Updated
Free phone service Jaxtr finally launches today.
The Palo Alto start-up is another one of those free phone services, which along with Skype, Jajah and Grand Central is enough to send you into brain overload. Which one to use? Each one has its own tweak on the free Internet call, contact list and central control dashboard.
Jaxtr’s promise was enough to lure away Konstantin Guericke from LinkedIn, where he was co-founder. It begins in a closed testing phase, letting in people users on a case-by-case basis.
Jaxtr’s claim to fame is two-fold:
1) The first claim is that it lets you put a widget/sign up on any blog that lets people know how to reach you, but without giving out your number (see screenshot of orange widget on a MySpace profile below). They just click on the widget, and Jaxtr puts a call Internet through to you.
Let’s say you’re a young single gal, which is Jaxtr’s initial target group. If a suitor clicks on the widget button that says “call now,” Jaxtr asks for his phone number, and he types it in. Jaxtr calls his phone (mobile or fixed, it doesn’t matter), in order to connect him to an Internet line. It then puts him on hold while it puts the call through to you. (This may sound complicated, but we got used to do doing this on Jajah, which works similarly). Jaxtr lets you know whether he is “unknown,” or someone in your contact list. Jaxtr, via its dashboard, lets you save settings, so you can have calls from “unknown” or particular people diverted directly into your voicemail, and so on. (See the image at very bottom for a screen shot of the dashboard).
2. Jaxtr’s second claim to fame, however, is its single URL link. It lets you bag a link like www.jaxtr.com/mattmarshall (we haven’t registered it yet), which you can carry forever. This lets people reach you anytime, even if you change phone numbers. All they do is click on the link and they’ll be directed to your current phone number, as you have selected it on Jaxtr. Jaxtr also associates the URL with a single Jaxtr phone number. So when we used tested Jaxtr by calling Guericke, we saved his Jaxtr number in our contact list, and now we can call him, regardless of where he is in — in the office, or on his cell. If he is on the road, he can switch his settings to receive calls on his mobile, etc.
This single phone number handle/URL is what may propel Jaxtr to the top of the heap. However, like all new offerings, Jaxtr’s challenge will be to overcome the “laziness” factor. Who needs another number for their friends? But for those who make lots of international calls, it could be a big deal. We make such calls. We know someone in London who has refused to go to the trouble of downloading Jajah on her cell. Jaxtr, however, doesn’t require a download. Now she can call our Jaxtr number for free.
You get 100 minutes/month of free incoming calls. Beyond that, calls get forwarded to voicemail. You can pay to upgrade. Jaxtr also wants to charge for other services, such as ringback tones. Jaxtr has eight employees, and is self-funded [Clarification: Despite initially telling Venture Beat he hadn't raised money, Guericke clarified for VentureBeat Thursday that while Jaxtr has not raised a Series A, it has raised an angel round. He said his focus is on launching the company and showing some traction before going for a Series A. He said the investors so far include Reid Hoffman, The Founders Fund and Howard Hartenbaum, founding investor in Skype for Draper Richards. Also, Chamath Palihapitiya put in some money for Mayfield Fund. Thanks to Petr M in comments for helping ferret this out.]
Aside: So why did Guericke (pictured here) leave LinkedIn at time when LinkedIn chief executive Reid Hoffman is proclaiming the company has just reached its “tipping point”? Guericke said LinkedIn was challenge when it was a small start-up, but it is now profitable and well on its way, and he is looking to make more of an impact as chief executive of a start-up. Moreover, Guericke has vested his LinkedIn options, so he is not walking away empty-handed. Finally, he says Jaxtr is an example of a social networking “platform,” which he says is the way of the future.
54 Comments
-
carl said:
i like the look of this. well executed.
-
Petr M said:
These guys are funded by Mayfield Venture and Draper VC. Low-grade, “Cutie” application, but where’s the business model to make money? If the objective is to take on Skype/Ebay, bring it on guys!!
