer to hundreds of millions of users, and make for a great business at the same time. Now, a Euro startup called Vox.io plans to challenge them by envisioning how digital telephony should work in 2012 and beyond.

They provide a simple tool that lets people make free calls to other vox.io users from their desktop browser, or their iPhone (app link). But vox.io is not your traditional VoIP service, and on the Web requires no downloads or installations of any kind.

The startup, which hails from Slovenia, stands out because it has built its service to fit nicely into the current Web ecosystem, moving away from plugins, desktop apps and the like, with modern real-time and mobile communication trends squarely in the back of founder Tomaž Štolfa’s mind. Notably, the software is also designed from the ground up to play nicely with other Web services, and even allow in-stream access to third-party content (think Flickr photos or YouTube videso) in the future, too.

This differs from the path chosen by the likes of Skype, Viber, fring, JAJAH and Rebtel, mind you.

The company also focuses on simplicity and great design, and doesn’t shy away from experimenting when it comes to the business model, which is always a tricky thing for a telephony startup.

When you sign up for its service, you’ll get a profile URL like vox.io/name, which will serve as the central point of contact with the ability to replace your one or more telephone number(s).

You can use the online tool to place voice and video calls to other users, or call regular local and international regular lines for a fee. I tested it, and the call quality was outstanding. Vox.io also supports group calls of up to 5 people, and lets you easily import and sync your existing contacts.

The company plans to generate revenue from calls to traditional telephony and the delivery of SMS messages. Calls from one vox.io user to another will always remain free, but the company says it is exploring different ways to move away from charging users for minutes – one of its ideas is charging for ‘disposable call links’ that could last for, say, 14 days rather than a single conversation.

Basically, such disposable links could be shared with people you’re not necessarily close with but need to speak to all the same, and they would stop working after the call. No more deciding between giving out your phone number or not, in other words. On top of that, a vox.io/name profile also fits nicely on business cards, email signatures and on social network bios, and can rapidly be shared over SMS, IM, calendar events and whatnot. It’s like Skype for the Web generation!

I realize I’m raving, but I’m excited about this startup for a good reason – you’ll see what I mean when you use vox.io yourself. There are obvious things missing (support for other mobile platforms, instant messaging, more payment options to purchase call credits and more) but it’s already a stunning product for such a young Slovenian company operating on fairly limited resources.

Vox.io is backed by angel investors and renowned European startup accelerator Seedcamp; the startup won the Mini Seedcamp London event in January 2011 and was justifiably selected as one of the top startups at Seedcamp Week 2011. If what I’ve been hearing through the grapevine is accurate, the company will soon be announcing a significant additional financing round, though.

Give the vox.io beta service a solid whirl and let us know what you think.

6waves Lolapps Buys Mobile Games Developer Escalation Studios

Posted: 18 Jan 2012 04:45 AM PST

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Social gaming company 6waves Lolapps (6L) this morning announced its acquisition of Dallas-based Escalation Studios, a mobile games development firm.

Three months ago, 6L already moved to buy Beijing-based social gaming company Smartron5, but apparently they felt there was still some mobile gaming expertise missing.

Explains Rex Ng, CEO of 6L, which was formed in July 2011 by merging the respective businesses of Lolapps and 6waves:

“We will double our business in 2012 and mobile will play a significant role in our growth on both the publishing and development sides of our business.”

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but 6L says the addition of Escalation Studios expands the company’s overall headcount to more than 210 employees worldwide.

Escalation Studios’ co-founders, Tom Mustaine and Marc Tardiff, will become Design Directors, while co-founder Shawn Green will become Director of Engineering for 6L.

Chegg Launches Mobile Reader For Online Textbooks

Posted: 18 Jan 2012 04:30 AM PST

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Having built, bought and partnered its way into the textbook distribution business, Chegg is launching a long-promised mobile web version today that lets readers easily read and mark up their textbooks. Of course the move is timed with Apple’s forthcoming announcement event (like Kno’s was), which based on everything everyone is hearing, has something to do with offering and/or creating digital textbooks.

But regardless of any potentially competitive plans, Chegg’s eTextbook Reader has been in the works since August, back when Leena wrote a preview of it. Built in HTML5 by the team from acquiree 3D3R, it provides all sorts of features that I wish I had available when I was in college last decade (at least as I saw them over a screencast).

On top of the basic functionality — letting you buy or rent textbooks to read via an internet-connecrted device — it includes a way to highlight and save text, write notes in the margins, write notes for any page, and view all of these annotations in an aggregated view. So you could read and mark up a chapter, and then go check out what you noted later on when you’re studying for a final.

