telecom's new OJO video phone question

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#55559 15-Dec-2006 10:27

New Philips Wi-Fi VoIP phones with video: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/61427439/

They look exactly like the Philips Skype and MSN phones I tested here some time ago. Looks good.

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#55599 15-Dec-2006 17:47

Story about new travel OJO.

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/CES/?article=/CES/F3W5L3F5

And back to the question that started this thread. Here's a new page on the Int2one web site.

http://www.intersonicltd.com/int2one/videoCalls.html

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#56175 22-Dec-2006 14:14

FWIW - Global Touch is deploying videophones. "Welch, Global Touch: A challenging area for us is dealing with the international population. You have language barriers, you have functionality issues about how people use devices in foreign countries, but I go back to the concept of voice. It’s still a voice feature, and we try to keep that simple and manageable. That said, we’re deploying 2,500 to 3,000 video phones. We’ve got people who like the concept and use it, and some of them are grandparents. Video has been around for years, why is it just now starting to creep in? We have customers making an emotional decision to buy a video phone."

http://www.billingworld.com/secondary.cfm?page=detail&archiveId=7812 The Ojo at Global Touch http://www.globaltouchtelecom.com/videophone.asp?op=19

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#56217 23-Dec-2006 08:36

freitasm: New Philips Wi-Fi VoIP phones with video: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/61427439/

They look exactly like the Philips Skype and MSN phones I tested here some time ago. Looks good.

And best of all these are SIP devices which means you won't be ripped off paying US$15 per month to use the service. There are hundreds of SIP VoIP providers that offer free monthy plans with free calls to other users on the same network.

I've heard ojo has been a dismal failure in NZ so far and that there have only been a handful of units sold, well below what Telecom excpected. Telecom have just spent the last 18 months telling slamming cideo calling on Vodafone and telling us that video calling is a flop - maybe they should have listened to their own advice! :-)

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#56240 23-Dec-2006 14:40

The only time I would see a telco benifit from selling these is if there was an interconnect between the fixed phones and their mobiles. Since telecom dont even have mobile video calling, then there is noone for them to interconnect with. vodafone on the other hand would probarbly do ok if they pushed them out via ihug and had them able to video call the mobiles at the same rate that a voice call costs.

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#56244 23-Dec-2006 15:55

richms: The only time I would see a telco benifit from selling these is if there was an interconnect between the fixed phones and their mobiles. Since telecom dont even have mobile video calling, then there is noone for them to interconnect with. vodafone on the other hand would probarbly do ok if they pushed them out via ihug and had them able to video call the mobiles at the same rate that a voice call costs.

Vodafone NZ apparently have a 3G<->H324M gateway and can interface with SIP devices. It would be cool if they did actually launch a product allowing SIP interfacing for video calling..maybe if ihug ever launch a VoIP service this could be part of it!

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#56398 27-Dec-2006 04:25

How is Telecom marketing the Ojo? Has anybody seen a TV commercial or print ad? Has anyone seen an activated Ojo in a Telecom store or Telecom kiosk at a shopping mall?

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#56401 27-Dec-2006 08:13

Very little... I think I've seen a TV ad and a few runs on newspapers.

Just curious, but are you related to WorldGate or interested party? I've seen some posts on Yahoo! and Raging Bull...

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#56405 27-Dec-2006 09:38

BestTimesNow: How is Telecom marketing the Ojo? Has anybody seen a TV commercial or print ad? Has anyone seen an activated Ojo in a Telecom store or Telecom kiosk at a shopping mall?

Errm, is Telecom marketing it? No, no and no. They have show it for journos but can't recall seeing any reviews of it.

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#56406 27-Dec-2006 10:12

I can't believe Telecom don't have these set up in their retail stores. The way they are marketing and selling the product suggests to me that they don't actually want to sell any but merely show it off as a cool toy that will be a lot cheaper once their NGN goes live.

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#56410 27-Dec-2006 12:09

I work for an electric utility. I am an interested party as an Ojo user and stockholder.
I bought my first web cam 7 or 8 years ago and my third web cam about 13 months ago. I was very disappointed in all of them and disconnected them after a few weeks. I was skeptical about the Ojo, but it works as advertised.

I went the cable show last spring to see the VisiFone. Viseon was partnered with Vonage as their roll out partner, but the deal fell apart. Here are some pictures from the National Cable Show in Atlanta, last April.

http://www.geocities.com/rich35242/National.html

Although iChat works well, on the Mac’s, as a video telephony system, I still believe the stand alone videophone will be the way to go, for many families. The price point is the real issue. Most people, including myself have/had the misconception that a videophone will work no better than a web cam. The best way to sell videophones is by having a working Ojo's at Telecom’s mall kiosks and stores. Seeing is believing.

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#56411 27-Dec-2006 12:23

BestTimesNow:
The best way to sell videophones is by having a working Ojo's at Telecom’s mall kiosks and stores. Seeing is believing.

I agree 100%

The problem with the Ojo in NZ is that a typical broadband customer has already paid NZ$42~ish for a phone line, another NZ$50 - $70 for a broadband connection and is then being stung with US$15 per month for a service that can only be used to call another Ojo user.

There is a future for video calling however there is no hope for the Ojo service in NZ with it's current business model.

Once NZers can have a naked ADSL broadband connection and then use a VoIP provider for their primary phone service we will start to see SIP providers selling videophones that can be used as a regular phone as well as video calling to other SIP phones anywhere in the world for little or no cost. Now that's exciting. The Ojo device is cool there is no disputing that - it's just the worldphone service is flawed from a NZers point of view. There are SIP providers everywhere on the net who offer free plans for calling other users on the same SIP network or peered SIP providers. What makes WorldCom think their service is worth US$15 per month for something that is free elsewhere? I could easily go and buy two Grandstream GXV3000's for a lot less than 2 Ojo's and there would be no ongoing costs to call between them.

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#56422 27-Dec-2006 16:37

The company that makes the Ojo is Worldgate, not WorldCom. The current service fee is $9.95 until the end of January for new subscribers. Most videophones won’t work very well at Telecom’s 128 kbps upload rate, but the Ojo is respectable even at 100 kbps upload rate.

Here’s a link to a demo call and Ojo Shadow set up, using a HomePlug device.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2899332557989427366

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#57597 11-Jan-2007 14:39

Here is an article and video from a reporter at CES using the Ojo.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=287

Here are some pictures of the Ojo display booth at CES.

http://homepage.mac.com/planetpm/PhotoAlbum9.html

Perhaps freitasm will have some comments about the Ojo from CES.

freitasm

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#57598 11-Jan-2007 14:41

I had a meeting with Ojo today, and I am planning to post in my blog about it, with a few pictures. I will update the discussion here when the post is live.

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