jajah posts

eBay fumbles Skype, bans Jajah

by Ted Wallingford Oct 8th 2007

In an age where the Internet is fast enough and ubiquitous enough to be used as a first-resort for voice calling, it's surprising that eBay has taken such a Neanderthal stance towards the use of voice calling apps on its web site. It seem that eBay was never able to realize how great it would be for all mutual users of Skype and eBay to have click-to-call functionality in the world's biggest auction house. Want to ask the seller a question with only four minutes left to bid? Sure is easier with something like Skype than with old-fashioned e-mail.

Yet the capitalization of Skype on behalf of the eBay user community never-really happened, and the widespread use of Skype among eBay sellers never really took off. By some estimates, eBay could've doubled the size of the Skype user community had they fully integrated the tool into their auction system. In June of 2006, eBay announced a limited trial of 'Skype Me' buttons for eBay sellers, and the selling public took to it like fish to dry land, probably because it only covered item categories in which the vast majority of items on eBay aren't listed. The rest, as they say, is history.

So over the weekend it became clear that eBay wants nothing to do with this voice business, despite having purchased (for an absurd sum) the world's most pervasive desktop calling tool. Jajah, a VoIP competitor and Skype-clone-gone-mobile-tool, jumped in to fill the void, offering an easy way for sellers and buyers to get in touch vis a vis eBay auctions. The auction giant's response? Ban Jajah.

It really makes you wonder just how much garden is still growing inside eBay's strong walls.

Tags: ebay, jajah, skype, voip

Filed under: Audio, Business, Internet, Productivity, Web services, VoIP

Click the button and call a Jajah user for free

by Chris Gilmer Sep 28th 2007

Jajah has made it easier for people to contact each other without giving away phone numbers with the Jajah Button.

Jajah lets you make free calls to other users, or low-cost calls to phones using a web-based VoIP service. We have covered them before here with their low cost mobile web service.

With the new Jajah Button service, users can place a button on a website, blog, social network or in email signatures through an embed code and will be able to accept calls. This button will automatically connect the presser without giving out a phone number. Don't feel like answering the call? Reject it, or even block specific numbers. Again, if the button presser is a Jajah user, the call will be free. But there will be a charge per minute if they are not, that's were restrictions can be implemented.

Jangl also provides a similar service.

Tags: call, jajah, jajah-button, jangl, phone, voip

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Web services, BlackBerry

Make free mobile calls with JAJAH Mobile Web

by Chris Gilmer Feb 7th 2007

Today Jajah announced JAJAH Mobile Web, a service made especially for smartphones like the Blackberry, Treo, and Windows Mobile devices. Like Jajah's service that allows for the ability to make free local and international calls with a regular phone, Jajah's mobile service aims to do the same for mobile users. Any device that has internet access with a browser can make free or low-cost calls with a click. As long as you are a Jajah user, you can call other members for no cost, or call for a small fee to non-members. Web consumers can access the service directly from their browsers by visiting mobile.jajah.com. The Mobile Web service then ties into user's address books where calls can be placed. Simply enter the phone number of the individual or scroll down on your address book, and Jajah will make the call. Jajah has a Flickr photo tour so you can better understand the process involved. You can also check out the JAJAH Mobile Web video tour after the jump. Mobile providers watch out!

Tags: audio, blackberry, calls, cell phone, CellPhone, free calls, FreeCalls, jajah, mobile, mobile calls, MobileCalls, phone, smartphone, treo, windows mobile, WindowsMobile

Filed under: Web services, VoIP

REBTEL: International calls on the cheap

by Jordan Running Jul 14th 2006

Along similar lines as JAJAH, REBTEL harnesses the power of VoIP to make international calling cheap, and it doesn't even require a funny-looking headset. It has a base rate of $1 per week, and you aren't charged for weeks when you don't use the service. After that, there are two kinds of service, REBout and REBin: REBout gives you a local number to call a friend for a small per-minute fee (e.g. calls to France cost $0.02/minute for land lines or $0.20 for mobile numbers), with the first 30 seconds free. REBin is free (apart from the $1/week) but a little more complicated--you make a REBin call by entering your number and your friend's on the REBTEL web site, calling your friend on the number it gives you, and then having them hang up and call you back at the number provided to them. You can try REBin for free on the REBTEL web site. Personally I prefer JAJAH's method because it does the dialing for you, but if you spend a lot of time on international calls, Rebtel's flat rate combined with REBin is cheaper in the long run. I did a test call (albeit with someone sitting in the same room as me) and there was a noticeable delay, but nothing intolerable.

Tags: cheap, international, jajah, phone, rebtel, voip

Filed under: Web services

JAJAH dials the phone for you (and saves you some money)

by Jordan Running May 29th 2006

So last week when I posted Plaxo dials the phone for you, I didn't realize that the JAJAH-powered service is actually available Plaxo-free, in the form of a web service or Firefox extension. In case you missed the Plaxo post, what JAJAH does when you enter a friend's telephone number is call your phone, then when you pick up, dial their phone number. This would be unremarkable except for the fact that through the power of VoIP, JAJAH will cost you a fraction of what a normal long-distance or international call would. For example, long-distance calls within the U.S. cost less than two cents per minute, and a call from the U.S. to Japan costs a little more than three cents per minute. That ain't bad, and is decidedly more simple to set up (and explain to your grandmother) than, say, Skype. At the JAJAH web site you can get a free five-minute trial without having to sign up for anything and Mozilla Update has the extension that adds JAJAH to your Firefox search box.

Tags: cheap, jajah, phone, plaxo, skype, voip

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