Other features include a view of the passages that users have marked up the most, a tool for looking up definitions from Wiktionary and context from Wikipedia, and a way to ask questions drawn from the text you’re reading, and get answers back from the existing community of Chegg users.

Chief executive Dan Rosensweig emphasizes to me that HTML5 as a technology has been more than suitable for all of its requirements. Indeed, the look and feel of the app looked great from what I could see in the screencast and should be popular with the company’s 4.5 million users. But going that route also makes business sense, considering Amazon’s existing interest in the publishing interest, and Apple’s emerging one. Apple, according to the latest rumors, could be integrating some sort of textbook creation or distribution feature directly into its iBooks app.

More broadly, Chegg has syndication deals with five top textbook publishers, meaning that unlike some competitors it’s not getting sued by these content owners as a result of providing popular titles to students. That could prove to be a key part of how it differentiates itself on top of improvements like the reader today.

Screenshots below:

Samsung Not Sold On The Bada-Tizen Merger Just Yet

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 01:53 PM PST

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I’ve long wondered what exactly Samsung would do with their homegrown Bada operating system, and for a little while there the answer seemed clear — Samsung SVP Tae-jin Kang recently noted that Bada would be merged with the Intel-backed Tizen OS project.

In fact, he said at CES that the work to combine both platforms had already begun, which seemed like a pretty definitive conclusion for Bada.

Now it seems like Samsung may be having second thoughts about the whole process. Samsung representatives have reached out to AllThingsD and Information Week to say that a final decision regarding a merger hasn’t yet been made.

“Samsung and other members of Tizen Association have not made a firm decision regarding the merge of Bada and Tizen,” Samsung said in a statement. “We are carefully looking at it as an option to make the platforms serve better for customers.”

It goes on to say that Bada still has an important part to play in Samsung’s mobile ecosystem and that it would continue “democratizing the smartphone experience in all markets.” Samsung seems to have chosen their words very wisely here, and seems to confirm rumors that Bada would continue to power low-end smartphones while Tizen would grace some more premium fare.

Samsung has spent some time on the fence when it comes to their Bada-based efforts. The company was reportedly considering making it open-source back in September, with the possibility of expanding its use into their line of Smart TVs. The nascent Tizen platform is similarly meant for expansion into different device categories, with “tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices, [and] smart TVs” being prime among them. Sounds like a perfect fit, should the two parties ever make things official.

Of course, there are considerable gains to be made in the mobile market too. Despite playing second-fiddle to Samsung’s mobile OS of choice, Bada isn’t exactly a slouch — for a time Bada appeared on more smartphones sold than Windows Phone. While it poses little chance of making a considerable dent in a smartphone market that’s already dominated by a handful of players, Bada was being looked at as a way for Samsung to reduce their reliance on Google’s own mobile OS.

There are a number of reasons why Samsung would want to keep an ace in the hole, not least of which is the fact that Samsung pays out royalties to Microsoft for the Android devices they produce. And of course Samsung making Windows Phones too, so royalties are paid out for nearly every handset Samsung makes save for those running Bada. With a Bada-Tizen union, Samsung and other hardware vendors may have a more viable competitor in the smartphone OS space, but for now we’ll have to see if the merger ever comes to fruition.

Aviary Launches Major Upgrade To SDK, Now Powering 10 Million Photo Edits Per Month

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 10:06 AM PST

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Aviary, the company that makes it easy for mobile developers to integrate image editing into their apps, has a major launch today: they’re introducing an overhauled version of their mobile SDK that’s both more powerful and significantly better looking than the previous one, which launched in September.

You may associate Aviary with the startup’s advanced suite of web-based image editing apps, which is what it focused on for years. But last year it shifted toward this developer-facing mobile SDK, which allows third-party developers to quickly integrate photo editing, filters, virtual stickers, and other related features into their applications. It’s essentially a drop-in photo editor, and given how popular image sharing apps like Instagram are these days, it’s no surprise that plenty of mobile developers are baking it into their apps.

Today’s update, which is available for both Android, iOS, and web apps includes additional image effects and a refreshed UI. It also paves the way for Aviary’s monetization plans: developers will be able to sell special filters and stickers via in-app purchases, and Aviary will take a cut of these transactions. These monetization features aren’t available broadly yet — Aviary is currently rolling them out to select partners. The first application to include the SDK (which will let you try it out for yourself) will be Pic Stitch (the updated version of their app is currently pending approval from Apple and should be up soon).

Alongside the update, Aviary is also sharing some stats: usage of the SDK is growing 50% a month (measured based on how many users are accessing the editor and editing images). And across the 300 partner web and mobile apps to have integrated the SDK, users are editing over 10 million photos each month. Aviary says that a lot of this growth is concentrated among its top applications (it grows as they grow), but says that it’s seeing a nice long-tail in usage too.

