Can Web-VoIP Platforms Succeed Where Others Failed?

Om Malik posted yesterday about Ribbit, a company that has just announced its Web-VoIP integration platform.   The company has published application programming interfaces for the development of Flash applications, claiming to hide the dirty details of VoIP under the rug so that the developer can simply create applications.   The first of these applications leverages a "connector" that integrates with SalesForce.com, an online sales force automation tool. 

Ribbit will likely face competition from Adobe, who is planning to launch ther own Flash VoIP platform next year.  Om also mentions Google's GrandCentral, along with Lypp, as other players that are going down the platform route. 

The central problem these companies are trying to solve is the perception that nobody has created the killer application that combines VoIP and the Web, and apparently they are pointing to a deficit in toolkits as the key inhibitor.  They claim that a platform like Ribbit's will hide the vagaries of multiple operating systems and VoIP protocols from the developer.  "If only I had a better toolkit, then I could make a VoIP-Web mashup work!" 

Well, color me skeptical, but my grandpa always told me that "it is a poor craftsman who blames his tools." 

I think there are several good VoIP-Web mashups on the market today and making good money, with the most obvious being Broadsoft's Broadworks platform, and the cool web dashboard that they use.  As for integrating with SalesForce.com, Broadsoft announced their SalesForce.com connector in October, and Cisco announced their Unified Call Connector in May of this year. Neither Cisco nor Broadsoft needed the benefit of a third-party toolkit, though in fairness, Ribbit isn't targeting Cisco and Broadsoft as customers. 

But this points out the problem with the new platform strategy.  Ribbit doesn't have a large existing customer base to sell into, while Broadsoft and Cisco do.  So far, Broadsoft and Cisco are building the useful apps into their products more quickly than Ribbit. 

Of course, Ribbit hopes that by publishing an API, they will "let a thousand flowers bloom," and a Ribbit-based developer will invent something that leapfrogs the state-of-the-art. 

I think, though, that the real deficit here is not the lack of a platform, but the lack of imagination, and a platform isn't likely to change that, at least at this stage of industry development.

I applaud the new innovation in the VoIP industry, but I think that sometimes we technologists are seduced by the flashy lights and buttons, without realizing that the new app doesn't really help us.  I'm as guilty as anybody in this regard...I bought my first PDA years ago only to find I was spending more time trying to sync it with Outlook than I was saving by having a portable calendar and contact list, so I ditched it a few months later. 

If you are trying to grow a VoIP technology company, I have one question for you: Is VoIP's success your company's objective, or are you trying to solve real problems, like improving productivity?  Your answer will determine whether your company succeeds, or ends up in the tech landfill.

Comments

[PaulSweeney]

I find this line very incisive "toolkits as the key inhibitor"... I'd love to see someone do a comparison between this and VoiceObjects, Angel.com, Jajah etc. I put jajah down there because I think they will become a platform play (see jangle deal). However, Ribbit could become a very interesting play as it develops out, adapts to responses etc. It will be how the company evolves that will be the telling point, I believe.

[luca]

What I get from this article is basically your skepticism on new platforms like Ribbit or Lypp that came out in the last few months.

There is a problem here: companies like Cisco and Broadsoft don't cover what Ribbit, Lypp and others do: users' everyday web browsing experience.

During VON 2006 my company, that was sponsoring the event, coined a new acronym: VOW, Voice over Web, that is the DEEP integration between web applications/services, social networks and so on and communication services on the web. Ribbit, Lypp and others are less bounded to an enterprise environment and bring IP communications to masses, thanks to the huge amount of developers that can integrate voip services into their apps/services, available for any internet user.

There is a huge potential here, something that is still not under Cisco and Broadsoft's radar.

[Pearl]

You are correct sometimes technology covers something which is of no use. JUst to attract people they would have been used. Ribbit and Adobe will have effective technologies since both are competitors of each other.

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