Phone service Jangl lands four new partners

July 26, 2007 | Eric Eldon | Comments | |

picture-29.pngJangl, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based provider of free Internet-based phone services, is announcing four partnership deals. Its technology will be integrated into sites ranging from dating services provided by Various.com and Fubar, to the live 24/7 video blog Justin.tv, to video-production site Revision3.

Jangl lets you create disposable phone numbers that you can share with others, instead of giving out your real number — letting you make and receive calls anonymously. This is a logical service to use, for example, for Various’s “FriendFinder” dating site (and its more lurid adult version) to flirt with strangers without having to give your real phone number.

Jangl provides a lightweight and easy service, but its challenges are two-fold. There is so much noise now from competitors, and from regular telecom providers. If people are home, using their PC, they’re usually going to use their home phone, and if they’re on the road, its their cell. How many times are people going to need disposable numbers for dating sites? Can’t they just block their IDs? Will people use it enough to remember the service exists?

These partnerships are also a new revenue stream for the company, which will receive regular payments for integrating its services with the sites. It has also been considering a range of other business models including subscription services and audio ads.

Previous coverage here.

Jangl says these deals will put its services in front of 20 million more potential users — meaning people who will be exposed to the service, but may choose not to use it. The company says that these partnerships are its latest moves in a “real estate land grab” taking place between competitors for such socially-focused web sites. Jangl has already cut deals with another well-known dating site, Match.com.

The company has been busy rolling out new features, including, a way to make free international calls. It provides a URL that you can share with others that they can use to call you — again, without you having to give out your real number. It provides a widget that you can embed into social networks such as MySpace. It has also recently launched a Facebook application.

[Note: In the comments below, David Yoo of Fubar explains how his site is a virtual community, not just a place for people to find dates.]

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About the Author, Eric Eldon

Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.

  • Eric, to clarify, fubar.com is not a dating service but rather positioned as an online bar and happy hour. (www.fubar.com)
  • Fubar uses a virtual bar theme explicitly to help people meet each other. Seems like a dating service to me, and not so much about bringing together connoisseurs of alcoholic beverages.
  • Do people go to bars for the sole purpose of finding their soul-mate? If so, I'd like to see their track record of long-term relationships. =)

    A bar is just a social gathering place. Sometimes romances spring from them, but usually it's just a venue for people to hang out. People don't use FriendFinder and other "dating services" just to hang out.