Internet advertising revenues at a record $3.9 billion

Internet advertising revenues at a record $3.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006



The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of $3.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006. The 2006 first quarter revenues represent a 38 percent increase over Q1 2005 at $2.8 billion and a 6 percent increase over Q4 2005 total at $3.6 billion.



“The steady growth of online advertising is a clear indication that marketers continue to believe in the opportunities and effectiveness that this medium delivers in reaching and engaging their consumers,” said Greg Stuart, CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau. “The Interactive Advertising industry remains committed to the creation of a world class medium with best-of-breed standards, measurement guidelines, research and ad products for marketers and agencies.”

“The Internet continues to shape the media landscape as more advertising dollars are going online,” said Peter Petrusky, Director, Advisory Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “It is abundantly clear that marketers are seeing a compelling opportunity to leverage the Internet as a powerful medium that drives both branding and sales results.”

“Consumer habits are continuing to change and mature,” adds David Silverman, partner, Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Companies are effectively learning to devote more of their advertising budget to this fast-growing advertising platform in order to reach the right audience at the right time.”

damaka Launches Operator and Service Provider Version of Its Peer-to-Peer Personal Softswitch

RICHARDSON, Texas--(PR: BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2006--damaka, a leading provider of real time peer-to-peer multimedia collaboration and communication software solutions, announced the release of "damaka powered" Partner Operator version of it's Personal Softswitch(TM) that enables Operators and Service providers to offer unique high value, easy to use voice, video and data services to their customers with the highest flexibility and lowest cost of ownership compared to any solution available today.

"damaka now empowers Operators, VoIP Providers and ISPs with branded solution to leapfrog their competition by providing next generation services with secure, high quality Video and Voice (PC-to-PSTN/Mobile and PC-to-PC) communication," said Siva Ravikumar, Founder and CEO of damaka. "damaka's cutting-edge peer-to-peer technology based on SIP standards allows our customers to take advantage of its service enabling and highly scalable solution to increase revenue and reduce cost significantly."

damaka has announced their Operator launch with Mortel Telecom (www.mortel.com), a next generation Turkey based VoIP Provider focusing on Turkey and International markets. Mortel has implemented the complete "damaka powered" solution to deliver creative peer-to-peer services. damaka is currently working with numerous other operators and VoIP providers to enable them to launch their own peer-to-peer networks and be in the forefront of offering tailored communication and collaboration solutions to their customers.

"We require our partners' solutions to seamlessly integrate into our infrastructure so that we can maximize our capabilities, quickly deliver superior quality, and offer advanced services that touch people's lives every day. damaka's technology is changing the way we deliver services," said Vahit Aykut, CEO of Mortel. "The secure peer-to-peer model helps Mortel to scale with the most cost effective infrastructure possible today and this is a key element to our overall growth plan."

damaka has also recently developed and released the best-in-class peer-to-peer video (H.263/H.264) as the cornerstone of its video offering.

For information on how to have your own peer-to-peer "damaka powered" network contact: bizdev@damaka.net

India's cellphone users to reach 278 million by 2010

Analysts expect India's user base to rise to 278 million by 2010 as the low call rates lure customers. At 93 million, now it exceeds the combined population of Germany and Belgium (via Reuters/Yahoo).

India's domestic market, forecast to grow to $5.8 billion by 2010, is expected to consume about 55 million handsets this year, up 71 percent from 2005. Between 4 million and 5 million new users are coming into the market each month, attracted to the world's cheapest local mobile call rates of as low as 2 U.S. cents a minute.

There is still room for growth as mobile ownership is just 9 percent in India where the population is more than a billion and networks, even though they are expanding rapidly, are still largely city centric.

Nokia, which controls nearly half the $2.5 billion Indian handset market, and its suppliers are investing about $150 million in its Chennai unit, which makes a few million handsets a month and has already exported phones to south east Asian nations like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

More than 40 percent of the software that goes into Motorola RAZR handset is developed in its Indian R&D facility.

South Korean LG Electronics operates a plant in the western city of Pune that will churn out 20 million GSM and CDMA handsets by 2010, roughly half of which are earmarked for export.

Latest release of damaka introduces Free Internet Radio

Latest release of damaka introduces Internet Radio: Listen to your favorite music online. Listen free 24/7 to over 100 internet radio stations, from Alternative to Country, Classical to Trance, and lots more.


Download damaka

Sign Up for damaka

damaka releases standards-based, best-in-class, Video offering

New release of damaka provides users with next generation, standards-based, secure, Peer-to-Peer Video calling feature. Video call allows you to see your contacts in real-time. damaka 2.0 Video is based on H.263, a popular ITU standard, that provides high-quality video. damaka also has the capability to provide Video services based on H.264.

Download damaka

Meez Takes Avatars Mainstream

New Service from Meez delivers an Easy Way for Internet Users to Personalize Their Experience on IM, Blogs and Social Media Sites.

Meez provides custom avatars to use with IM, email and social networks including MySpace, Facebook, hi5, Xanga, Blogger, Tagworld, Xuqa, YFly, Windows Live Spaces, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and plenty more besides. You design your character using a neat little Flash app, adding facial features, clothes and accessories. The business model is to charge for special items using an internal currency called “Beenz” (very similar to Cyworld’s acorns). They’re also charging to add Meez wallpaper to your cellphone.

The company has raised $4.3 million in venture backing.