To help reduce confusion over the mobile SDK and their old suite of image editing tools, Aviary recently revamped its homepage at Aviary.com which now focuses on the developer-facing SDK. If you’re looking for the old, consumer-facing image editors, you’ll need to head to advanced.aviary.com.

Bionic Panda Builds A Social Gaming Business On Android, Raises Funding From Top Investors

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 09:54 AM PST

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If you’re trying to build a mobile game for the hardcore crowd, you’re going to want things like at least moderately elaborate graphics… you’ll probably choose to build on iOS first. But if you’re trying to build a casual-style game that anyone can play easily, that reaches as many people as possible, Android is looking better and better.

That’s at least the thesis behind Bionic Panda, the Android-focused gaming company from veteran entrepreneur Charles Hudson. The company is today announcing some growth numbers and a founding round — in other words, its strategy seems to be working out so far.

Its first game, Aqua Pets, will be familiar to anyone who has played the many popular aquarium care titles on Facebook over the years. You feed fish, buy pretty new ones, clean your aquarium, etc. Since launching early last year, the title has managed to get 3 million downloads on Android, and is one of the platform’s top 100 grossing apps. The company, meanwhile, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Norwest Venture Partners, Google Ventures, 500 Startups, and angels Craig Sherman and Kal Vepuri, as well as from SoftTech VC, where Hudson is a Venture Partner.

“We’re not doing the Kabam/Kixeye thing,” Hudson explains, contrasting Bionic Panda’s approach to building social games with the action and violence-themed RPGs and simulations those developers build for hardcore gamers on Facebook. Instead, he says, “we’re focused on casual. The nice thing is that these games tend to have big mass market hits — which gives you the ability to benefit from volume and scale on the Android platform.”

What he means is that the Android operating system now has the most market share of any OS in the US, with the same trend happening around the world. Even if it offers fewer development possibilities, it offers potentially bigger market opportunities.

A big existing issue, of course, is payments. Similar to other free-to-play social games, Aqua Pets relies on users getting hooked (har) on the free play, then deciding on their own to buy fish and accessories. Hudson tells me the company is a believer in Google’s payment product, Wallet (which now includes Checkout), even with the relatively lower monetization rates per user versus similar iOS games, because Google is working hard to improve it, and because he’s seeing it catch up.

The current problem is that Wallet has far fewer credit cards on file than iOS. As of last year, Apple said it had some 200 million credit card-connected iTunes accounts, which it has been accumulating over the past decade, largely through digital music sales. While any of these users can make one-click purchases, Android users who want to pay via Wallet most likely don’t have an account yet, so they’ll have to deal with the friction of setting one up.

Hudson, who is also a social gaming industry expert — he’s the co-author of the Inside Virtual Goods reports — notes that many developers report two to four times higher revenues per user on iOS versus Android. But this problem, as he said, is allayed by the company’s casual focus, by Android’s increasingly large market size, and by the gains in its payments systems.

But it’s not only focused on the Google world. Hudson is openly interested in Amazon’s Kindle implementation of Android, and given his company’s overall goal of reaching as many users as possible, he’s not opposed to moving on to iOS at some point. Next up are two more games from the company (presumably for Android first): Poker Farm Pets and Angry Zombies.

HTC And Sprint Working On Software Updates That Remove Carrier IQ

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 09:08 AM PST

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Most of the furor surrounding the Carrier IQ diagnostic software has wound down by now, but that doesn’t mean that the companies involved have already forgotten. HTC has confirmed to The Verge that they were working with Sprint to push out maintenance updates that would remove the Carrier IQ software from affected devices.

The rollout already seems to have begun, albeit slowly — a recent update for the Evo 3D has indeed removed Carrier IQ, along with packing some battery and performance fixes. There’s no word yet on when other devices will soon experience life without Carrier IQ, though I imagine it’ll take some time to bake up an update for each particular handset.

Samsung couldn’t be reached for comment at time of writing, but hopefully they’re working on something similar as more than a few of their Android handsets have been revealed to run the Carrier IQ software.

Sprint has been in something of a holding pattern recently where Carrier IQ was concerned. Back in December, representatives from the country’s third-largest wireless carrier confirmed that Sprint would no longer be “tasking” devices for diagnostic data, although they made no mention of any efforts to remove the software. Well, no public mention anyway.

