VOIP company Jajah just announced an exceptional new consumer service that will let many cell phone users access Jajah’s very low calling rates through their cell phone (and without using data services).
Ok, it’s true. When I wrote about the woeful state of the VOIP market last week I knew full well that Jajah was preparing to launch a killer new product this evening (and Shel Israel called me on it).
I think that post was good background material to better understand the problems with current VOIP options and the importance of what Jajah just launched. Before today it was difficult for users of normal phones to access VOIP services directly and get cheaper rates on phone calls. They almost always had to be in front of a computer to initiate a call, or go through complicated call, then hang up and call back procedures.
Jajah’s New Mobile Phone Service
Jajah’s new mobile service suffers from none of the “detail issues” that I bring up in the post last week. I walk through how the new service works below, but the end result is that you can set your phone to use Jajah for certain types of calls (such as international calls) instead of your normal carrier. From the caller and receiver’s perspective the call transaction is seemless. A call is made normally, and received normally. The only work is getting it set up.
To use the new service you must be a registered Jajah user. You must have a supported cell phone (see this page to determine if you have a supported cell phone) - Jajah currently supports phones with the symbian operating system…other phones, including Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Treo, will come later this year. Jajah sends a MMS message to your phone. Once you confirm the message a Java application is downloaded to the phone and can be configured by the user. Once configured, the Jajah software handles certain types of calls made from the phone, bypassing the carrier entirely. When you place a call, Jajah routes the call to its own local number, moves the call over VOIP to the destination and calls the recipient via a local number where they are located.
Jajah founder Roman Scharf says that the carriers can’t block what they are doing because they do not use the data services included with many newer phones. Instead, they simply re-route the call through the normal telephone lines. The tricky part, of course is getting the software installed properly on a phone to begin with (something I can’t test right now because I’m in Taiwan and because my phone, the hated Motorola Q, uses the even-more-hated Windows Mobile OS).
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If companies want to become successful, then they should have their apps and services mobile enable. Historically, businesses that have adapted to current and emerging technologies have had great success.
it’s actually not an MMS message that helps you download the application but a “binary SMS” (an SMS with different headers) that most phones display as a “system message”, giving direct download functionality.
Jajah’s Blue Ocean
“Jajah Just Launched Killer VOIP Product” ?????!!!!!
Have you tried it before you said this?
Please check it out.
http://www.jajah.com/static/up.....index.aspx
Not only this service is limited, but also you can’t register phone number other than US in JAJAH as one of his source numbers, even if they claim “FREE calls between JAJAH users in Zone 1 and Zone 2″.
http://www.jajah.com/content/freecalls.aspx
Windows Mobile OS hated? By who? A few years ago you could only buy a handful of phones with it, now it accounts for half of smartphones. Windows Mobile kicks the crap out of any other mobile OS in terms of usability and features. Oh yeah and the API wipes the floor with Java.
The question is when carriers will understand that the current rate system’s got oldfashioned. When carriers themselves offer lower rates and do switch to such a system there will be no need for jajah.
I cant imagine that big tcom companies are not aware of the threat and wont take long and the first online flat rate will come out for mobile devices.
Don’t service providers usually block these applications, cos it costs them so much revenue? I know mine tries to in the UK. Vodafone will reign forever!!!1
We can expect more setup articles as our vc/journalist promotes his own interests. Still a great blog. Can we keep it that way?
Agreed Andy. This post (and the one last week, ‘woeful state’) do smell of vested interest… Michael?
This definitely sounds like a communications app that I would try.
Vested interest or not, jajah sounds like a great tool and I hope you continue hilighting these in the future.
Everyone of us here has a vested interest in one way or another. But the common goal for all of us is to learn and help new innovative companies succeed by adopting their technology and learning from their go to market lessons.
Saeed
Why is it cheaper to call the states from a UK mobile than to call another mobile. Jajah Binks say “that’s why you no liking us meesa thinks.”
I tried jajah. Failed to download the application through OTA. Also, they need to update their phone list. Though this blog article really speaks over the top about jajah, they really need to improve their service before any sort of adoption. Also, their site is pathetically slow right now. Maybe coz of all the traffic that techcrunch is generating for them.
Andy, Mark, JM,
If you’ve read TC for awhile you’ll notice that Mike tends to be clear whenever he posts on something in which he has a financial or advisory interest.
He does love this stuff, so when he finds something good, he’s positive. Sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly, but it’s what he honestly feels.
Dan G
I interviewed Roman Scharf about Jajah and their plans for expansion, primarily making the service much easier to use:
http://www.npost.com/interview.jsp?intID=INT00163
I know he does good at posting conflicts. But setup articles are sneaky and hurt his cred in my book. Now we have to wonder if all “state of the industry” articles are merely setups for “save the day” applications that he knows are on their way anyway. It was dishonest to write an article about what an industry needs when you know for a fact that the “solution” is developed and coming soon. Its an old advertising trick. Just my two cents and like I said I really love the blog and hopefully my comments are taken as constuctive and helpful, not as a slam. I don’t think it was malicious at all, just a lapse in judgement
An analysis of Jajah’s business model beyond “oh mygawd, this is totally cool” would be helpful.
Skype had something because they had a free resource to leverage in users’ flat rate internet connections. There is no free infrastructure to leverage here, especially in mobile. If you call a fixed line phone, it costs money. If you call a mobile phone, it costs a lot of money ($12 to $24 per hour in most non US countries). If you make a VoIP call over a cellular network, unless you are on an expensive flat rate data plan, it costs a lot more than you think ($0.40 to over $1.00 per minute depending on cost per kilobyte). Either the customer must pay to cover this cost, or the company must spend its money to subsidize the users’ calls (generally not the basis for a profitable business).
The only way to get around this is for the customer to 1) use a carrier that offers flat-rate calling (not common yet, but Metro PCS offers all-you-can eat voice service for $40/month, in which case no need for Jajah, or 2) use dual-mode cellular wi-fi service, such as T-Mobile is rolling out later this year. In either case, there’s no way around last mile charges without the mobile or fixed line operators cooperation, so services like Jajah are just updated least cost routing applications. They also are on the hook for substantial call transport costs. Jahah, meet toll fraud. Toll fraud, meet Jajah.
This is Exhibit A of why VoIP is a crappy business to be in. It is difficult to build a real business when you are surrounded by companies cribbing from the Pets.com business model. The old school telcos, as much as people like to bitch about them, are rational competitors, and don’t give away access to their networks below cost. They spend billions per year maintaining their networks, so I don’t expect them to be free. I don’t see why anybody else expects this either.
Brian - you are a poop. On target. But still a poop.
If calling bullshit on a bubble era business model makes me a poop, so be it. If these guys were spending their own money, they wouldn’t dare do something like this. That’s the litmus test for me if capital is used wisely. I don’t have the luxury of playing around with millions of dollars of other people’s money. The kind of thing Jajah is doing can become very expensive, very quickly because of the uncontrolled liability for outgoing calls. It looks like a very risky business model to me.
Sorry you think I am a crotchety old man. I’m not. I just don’t like to see money thrown into gimmicks. Unless I am missing something this is just an overhyped click-to-dial service. Mechanisms for making cheap international mobile calls, i.e. callback, have been around since the 80s.
This is really not new at all. VOIP Bridge services have been around for a long time. I call a local phone number on my cellphone, and get a dial-tone and I can dial anywhere for my VOIP rate.
Agree with Brian on a lot of the points. Jajah is facing threats from:
Its suppliers (toll providers trying to block access or downloads)
Its customers (finding free alternatives elsewhere)
Competitive advantage (no stickiness)
Let’s remember that Telcos did bankrupt early DSL companies whose business plans were to ride their network to build businesses. Even with regulation forcing the telcos to share their connections, they still forced the DSL providers out of business.
Now having said that, Jajah is a great potential acquisition target for a european mobile operator. If Jajah shows accelerating traction, an Orange trying to get into Germany, or Telecom Italia trying to get into the UK would be greatly helped by Jajah. This could be a powerful weapon for these incumbents to destroy one another’s businesses.