-
John said:
This is an interesting proposition but a lot of work. This is the same problem people have with Jajah and Mino - call back is not convenient - and prohibitive in Europe where calling party pays - and now there are two calls…
This is why Skype has had so much success for computer based calls and Globe Dialer has success for mobile calls - simplicity. It’s only time before these companies come out with a better solution than jaxtr
-
Matt Marshall said:
Petr M, yes, I’d also heard about Mayfield and a VC round, and I asked Konstantin about this, but he said no round has been raised. I pressed him on it, and he was quite adamant about it: No round has been raised. He wants to launch first, and then will make the final call. Our guess on what’s up: He wants to prove traction, and get a nice valuation. We don’t know this for sure, just a guess.
-
Steve said:
It looks like a strong alternative to skypeme, with the advantage that the caller will not need a headset.
However, I can’t see how jaxtr can get the payment from either calling/called side compared to jajah or skypeout models.
-
Michael Cerda said:
Business model:
1. It looks like every call you make has to be launched from the web, so while you wait for your connection, they can insert an audio ad.
2. They give you 100 free minutes, but will probably sell you more, as well as ringtones, etc.
John: bingo on the call back problem. So if it’s privacy they’re spinning as part of the value prop, it’s unidirectional.
-
Matt Marshall said:
More clarification on the funding. While Jaxtr has not raised a Series A, it did raise an angel round. Konstantin tells me that his focus is on launching the company and showing some traction before going for a Series A, and so didn\’t let everyone in who wanted in. He said the investors include Reid Hoffman, The Founders Fund and Howard Hartenbaum, who led the founding investment in Skype at Draper Richards. Also, Chamath Palihapitiya put in some money for Mayfield Fund.
-
hassan said:
good very good
-
oyun said:
wonderful thing. it is time to “cell phone advertisements”…
-
oyun said:
wonderful thing. it is time to “cell phone advertisementsâ€â€¦
-
canakkale said:
Business model:
1. It looks like every call you make has to be launched from the web, so while you wait for your connection, they can insert an audio ad.
2. They give you 100 free minutes, but will probably sell you more, as well as ringtones, etc.
John: bingo on the call back problem. So if it’s privacy they’re spinning as part of the value prop, it’s unidirectional.
good.
-
çanakkale doğalgaz said:
wonderfull project
-
sohbet said:
i like the look of this. well executed.
-
sohbet said:
wonderful thing. it is time to “cell phone advertisements†thanx!
-
xlarfe said:
Wonderfull thanks
-
Exen said:
Thans good pek ise yaramaz ya neyse ekleyelim dedik
-
ahmet atik said:
Thanks..
-
turktayfa said:
Thanks very good
-
ufuk said:
perfect
-
delinetciler said:
Wonderfull thanks
http://www.delinetciler.com -
Nikhil Alex said:
hai Frndz,
Can anyone tell me any disadvantage of using Jaxtr. Does the caller should pay to the service provider.
Thankx in advance
TC
-
gari said:
it doesn get connected for indian nos?why so?
-
salman said:
hi h r u
-
phd girl said:
What is the difference between JAXTR and Jajah? JAXTR may boasts a few more bells and whistles but it sounds essentially the same product.
-
isaac said:
jaxtr lets you make calls on the go. the first call does have to be initiated on the computer, but it gives you a personal number that you can dial on the go from you cell to reach that person at local rates no matter their area code. however, both users do have to be registered. jaxtr is the best of these systems though (jajah is very close but doesn’t go on the fly yet). the only service that i’ve seen that let’s you place free calls on the go to UNREGISTERED numbers is bOK (which has you send a text to initiate the call through the internet).
-
khatz said:
I too need your wonderful services.please let me know the progress
-
yarthein said:
can i call home phone. how is work . i can’t call. and i don’t understand. please help mel…
-
georgekutty isac said:
can i make call from jaxtar .could pls tell me how does it work.
hoping your replygeorgekutty
-
Piet said:
I tried but it doesn’t seem to work for me still, confirmation of my phone number doesn’t work. If it would work it would be perfect for me with a long distance relationship.
