TringMe is to VoIP/Click-to-call , what YouTube was to videos -> easy to use, damn easy to distribute and most importantly, no software to download.
There are several VoIP solutions (Jaxtr, Jangl,Fring, Google’s GrandCentral) but all of them act as a middlemen to connect to phone numbers – which essentially means you pay the bills for initiating the call.
TringMe disrupts this model by giving away “TringMe” widgets which can be embedded in any blog/site. The visitor can simply call by clicking on the widget and TringMe will route the voice over Internet and will call you on your choice of device (i.e. mobile phone/GTalk etc)
..if you are using TringMe voicemail widget and you have routed the voicemails to a phone (landline or cell), you will receive a call from TringMe as soon as someone leaves a voicemail for you. If you have configured the profile setting to send the voicemails to Gtalk, then a call from TringMe will be made to your Gtalk IM. In both cases, when the connection is established, the voicemail is played back to you.
Currently, TringMe supports calls only to US/Canada and UK; but don’t lose heart, you can configure TringMe to route the voicemails to your GTalk id.
Though the service can be spammed, but those are trivial issues which can be easily solved by the founders. Most importantly, TringMe’s business model (in my opinion) should focus on B2B industries (e.g. auctions/classifieds/site support for SMBs: where the seller can “opt-in” to receive calls from their TringMe widget).
Interestingly, Jajah’s “call-me” buttons (conceptually quite similar to TringMe widgets) were banned by eBay when Jajah marketed their “customized for eBay” widgets to eBay sellers! (that’s quite obvious if you aren’t supporting Skype, one of eBay’s failed acquisition)
Lesson for TringMe founders: Cut a deal with eBay (+ support Skype) or target other classified sites.
By the way, TringMe is an Indian startup; was TechCrunched, the day it was launched! (thanks Rajiv for the info).
Give TringMe a spin and do share your comments (tringme is currently in private beta, so please leave your email id in the comment section – I’ll send an invite).
Somewhat similar product : Voiee, which enables one to send voicemail to inbox (though voiee works in a very offline mode).
tags: tringme, fring, jangl, jajah, grandcentral
