Reading List: VoIP Services Compared; Plaxo/Facebook?; Google’s Map Strategy
Consumer VoiP Services Compared (LucaFiligheddu.com)
Rebtel comes out on top for cost and usability in making voice over IP call from U.S. to Italy via a mobile phone (no PC clients involved).
Facebook Buying Plaxo? (Venture Beat) - Not So Fast (TechCrunch)
A move that would focus less on social network features and more on combining address books and friend lists into a powerful Web-based unified directory/profile service.
IMS vs. Web 2.0 (OpenGardens)
Blog post asks all the right *service* questions about IMS, mainly: if Web services are standard, universal and cheap, what’s the pull for IMS?
Who Will Operate the Cloud (News.com)
Question raised: can an “IT arms supplier” - IBM, HP, Sun — also run a network services clouds? My question: can a telco run a network services cloud?
More Google Queries Get Google Maps (NYTimes)
Data-driven proof (300% increase in search queries returning with a Google map as top return) of how Google hopes to leverage dominance in one area (Web search) to try to take over other key areas, including directory services/yellow pages and mobile, location-based advertising.
Facebook’s Real Problem: Monetization (Dave McClure)
Key quote: A service isn’t a real *platform* until it makes — actually until it MINTS — money. It took Google four years to start up its mint, now running like clockwork. Facebook is dominating as Google did, but how will it create revenue for itself and its partners (Google’s “stickiness” is due to the “Google economy” — all the various advertisers, micro-publishers, etc. that suck on the Google teet).
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