Gizmo5 vs. Packet8 Mobile Talk

I knew there was a familiar ring to the Packet8 Mobile Talk client that was announced a few days ago.

Gizmo5 from GizmoProject.

But yesterday GizmoProject through users a curve. One of their better features has been All Calls Free regardless of number dialed to users of GizmoProject, including landlines and mobile numbers. Now to keep All Call Free you have to install and log in regularly to maintain the free outbound use capability.

In my mind this is geared more as a way to drive adoption of the mobile platform because GizmoProject's future is likely more in mobile than simply being a Skype competitor.

Both platforms are designed to be carrier bypass services. While local minutes still get used out of a users plan, which makes it carrier friendly, what they do is in effect what DialArounds did in the 80s, provide an alternative to the cell plan's carrier only Long Distance.

When you look at this, they both are providing alternative long distance services, minus the dialing, by transparently providing the LD to the users.

The issue here is that carriers have a lot of price elasticity and compete with buckets of minutes. USA operators have yet to really open up their International plans to customer's benefit as some international operators have. When that happens, the value proposition of these services becomes somewhat less, um, valuable.

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