Geek.com reported at the time that Sprint had entered into back-room talks with several of their hardware partners (HTC included) in which they stressed the importance of removing the Carrier IQ software from affected devices on the network as soon as possible. Not a surprising move considering the kerfuffle they and other companies were embroiled in thanks to Carrier IQ’s initial PR blunders, but announcing that they were taking steps to remedy the issue via software update could have scored Sprint some serious brownie points.

If I had to guess, it all came down to an issue of timing — if Sprint made it publicly known that they and their hardware partners were working on a fix with no ETA, they would open themselves up to scores of emails, forum posts and blog entries about why the company has yet to deliver. Rather than risk another PR headache, Sprint (perhaps wisely) kept their collective head down until things blew over, and are now working to make things right.

Cálmate: Put Down Your Smartphone To Feel Better

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 08:23 AM PST

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A study by the British Psychological Society found a link between stress levels and the number of times a person picks up their smartphone to check messages and mails. As an addict, I can completely agree with this finding. In short, the more you do it, the worse you feel.

Oddly, the study found that less stress was induced when checking work e-mail rather than other online interactions. The group conducted a survey of 100 Britons in different lines of work.

The study found something they called a “helpful-stressful cycle” in which a smart phone is purchased to help manage the workload and then becomes the bane of their existence, inciting compulsive behaviors and stress.

Quoth the BPS:

“Organizations will not flourish if their employees are stressed, irrespective of the source of stress, so it is in their interest to encourage their employees to switch their phones off; cut the number of work emails sent out of hours, reduce people’s temptation to check their devices,” said psychologist Richard Balding from the University of Worcester, who presented the findings.

Anyone with a passing familiarity with the monkey mind will recognize that cell phones, while making us more connected, actually change our brain chemistry and encourage some obsessive behaviors. I, for one, find myself waking up at night to check e-mails that I know are unimportant at best and a distraction at worst. I don’t smoke but I do slide to unlock in the morning before I roll out of bed.

What we really need, is a Gmail plug-in that will shut down e-mail for certain period of time during the day – perhaps a three-hour window of freedom during the workday and another evening window that prevents all e-mail from rolling in while eating dinner and enjoying some family conversation. The assumption that everyone is always on and always available is a rude one and this study only points to further proof that our mobile lives are encroaching negatively on our corporeal existence.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to Tweet out a funny cat picture from my Nexus.

via BPS



ZTE Plans Huge Smartphone Push Into China, U.S.

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 06:51 AM PST

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We often forget about ZTE here in the states since the company does most of its operations outside of our home turf. Still, we shouldn’t forget that the company ranks fourth in the world in terms of handset makers, largely due to its focus on budget handsets.

The first half of last year brought about a loss of three percentage points in terms of profit, and ZTE is now ready to come back guns blazing. And where else is better to stage an attack than in two of the most mobile hungry countries on the planet: China and the United States.

ZTE began selling Windows Phone-powered handsets here last year, but the U.S. will garner more of the company’s attention as it expands its roll out into China by the third quarter of this year. ZTE is also focusing on more high-end models rather than budget-friendly feature phones, according to an interview with Reuters.

“The United States and China will be key engines driving our smartphone sales,” said head of handset strategy Lv Qianhao. “If we say ZTE started out as a contractor, like those building mass housing that are value for money, then we want to be a developer of luxury high-end estates.”

InMobi: Smartphone Ad Impressions Up 488% In 2011, Tablets Up 771%

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 06:42 AM PST

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Independent mobile ad network InMobi has released its Mobile Market 2011 Review report today, finding significant growth in mobile advertising over the past year, with global smartphone impressions up by 488%. The company also saw 251% growth in mobile impressions on its network, which includes tablet devices and smartphones combined.

Tablet impressions alone grew by an incredible 771% year-over-year, up to 1.2 billion. And the market is growing still, led by, of course, Apple’s iPad.

Of the regions surveyed, North America was the fastest growing, with 366% overall growth in mobile impressions and a 625% increase in smartphones.

On InMobi’s network, the race between two top mobile platforms, iOS and Android, was very close throughout the year. In Q4 2011, Android was the number one operating system on the network, with 21% share of impressions. Apple, meanwhile, had a 17% share. In North America, however, Apple’s share increased by 23.4% to 33.1%, thanks to the release of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S in 2011. Android increased by 3.3% to 32.5% in this region.

Globally, Android came out on top, above Nokia and Symbian, and InMobi expects it will win in 2012 as well.

Keep in mind that data about InMobi’s view of the mobile ecosystem is relative to the devices on its advertising network. The company says the data was sourced from over 200 billion impressions in Q4 2011 and was compared with Q4 2010. There were over 140 countries represented with over 10 million impressions in December, to give you an idea of the network’s size. Regions reported on include Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe,  the Middle East, North America and South America.

Global data: