[asterisk-biz] Ribbit.com ?

[Matthew Rubenstein]

	$5 per end user is way too much for little Web apps like chatrooms or
sales/cust-svc chats, or anything where a given random user from the
public on the Web isn't going to return at least $10 a year in profit
from which that license can be paid. Even $5 per running instance is too
high. The problem isn't so much the price, but just a per-instance fee
as a limit to scale.

	The solution is a license fee on a middleware server with traffic
capacities, and a free client. But if the middleware does't offer value
of its own (beyond being the "key" for the clients to work), then it's
going to be a nuisance. In any case, the client should be free. Which is
one impediment to widespread development, which is a reason it isn't
here yet. But since there is some development, with those bizmodel
constraints, I'd think there'd be several options already for "webpage
voice" integrated with the PSTN. These same business constraints don't
seem to have eliminated any number of free clients floating around and
seeing lots of use. Which are then harnessed to support business models
relating to the business, not to the software used by the business.


On Tue, 2007-12-18 at 07:20 -0500, Mike Clark wrote:
> They key is not creating a barrier to entry. It would be ideal if I 
> could license a "Mexuar-like" client in small lots of 5 or 10 at a price 
> of around $10 per license. You might even give away a "free" developer 
> pack of 2 licenses so folks can easily get started. This all enables the 
> little gut to get in the game, and then maybe hit a homerun resulting in 
> thousands of licenses.
> 
> Dean Collins wrote:
> > But Mike the question remains how much is it worth to you to be able to
> > do this?
> >
> >  
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Dean Collins
> > Cognation Pty Ltd
> > dean at cognation.net 
> > +1-212-203-4357
> > +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
> >
> >
> >   
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-biz-
> >> bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Mike Clark
> >> Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 5:22 PM
> >> To: email at mattruby.com; Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk
> >>     
> > Discussion
> >   
> >> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Ribbit.com ?
> >>
> >> Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> >>     
> >>> 	Dean, how would you describe Mexuar, with its embeddable but
> >>> proprietary IAX applet, in that context?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>       
> >> ...snipped a bunch..
> >>
> >> I'm not Dean, but I'll comment here.I evaluated Mexuar and really
> >>     
> > liked
> >   
> >> it, but they had no good mechanism for a small developer to get
> >>     
> > started.
> >   
> >> They wanted a substantial up front licensing fee to get going. OTOH,
> >>     
> > if
> >   
> >> you turned out to be successful, it was a good deal because it was a
> >>     
> > one
> >   
> >> time fee.
> >>
> >> Ribbit has a totally different model as they are a full blown ITSP and
> >> have provided a Flex/Actionscript API to their Flash phone component
> >>     
> > at
> >   
> >> no charge to developers. I have an app ready to roll as soon as they
> >>     
> > are
> >   
> >> completely live.
> >>
> >> I would love to see a similar type API to a Flash SIP or IAX2
> >>     
> > component
> >   
> >> where I could access my own Asterisk or Freeswitch server.
> >>
> >> Mike Clark
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein