I’m not done digesting the recent uncovering of Ribbit, but I’ve got some initial impressions:
- I’m very impressed with yet another bold move into the Telco 2.0 space, this time by Ribbit. In the future, many carriers will look a lot like them.
- I’m unconvinced with regards to Ribbit’s view of market segmentation. It’s simply not true that the “spot solutions” identified in their model have limited growth potential. I believe that the basic issue is that the features defined in this segment enhance other applications, and they aren’t stand alone. I bet that they will actually be the lion’s share of the market in usage, deployments and revenue.
- Somebody in marketing, please, kill the byline of “Silicon Valley’s First Phone Company.” I hope they mean this in the “First Lady” sense.
- Revenue sharing, huh? I’d love to see that model work. No really, I would. Let’s see if, in this world of extremely low barriers to entry, RIbbit has something that no one else can provide. Verizon et. al, pay attention.
- Although I’m a bit jarred by the choice to require Flex as a development platform, I love how Webby Ribbit is. Not saying that Ajax is a better choice or anything, it’s just really cool to see a TELEPHONE company thinking like this.