AOL Opens Up Voice APIs, but Only Two Times a Day
April 29th, 2008 |
Here’s the good news:
AOL announced today that they are opening up their AIM phone line service to third party developers:
AIM Call Out is a pay-as-you-go outbound voice calling service built right into AIM that lets users make calls to landline and cell phones in more than 200 countries. This service complements the existing AIM Talk service, a free PC-to-PC voice calling service available to AIM users.
AIM Call Out offers low per-minute rates with no connection fee or monthly charge. Users pay for call credits in increments as low as $5. AIM users can visit http://call-out.aim.com/rates for a complete list of long distance rates.
Users can also make phone-to-phone calls using the Web Connect feature within the AIM Call Out service. Users simply enter their phone number and then the phone number of a friend. In a few seconds, the user’s phone will ring and then connect them to their friend’s phone.[1] AIM users can manage all of their voice activities using AIM Call Out and Web Connect from their personal Voice Dashboard and can learn more about the services at http://call.aim.com.
Here’s the bad news:
At the bottom of the web connect calling page is some fantastic small print:
Web Connect calling limit: 2 calls/day
You have made 0 call.calls.
Web Connect call cost equals BOTH call destination rates combined. Call times rounded to the next highest minute. Charges by your mobile phone provider may apply.
Two calls a day? Hello? Hmmm… should I call my wife and my son? No, I talked to him yesterday. I’ll call my wife and my mother. Well… my son does have a test later on today. Gosh darn it, I wish I had a phone that I could use more than TWO TIMES A DAY. If someone ever invented that, he’d be a bazillionaire.
And really, if I’m getting pinged for both sides of the call, why the heck are they charging 1.x cents per leg, as if I’m trying to save money. AOL, if you’re going to rip me off, do it right, and really rip me off. Be a man and charge me activation fees, five cents a minute and usage overages (like he used it three times today), not some slimy fine print stuff. You’re supposed to be a corporation, not a two bit prepaid phone card dealer.
Posted by Thomas Howe @ 9:33 am | Filed Under Lead Stories |
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5 Responses to “AOL Opens Up Voice APIs, but Only Two Times a Day”
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The 2/calls a day for webconnect is just a new account limitation. If you look at the help information it related to the graduated program used to prevent fraud.
Also calls through the aim client or sip devices which are different than webconnect are only limited by the amount of credit you have.
Thanks for the comment, VoIPGuy. I think I should have made that point more clearly. I understand WHY there’s this 2/calls a day limitation. In fact, I think there are two big reasons, but only one understood to AOL. The first one you mention; it’s to prevent fraud. The second reason is more pernicious - it’s because AOL is not only old school in terms of the web world, but apparently in terms of voice as well. Worrying first about fraud is a lot like starbucks worrying about people taking too much half-and-half in their coffee. The experience of making your own coffee is much more valuable than whatever costs Starbucks will bear. In like manner, having any sort of limitation like two calls a day virtually eliminates any serious sort of web connect development on AOL’s service, and waiting 60 days is somewhat reminiscent of how long it took to get a washing machine in the United Kingdom in the 70s. Until AOL decides that the larger risk is irrelevance, not the chance a two bit customer will bilk them out of 10k of termination charges… their future will look amazingly like their past.
It is the not the costs of AOL that is the concern here. It is the damage done by some ignorant person stealing another persons credit card and using in conjunction with the AIM Call Out service. The average person sees the charge on their card and instantly blames AOL not the person that stole and used their credit card information. By limiting initial use of the product with credit cards it becomes less attractive to people trying to make money off of the service at the expense of the general public. As well AOL recently added Moneybookers (similar to paypal) as a payment option which eliminates the limits on webconnect due to the enchanced fraud controls that Moneybookers provides.
I’m sorry, but that doesn’t wash for me. Do you think most consumers blame BestBuy when they see a charge from their stolen credit card? I think they blame the person who stole it; especially if the credit card company takes the hit. More so, can you imagine that BestBuy would only let you buy two DVDs this month, and if it works out OK, they’ll let you buy three the next month?
I’ll try to put this another way: AOL is doing a good job protecting against possible fraud, but a terrible job in capturing the hearts and minds of the developers it will need to expand the usage of the service. It’s great that AOL now has Moneybookers as an option… but how much time and energy has AOL put into helping Web 2.0 developers use and profit from the API?
I believe your words betray you, because you hit the nail on the head: by limiting the initial use of the product with credit cards it becomes less attractive to people trying to make money off of the service at the expense of the general public. Indeed.