There are a lot of events these days that showcase promising startups. The attention they generate can make a huge difference for companies with a compelling story to tell. The winners often, though not always, go on to big-time commercial success. Unfortunately, these events tend to be somewhat general. That is, they typically don't have a lot to offer anyone interested in a specific technology or industry such as VoIP.
A few events do, however, focus on startups specializing in voice and related forms of communication. One of the most interesting of these is the StartupCamp Comms Edition. The third of the series will take place in Miami February 3, in conjunction with TMC's ITEXPO event . Organizers have just announced the four presenters. Their choice illustrates that even within the specialized field of voice-related communication, innovation is growing increasingly broad and varied.
One of the presenters, Call Loop, extends the model of e-mail marketing services to include voice and text messages. It also integrates with such services, including Constant Contact. Hoot.me is a Facebook app that turns the social network into a group study vehicle for students and teachers, letting users collaborate via voice and video conferencing as well as chat. HookFlash is a cloud communications company targeting small businesses, and boasts of combining powerful features with simplicity and reliability. SatCourier, the only hardware provider in the bunch, sells a device and service that lets smart phone users make calls via the Iridium satellite network. It uses Bluetooth to link the phones to the device, and could come in handy in remote areas without cellular coverage.
The event's keynote talk should generate a lot of interest as well. The speaker will be Craig Walker, founder of GrandCentral which is now Google Voice, one of the most interesting VoIP-based services around. Google Voice provides free phone numbers for incoming calls, and free outgoing calls within the U.S. and Canada. Those features alone give it the potential to massively disrupt the traditional voice market. At the same time, it offers free user-to-user calling via Internet connections for the monstrous user base of Gmail users. That makes it a potentially deadly disruptor of Skype as well. Given all this potential for disruption, perhaps someone will ask Walker a leading question: When is Google Voice going to start living up to its potential?
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