Jajah, the Austrian VoIP-based call back service dreams of an initial public offering in 2007, according to Brand Eins, a German business magazine. The company has the backing of Sequoia Capital and has 60 employees, half of them in Israel. The company claims that it is generating about €7 per month per subscriber in revenues.
Since it is hard to tell how many paying customers they have, it is tough to say how much exactly is the company taking in every month. The company recently changed its strategy and started offering ad-supported free calling in Europe. The move is controversial, and has been the cause of much debate.
Like other VoIP service providers, Jajah is also working on its own handset, hoping to decrease their reliance on the PC. They also have a client for Symbian mobiles, and they plan to enhance it with additional features.
VERY nice to see a break-away from the standard acquisition model! Of course, not that Jajah has much of a choice. I would really like to see more startups attempt sustainable business models with an IPO as a goal.
-Robert Dewey
What have you done Omid, Larry and Siergei?
Its reasonable to say in another 2 years all fone calls anywhere in the world will be (almost) free.
Whats to be figured out is who pays for the network. ads or some other business model.
Jajah is advertising a lot on AdMob network lately.
I thought they are an Israeli company
Our company has tried to do simple business with them.
For some reason they make it quite difficult to get paid. It took repeated attempts on our part to pay for their service.
The website needs to be revamped so their focus is to make money on the corporate side.
I have used Jajah for a while now.
I would say their call connection quality is good 90% of the time. I am able to connect to my international party immediately also 90% of the time. I also like their technocal setup, immediate callback over the internet. No equipment, no stupid headphones/microphones. Convenient prepaid service for as little as $5- you’re in total control of your expenses and payments
Their customer service absolutely sucks though.
It used to take them a week or more to answer a
simple e-mail inquiry. Nowadays they’ve improved to about 3 days.
Because they’re Austrian/Israeli I believe I know what’s going on: First, it’s a plain
techie arrogance and obliviousness to “civilian” concerns. Second, Europeans, unlike Americans, tend to confuse good service with servility. Because it is more difficult to get fired in Europe, service personnel there tends to be snotty and impertinent. Israelis, on the other hand, are basically Middle-Easterners – they got no culture of customer service. Anybody who’s ever been to Israel can testify to that.
Also, quietly and without warning, jajah recently increased their rates to a country
where I often call, by 1c/minute
Have you guys tried MINO? visit http://www.minowireless.com
They have better products for mobile, similar in pricing, and much better customer support and customized pricing for corporate accounts.
REBTEL IS THE BEST…