And clearly, all it takes is publish revenue numbers, build acceleration. Then say you’re profitable and entertaining $1B offers. Quickly fly over to Madrid to talk to Telefon and sell for $1.5B. And in the end this will be a company that will not have generated more than $100M in total gross margins (after toll costs).
In short, 3yr business model is not great. Could be a great acquisition candidate if played right. The bigger fool here will be mobile telcos.
Just went to check it out and JaJah support for different phone models is pretty limited. My Sanyo doesn’t do Symbian.
RebTel model seems smoother no download and it works well today with all phones. Costs are minimal at $1 a week. Yeah, you have to have one party call back in, but for the people you call frequently this is no big deal.
I tried to load the application but failed. I think jajah support for phone models is limited.
Really really bad and misleading article Mr. Arrington.
>(and without using data services).
Since when is SMS no data service ?
I retract my earlier comment, I’m sure Michael Arrington is far too aware of the value of his credibility & reputation to put them in jeopardy over a frivolous VOIP firm.
Which I guess brings me to my original cause for alarm, I really do not share Michael’s enthusiasm for JaJah’s “seamless” product. Basically JaJah are taking to market a tool which takes advantage of a security hole in (’some’) Symbian phones. Michael, get real! This technology is far too fragile to drag VOIP out of its ‘woeful state’.
Future releases of Symbian OS could very easliy leave JaJah’s Java developers scratching their heads trying to find another crack to slip their call interception software through. In fact this technology is only of interest to unscrupulous folk who would like to divert your calls through premium rate numbers.
And this is the only product JaJah have that makes them stand out from the pack… hmm.
It’s hardly a ‘killer VOIP product’ !
Mmm…for a genuinely revolutionary mobile VoIP product perhaps you should look at Fring. Full Skype access on Symbian handsets with no hardware or PC involved.
Looking at their unimpressive rates http://www.jajah.com/info/rates/
at the limited phone support
at the broken rates calculator on their site (I tried it)
at the feeling you get from their forum http://forum.jajah.com/ where you only see lonely people seeking for help,
I would hardly call it a killer product.
I have been using VOIP for my landline and mobile phones for several years now that is much easier to use and cost much less than Vonage and Jajah.
Here is how it works: I set up a speed dial on all my phones to a local access number. With one button push I get the prompt to dial the number I want to call anywhere in the world. No software to download, no computer, no pin code, works on any phones, mobile or landline. The rates are negligibly low: $0.019/minute to UK, $0.022/minute to China, etc.
I just need a basic local service on my landline to give me free local calls and 911 traceback. All I need now is free or flat rate airtime.
It seems most people here didn’t get how this thing works (no wonder reading the article). The mobile app just uses HTTP or, alternatively, SMS to initiate the call.
Full disclosure in the posts would be in order.
I’m happy to see Symbian supported by several web apps / services (Skype, Plazes, Jahjah), but most of them are not yet supporting Series60 version 3. Anyone got a clue as to why this is?
The Nokia e61 is really nice but I want to use these apps now!
@Ping Liang - it’s simple, use Asterisk and use Sprint (Mobile to Home or Mobile to Office) - you get 100% incoming and outgoing free to the number you specify, make this your asterisk number, then use DISA to dial out from your asterisk server at 1c a min to anywerhe you want, or free, depending on your voip provider plan.
Mino supports more handsets, and Jajah drops a lot of calls!
Posts about competitors being moderated (i.e. removed)!?! Shame on you, play nice, Michael!
if they suffered an outage the Techcrunch headline would be JaJah on the Blink.
Anyone else see these guys at Demo? they paid a pile of money to do a 6 min comedy routine because their stuff didn’t work. seems a bit strange that Techcrunch would have such a positive headline for something that clearly no one looked at - must be the Sequoia Capital magic at work…
(( truphone )) versus JaJah
I have it on my Nokia 6680 installed. I used the service recently to call my sister in Spain.
