One Voice Technologies, Inc. (fka OVOE)

[dave5197]

of interest??
tells about Intel being out of phones (BUT the writer doesn't mention the jump to MIDs).....
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ft/080129/fto012920081329105484.html?.v=1
FT.com
Valley view: Welcome to the world wide voice
Tuesday January 29, 1:10 pm ET
By Chris Nuttall in San Francisco


In the early days of telephony, exchanges consisted of banks of operators at switchboards. Subscribers would pick up their phones and a light would illuminate on the board of one of the operators. She (as it almost invariably was) would plug one end of a cord into the hole by the light, connect her headset and ask: "Number please?"


For a local number, she would plug the other end of the cord into the hole representing the destination number to make the connection. For long distance, the operator would plug into a trunk circuit connected to another bank of switchboards elsewhere.

Times have changed. A start-up that calls itself Silicon Valley's first phone company has come up with a technology that allows web developers to plug into the world of telephony with as little knowledge of the routing involved as an ordinary caller.

Ribbit, based in Mountain View, has a "SmartSwitch" that takes care of multiple networks, protocols and devices to allow the web to be connected to any device in any manner. A landline phone can call a web page, a web application can be transformed into a virtual mobile phone.

To make this happen, developers making desktop widgets using Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)'s popular Flash or AIR technologies need only add a couple of lines of code to hook up to Ribbit's telephonic back-end.

The company has been unveiling its first service this week at the Demo conference in California. "Amphibian" can give a physical phone a virtual-world equivalent, enabling consumers to use their phone plans in new web environments.

Ribbit says it is enabling voiceware, connecting traditional telephony with the web. It treats voice as an object that can be embedded into any application - such as adding voicemail to a Salesforce.com web-based customer relationship management system.

Other companies have developed similar applications, but Ribbit sees itself as empowering developers at large. It is creating a marketplace for the widgets they are developing in hooking into its technology.

The coolest application of Ribbit so far is the virtual iPhone, developed by the Knoware design studio. This life-size desktop widget looks just like an iPhone and has the same functionality. Its developer says he was making and receiving calls with it in minutes after inserting Ribbit's code.

Ribbit and the iPhone help explain why Silicon Valley is now also known as Smartphone Valley. As mobiles have become more like computers and gained internet connectivity, the Valley's expertise has come into play.

This is a significant shift. In the past, Europe and Asia have led with cellphone innovation. European Voice-over-IP companies such as Skype and Jajah are now part of the Valley, but Ebay admits it overpaid for the former.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), the world's biggest chipmaker, has failed to break into mobile phones with its processors, eventually selling its division to Marvell Technology. But Apple has changed perceptions and turned the Valley's fortunes round with its iPhone. Its distinctiveness is expressed in its software and user interface, areas where the Valley excels.

At Macworld this month, Steve Jobs announced a software update for the iPhone featuring improved maps and the ability to customise the home screen.

This is in readiness for a software developers' kit, expected in February, which will enable third-party developers to write applications for the iPhone.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is also leading the way in opening cellphones to software developers. It announced the Open Handset Alliance in November, an initiative for open standards on mobile phones, featuring its Android operating system.

Android was the name of the Palo Alto mobile start-up Google acquired two years earlier, one of many in the Valley focusing on the future of telephony.

Google is also bidding for wireless spectrum and has bought Jaiku, a Finnish mobile messaging service similar to the Valley's Twitter.

Private equity's telecom interest in the valley has been piqued. Elevation Partners says it is betting on the possibilities for mobile broadband. It began by paying $325m for a 27 per cent stake in Sunnyvale's Palm in October. Intel is also planning a comeback through mobile broadband, introducing its WiMax chips this year.

European groups have taken note. Ericsson paid $1.9bn for Redback Networks (NASDAQ:RBAK) in 2006; Nokia has spent more than $1.5bn on 10 Valley companies over 10 years, including Intellisync (NASDAQ:SYNC) for $430m in 2005.

In early January, Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia's research centre in Palo Alto, became the company's chief technology officer. He is the first non-Finn to take up the role - a clear message from the world's biggest handset maker that it views Silicon Valley as a centre of innovation.




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