-
arena said:
slt sa va a tous le monde
-
arena said:
slt sa va
-
GodsIndian said:
this really stinks it is helping the scammers pull of bigger scams! They are saying they are from USA but are not and they appear to be from nigeria, or Mexico! I am tired of the calls that the people claim to be from Texas but clearly are not when you speak to them! One said it was 9pm there when it was 7:30 PM est! figure that out! You all stink for the innocent ones!
-
yasir mubarak bashier said:
i need to call mam via jaxtr
-
Matematikcafe.com said:
i like the look of this. well executed.
-
John and Heather Low said:
we would like to know more about your service.
-
HeyDJ said:
Bla bla bla :)
-
abdlwahid said:
salam ca va
-
ashwin said:
this is a good one
-
Sohbet said:
thanks my friend…
-
sohbet said:
thanks \o/
-
kaka said:
shabeele
-
Nirav Trivedi said:
hie..
i have tried to call on my friends number
we both r in the same city , but still am not able to call
for free -
sohbet said:
Yes Thats is a good idea. Thanks a lot
-
sohbet said:
thanks. vryy mcks. sohbet chat sevgi muhabbets. salla işte
-
sohbet said:
thanks
-
chat said:
thank you
-
mirc said:
thanks very good
-
mirc indir said:
thank you site admin
-
film indir said:
thanks….
-
divx film indir said:
thank youuu
-
matematik said:
Thank you very much
-
resimtr said:
Yes Thats is a good idea. Thanks a lot
8 Trackbacks
12:38 pm
Bessed said:
Jaxtr
What are the best sites about Jaxtr? We’ve started with these. What else should be here?
1. Jaxtr - Software allows users to link their phones with their online network to hear from callers worldwide while keeping their existing phone numbers pri…
1:12 pm
Jaxtr - another free phone service « Kempton’s blog said:
[...] Read from Matt Marshall that the free phone service Jaxtr adds to a list of existing free phone service like Skype (lets you call from internet but you need a headset) and Jajah (you call from a land-line or mobile phone). By the way, Grand Central gives you a free phone number and a bunch of other services (all very cool and neat), but I don’t think you can make long distance calls for free as Matt seemed to imply. [...]
5:50 am
VentureBeat Wire » Jaxtr, an easy way to phone, launches service — with at least $1M in funding after all said:
[...] See our story here. Initially, Jaxtr’s chief executive told VentureBeat he hadn’t raised any money, saying it was self-funded. However, comments on our story yesterday helped ferret out that he had indeed raised angel money, apparently just over $1 million in convertible. We’ve updated story. VentureBeat Community [...]
7:32 pm
dave liu dot com » Dave’s Picks: Internet and Digital Media Articles said:
[...] Jaxtr Finally Launches, An Easy Way To Phone - he Palo Alto start-up is another one of those free phone services, which along with Skype, Jajah and Grand Central is enough to send you into brain overload. Which one to use? Each one has its own tweak on the free Internet call, contact list and central control dashboard. Jaxtr’s promise was enough to lure away Konstantin Guericke from LinkedIn, where he was co-founder. It begins in a closed testing phase, letting in people users on a case-by-case basis. Story: http://venturebeat.com/2006/12/14/jaxtr-finally-launches-an-easy-way-to-phone/ [...]
10:25 pm
startupulse.com » Blog Archive » Jaxtr said:
[...] Technorati - Techcrunch - Mashable - Gigaom - Venturebeat - Webware - CNET News - [...]
4:58 pm
VentureBeat » Jaxtr is getting more calls despite crowded market said:
[...] we reviewed the site in December, we noted how it did two things well — that now appear to be driving [...]
8:55 pm
VentureBeat » Jaxtr raises $10 million, doubles users in one month said:
[...] Menlo Park, Calif. company (coverage here and here) allows you to make free phone calls over the web or your mobile and landline phones, [...]
5:52 pm
Jaxtr - Making Free Phone Calls from Social Network and Blogs said:
[...] Here is some review on VentureBeat about Jaxtr services [...]