JaJah service is OK when you are on the road and you call from GSM rather than WiFi for an international call only. Within a country it is much more expensive than the mobile tarrif. Even calling international you get charged an outgoing SMS or GPRS data bundle connection fee once, which you need to add to your bill
However if you are at home or a WiFi hotspot the service is very expensive compared to the (( truphone )) service. While the call to Spain cost 8 pence with (( truphone )), JaJah charges 32 pence. + your SMS, GPRS connect. So it is around 4 times (400%) more expensive; it holds also true that the least cost routing solution they build is quite simple to emulate and the applicable could be bundled to the more forward looking (( truphone )) service. Another downfall I discovered is the hassle of waiting before it connects the call. For a fast moving business executive a hassle which I felt would be unacceptable. And lets not forget (( truphone )) offers free calls to almost all landline (1.6 bn) in the world. Everybody should have the possibility to get a Nokia E60 with this kind of saving on the Mobile Bill to experience the cristal clear call quality of http://www.truphone . What an amazing forward looking service they offer. The world will be building an alternative Cellular Network quickly if they make a big break of the existing paradigm. A homage of a very satisfied (( truphone )) user.
Call-back is actually a 10- 15 years old product and has never really reached any critical mass, this however might happen with the new services offering the same products with easier SMS and IP, 3g and data initiated call-back request is interesting, however the key is still the end users and their understand and adaptation of the products.
Callback is inherently flawed as it takes minimum two calls instead of one, it makes for a nice periodical replacement while companies like http://www.briing.com manages to get the wholesale prices right and makes the vMVNO possible using application that uses access number interconnect agreement.
Briing.com is an alternative to the VoIP services, which concerns access number, interconnect rates, and makes it a lot easier for the end user also to understand pricing and use. Briing Mobile saver so far only works in the UK so far, and can only offer direct free calls in the UK. http://www.briing.com/saver a smart java application, not yet on the symbian OS phones but on all the real handsets out there. The nokia 6230, series 40 phones, this is where the majority of phone users are, the N series E series Nokia is so far has very little penetration.
There are still a whole lot of people with older phones, and who are not necessarily changing phones quickly. It is only in the UK phone are completely subsidised by a contract and are “free”.
It will be an intersting battle, the operators, vs voip services and access call back, the sure winners are going to be the wwholesale price brokers and the consumers. The rest is up to wit and consumer adaptation and critical mass saturation
@ Brian
Drew was complimenting you, chill out man… sheesh…
I was glad to hear someone say Jajah is is not what it claims to be…
I tried Jajah and discovered their business model was hazy and the claims on their web site misleading. For a Web 2.0 company - that’s a shame.
The issue is that Jajah claims that calls between registered users using land lines are free. Also they have a fair use policy which is OK and fair - you are limited to 60 minutes a day which is also fine. But…if you adhere to Jajah’s policy and respect their fair use policy - your calls should be free. They are not!
What happens is that you register two numbers in the designated “Free” zones and the first few calls are free…the web site even tells you: “this call is free” … then…suddenly and without any warning or explanation… you get a message that you must pay Jajah or the free service is discontinued.
I corresponded with the company at length and got back a tirade of “double-talk” claiming that to continue with the free service I needed to “maintain a positive credit balance” on Jajah’s account.
So I checked out the company again making sure I read everything(!) on their web site: I registered another land line, had a friend register his land line - both in the “free call” zone…and started the service. At first the web page shows the calls are free. Then, suddenly, a message appears that the call costs so and so cents…Even though its the same numbers and the Fair Use Policy is strictly respected - Viola the catch…My “65 cent credit line” disappeared and up came the request for payment…
Folks…this is not Skype… Skype is simple…Skype is free…Skype tells you clearly what, how much and when you need to pay. Jajah’s business model is simply a tricky ploy to get customers to pay for another VOIP service that in itself is not unique and not very competitive…If you want regular, non-PC, phone based service get 8×8 or sunrocket!
Thank you, Mike, for saving me the trouble.
It looks like Jajah is pissing off a lot of customers. People are having problems making phone calls and there are rate increases.
http://forum.jajah.com/viewforum.php?f=2
I changed from JaJah to Vyke, they have both Mobile voip and callback.