Since then the site has continued to grow despite the limited time I’ve had to devote to the site. To be honest, it has been on auto-pilot for much of this year.

It is a shame, really, because the site has a ton of potential for the right person. I, however, am not that person (right now).

Soo…

After long consideration, I have decided to sell the site so that someone with the time to devote to it can proactively grow it.

Some site highlights highlights:

- Over 5,000 unique visitors per month
- Over 200 unique user reviews
- #1 search engine rankings for terms like “Mobile VoIP, Mobile VoIP service” and most of the Mobile VoIP service provider review related queries
- Limited monetization, but the site has pulled in revenues through advertising and affiliate offers

All of this was done organically, of course, was done with no monthly advertising. Hosting and operational fees are minimum.

What you’d be buying is an authoritative site with great unique content that has the potential to be a great profit center or marketing vehicle for someone in the space.

So with that I am open to offers on the site for anyone that might be interested in purchasing it. Feel free to email smith@smithonvoip.com to discuss or for more information.

Thanks!

Garrett

P.S. I’m willing to part with the site at a “Buy It Now” price of $7,500 USD.

They have the power to make dreams a reality or kick you squarely in the set. There’s really no in-between, either.

It has always baffled me why the media, be them bloggers,  journalists or analysts never seem to take the opportunity when a company is going through a tough time to help build them up.

They always seem to want to tear a company down.

It is a tough time for everyone, especially those in the IP communications space. I have spoken with dozens of C level executives over the last few weeks and most simply say that around 20 - 30% of their business has evaporated these last few months.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that decline sales will result in declining head count…but, so what?

Just because you’re down, doesn’t mean you’re out.

If anything, getting smaller, especially as a start-up, will allow you to refocus your efforts in a more creative (and cost effective manner). It’s times like these that the best and brightest always pull through.

This period will be no exception.

So, just because a few providers have had to scale back, doesn’t mean the industry or they themselves are dead. Fring, EQO and JAXTR, you might be down, but you’re not out of the race…not matter what the media says.

It might also be the way that cellular providers survive this economic downturn. Sprint has already started its economic marketing with their commercial featuring their CEO and new one price unlimited plan, and as Stacy Higgenbotham notes, cellular handset forecasts are also down for next, a further sign of waning consumer interest.

But could Mobile VoIP, the ringmaster of cheap minutes and pioneer of the next generation of telecommunications be an outlet for cellular carriers to survive or even possibly grow during a recession?

Certainly on paper it seems that Mobile VoIP services will fair well in a recession as they are a low cost alternative for those making international phone calls. Wi-Fi availability continues to explode and the number of cellular customers using smartphones with data plans and Wi-Fi capability is at an all time high.

What might seem like a slam dunk, though, is unfortunately in the frying pan hands of the cellular carriers. Some braver souls have begun experimenting with the integration of third party Mobile VoIP and social communications services to provide greater value to their existing customer base (and draw more customers in), but none have really stood up and taken a proactive lead in bring these sorts of services to the masses.

Possibly the bleak outlook will inspire them to change. But given their track record, I don’t see that happening. Then again, they may have no other choice. After all, who needs video clips on demand or the latest ring tone, when you can’t even pay the bill?

This week, Nimbuzz announced that they have signed 17 new SIP partners to its global Operator Affiliate Program. According to the release, these partnership’s “allow carriers to offer IM and social networks as value added services without incurring costs to set the service up, and at the same time allowing them to stay in control of their own customer relationships.”

In becoming a feature in a larger service offering, Nimbuzz now becomes a way that others can affordably offer their customers cutting edge “value added” services, rather then a direct competitor, vying for the same audience.

Nimbuzz CEO Evert Jaap Lugt hit the nail on the head when he said, “We see these partnerships providing real value to operators looking to increase ARPU and offer their customers full access to IM and social networks without the risk and costs associated with setting this up themselves. This is also an open call to other operators looking to join. We will be announcing new partners soon.”

While many Mobile VoIP service providers are looking to go at it alone, the best strategy might just be to partner up with the big guys.

Nokia has always been known as an innovator, a company with their pulse on the heart of what’s next, so while many a MVNO has fallen by the waist side, Nokia should prove to be a venerable market entrant, especially since, as pal Andy Abramson  points out, Japan is known as a hot-bed for mobile technology. This, of course, if Nokia sticks true to their innovator name tag and provide something other then minutes to the Japanese market.

If you are not familiar with RF.com, you can read the review, it is a Mobile VoIP application for the iPhone that leverages your regular cellular connection to make Skype, GoogleTalk and regular SIP based calls. It is one of my go-to Mobile VoIP services when I need to make international calls. Naturally, I was delighted to see that there are now 35 more countries I can call to for FREE.

Right now the service is just for you iPhone users out there, but hopefully as the service continues to growth within the iPhone user space, they will release a version for other handsets.

While it is noted that it is merely a trial, one has to suspect that this move by fring is in direct response to the current economic conditions and the need for venture backed start-up’s with free services to start making money. The ad supported calling model has been around for a long time, but with mixed results. Some companies have found a way to make it work. Others haven’t been so lucky.

Certainly one hopes fring the best, but the ad supported route seems like a tough go. Users generally detest ads (that’s why there are none on this site) or grow blind of them and don’t forget that ad budgets are getting cut everywhere, especially for “experimental” vehicles such as mobile advertising. This isn’t insurmountable (nothing is), but the odds certainly are stacked against them.

As someone who uses fring frequently, i’m indifferent.  I don’t mind the ads, but then again, I probably won’t be clicking on them either.

Business VoIP service provider, Junction Networks, today announced that their customers can use fring to make Mobile VoIP calls thanks to fring. Now the cool thing about this announcement isn’t that the two companies are partnering, it is that a company was creative enough to simply use fring’s existing capabilities to deliver a bolt-on offering to their existing services. Truth be told, I have been doing this myself (and with RF.com) for the last two months and it has worked extremely well.

For those of you who are not familiar with fring, they are an aggregrator of sorts, allowing you to access many different communications accounts via their client. One of the options is to use a “SIP provider” (your VoIP provider) to send and recieve calls. So in essence, Junction Networks is able to provide Mobile VoIP service, simply by showing their customers how to make calls via fring using their account credentials. It’s so simple and so obvious, it is a wonder more VoIP service provider’s aren’t doing this (I suspect more will be doing something like this very soon).

Kudos to Junction Networks on this. Very nice work.

You’ve already read about this on a dozen other sites. I know. I have too.

Oh well, until I get an early tip, I’ll bring you the latest news, well, a little later.

Moving on…today Truphone released Truphone Anywhere for the Blackberry, opening Truphone up to millions of potential new users of their Mobile VoIP service. It is a natural move and, in typical Truphone style, a smart one. In Blackberry users, I think Truphone will find the thoroughbreds of international callers; who will be much more lucrative when compared with Nokia and iPhone callers. With the economy in the toilet and looking like it will need a second flush, this is a timely move for Truphone as Blackberry users who make a ton of international calls will certainly be looking for a way to lower their costs. I told you that the Mobile VoIP industry will actually benefit in a, ahem, recession.

It is interesting to see how this industry has started to shape up over the last few weeks as company poise for sustained growth in the fourth quarter with plans to “break-out” in 2009. Lots to think about there.

For more on Truphone Anywhere for Blackeberry, read the release here.

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