Archive for February, 2010

Ribbit’s Converged Communications Desktop for Windows 7 Helps Transform Provider Revenue Model

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 | located in Partners, Platform, Telephony | 1 Comment »

Ribbit for Windows 7 (code name: Meridia), will help carriers leverage their existing customer base and network assets to boost revenues and add more value to their subscribers. Co-developed with Microsoft, Magpie and Amadeus - this customizable desktop interface consolidates communications in a single place.

Built as a proof-of-concept, Ribbit for Windows 7 demonstrates how carriers can apply trends impacting the telecommunications industry to increase average revenue per user (ARPU). As a branded desktop application, Ribbit for Windows 7 brings the carrier brand to the forefront of the customer experience, and provides a revenue-generating vehicle through local advertising and international call termination. Using an opt-in model, the companies who own this data can market and advertise based on their understanding of their subscribers tastes, geographic location and social graph.

Ribbit for Windows 7 is compatible with Windows Live Contacts, and provides new ways to stay connected in a rich mobile desktop experience. It offers click-to-call/click-to-conference functionality, visual voicemail, SMS and instant messaging (IM) via an intuitive, customizable, drag and drop user interface using touch-screen features from Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Carriers and service providers are struggling to maintain growth and relevancy in an increasingly mobile-dominated world. In fact, according to a March 2009 IBM Global CEO Survey, more than half of the telecom executives surveyed plan to open their networks to external application providers, and a third of them are considering ways to capitalize on existing customer relationships and mobile networks to help boost ARPU.

Voice as an Application Drives Increased Revenue and Decreases Subscriber Churn
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT, Ribbit understands how to help carriers improve subscriber productivity, sustain high value margins and reduce subscriber churn through bundled services. Ribbit’s open, cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model allows telecom companies to eliminate the tremendous cost associated with building out a network that would otherwise require 24 – 36 months to build, deploy and market.

Quotes:

• Joe Black, Ribbit VP of Strategy and Business Development: “This emerging monetization model will enable providers to deliver bundled applications and services that will yield a higher margin and reduce subscriber churn. By leveraging Ribbit’s powerful platform based APIs, providers can enter markets they were once unable to reach due to regulation of the telecom industry and the cost-prohibitive nature of building out networks.”
• Joseph Hofstader, Telecommunications Industry Architect and Evangelist, Microsoft Communications Sector: “Over the last couple of years, we’ve watched a number of trends create an environment that is now revolutionizing the communications industry – among those is voice as an application and communications networks as programming platforms. Today, network carriers have an opportunity to increase their revenues by applying the economic model of the Web to the telecommunications industry. By offering value-added communications services, they can capitalize on technological advancements. The application of the still-evolving Internet business model to a century old industry may seem contradictory to many passive observers but a closer look reveals that the main revenue drivers in both industries are remarkably similar: subscriptions, transactions and advertising—and that is where the opportunity lies.”

Ribbit for Windows 7, will be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (taking place February 15-18, 2010) in the Microsoft booth #1D19. Ribbit is focused on helping carriers integrate rich communications into existing networks, build revenues and attract and retain customers and we feel Meridia is exactly the solution the telco industry has been looking for.

Tags: Ribbit, ribbit converged communications desktop, ribbit for windows 7, ribbit meridia, unified communications

Ribbit to present at Mobile World Congress on Mobile Cloud Computing

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | located in Conferences/Events, Public Speaking | No Comments »

The Ribbit team is headed to Barcelona (without me) to participate in the Mobile World Congress taking place February 15-18, 2010. The event is sure to be packed with cutting edge products and technologies that will shape the world of mobile computing.

We’ll be walking the show floor, capturing some shots of cool gadgetry, interviewing smart people, hanging out in sessions, drinking good wine with the locals and will be on hand when Crick Waters, co-founder of Ribbit, steps into a panel discussion on ‘Building the Mobile Cloud’. The panel takes place February 17th at 4:40pm and sitting on the panel with Crick will be:

• Didier Jaubert, Senior Vice President, Global Services, Orange Business Services
• Vikram Saksena, Chief Technology Officer, Tellabs
• Steve Mannel, Media & Communications Industry Director, Salesforce

We will have lots to share from Barcelona, and might just have a few more announcements coming next week.

If you have never been to Barcelona (like me), take a moment and flip through the Flickr set of MorBCN. I love experiencing cities through the eyes of the local people, and even more so when they use HDR to capture the vibrancy of their favorite spots. Love. Love. Love his work.

Tags: barcelona, gsma, mobile world congress, Ribbit, ribbit in barcelona