JaJah gets love ($2M) from Sequoia

Sequoia Capital has invested $2M in JaJah, an Austrian-VoIP start-up that wants to be what else: a Skype-killer.

The company, Jajah Inc., which pledged to make cheap Internet calls as simple as using a search engine, is starting its service in the United States. It also has an office in Luxembourg and a development center in Israel.

The service works once a user visits jajah.com, fills in her phone number and the number she's trying to reach. With a click of the mouse, the user's phone rings and the call connects to the other telephone.

Its founders say that many people have been slow to try Internet telephony -- services offered by the likes of Skype, Yahoo or Vonage -- because, until now, they've had to download software, speak through a computer or get a phone adapter and a broadband Internet plan.

Jajah is selling its services to consumers in 60 countries. Calls from those 60 countries can be made to any destination in the world. Jajah's rates will average around 1.7 cents to 1.9 cents a minute for domestic calls. International calls vary. Calls from the U.S. to South Korea, for instance, range from 3.3 cents a minute to 6.6 cents a minute.

Skype, others sued for Racketeering

Morpheus maker Streamcast has sued Skype and its founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis under RICO laws, which are more commonly used against organized crime groups. It's not all that common for RICO violations to be charged between companies, but it does happen. Andy Abramson has all the details, which Om Malik summarizes as being all about the money -- basically saying that Streamcast is pissed off that Zennstrom didn't sell them the Kazaa technology, before spinning it off to Sharman Networks. Streamcast says that the their own deal included a "right of first refusal" should Zennstrom sell the technology to anyone else. Streamcast also claims that the basic Kazaa technology is part of Skype.

Read what others are saying:

Skype sued over peer-to-peer technology
CNNMoney.com
StreamCast Networks claims Skype is using its peer-to-peer technology. Plus: Satellite photos show an iPod-like structure in western Australia. ...

StreamCast Sues Skype
Forbes
StreamCast Networks, creator of the Morpheus peer-to-peer communications software, has hit eBay's Skype unit and its two ...

Skype Founders Sued For Racketeering
InformationWeek, NY
The suit claims that peer-to-peer client maker Kazaa, also founded by Skype founders, violated StreamCast's exclusive rights to the technology behind Kazaa by ...

Skype and Kazaa named in StreamCast lawsuit
ZDNet UK, UK
The suit, filed in US District Court in the Central District of California, claims that StreamCast owns the technology underlying Internet-calling provider ...

Skype hit with racketeering charges
Register, UK
Skype, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider bought last year by eBay, has been named in a RICO case brought by StreamCast. ...

StreamCast names Skype, Kazaa in lawsuit
ZDNet
SteamCast Networks, creator of the Morpheus file-swapping software, has filed a lawsuit naming Kazaa, Skype Technologies and its founders Niklas Zennstrom and ...

StreamCast Files RICO Charges Against Skype
CIO, MA
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Skype, which is owned by eBay, is one of a handful of companies that had racketeering charges brought against it ...

Streamcast Files Racketeering Charges on Skype
VoIP Magazine (press release), CA
It would appear that Skype's p2p past is catching up with them. Andy, scooping just about everybody, has posted that Streamcast ...

RICO Suit Filed Against Skype Founders
Slashdot
Stitch_Surfs writes "Defendant Skype Technologies SA, Niklas Zennstrom, Janus Friis, Kazaa, Bluemoon Ou and a slew of others have been named in a Rico Suit ...

Skype, Kazaa Named in $4B RICO Lawsuit
InternetNews.com
StreamCast Networks, maker of the Morpheus file-swapping software, filed racketeering charges against the founders of Skype and developers of Kazaa. ...

Gates sizes up the Web's next generation

Bill Gates speaks with CNET News.com about the push into hosted services, competition with Google and mobile computing...

Click here to read the interview

Bill Gates, live from Mix '06 (Video)

damaka store launched

damaka users can now purchase accessories (headsets, speakerphone and webcams) from the store to enrich their communication experience.

Click here to go to the accessories page

Learn all about SIP...

SIP is a signaling protocol used for locating remote users and establishing interactive communications. It is analagous to setting up a call on the telephone network, with two critical improvements.

1. It is internet-native, and therefore interoperates well with other protocols including, critically, future protocols (more at SIP RFCs and Specifications)
2. It separates session establishment and session description, so specifying who (or what) you would like to connect to is independent of how you would like to communicate. (Compare calling someone's voice vs fax line, where the choice of how to communicate dictates how you connect.)

SIP is the glue for a new set of existing applications, beyond just the obvious 'IP telephone' to include multimedia, mobility, IM and presence, e-commerce, web services, and many others.

To learn more,:
http://www.toyz.org/cgi-bin/sipwiki.cgi
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/sip/ (Maintained by Prof. Henning Schulzrinne MUST VISIT)
http://www.tech-invite.com/Ti-sip-WGs.html

damaka 2.0 with Video launched

News Update
Latest release of damaka adds free integrated video calling. damaka Video allows users to see the contacts they are calling using a webcam. The latest release also includes Weather Forecasting for US cities.

damaka's developers have done an awesome job. The quality is incredible and is better than Skype, Yahoo & MSN.

Codecs... what are they?

codec

Short for compressor/decompressor, a codec is any technology for compressing and decompressing data. Codecs can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both.

In telecommunications, (short for coder/decoder) a device that encodes or decodes a signal. For example, telephone companies use codecs to convert binary signals transmitted on their digital networks to analog signals converted on their analog networks.

"Compressor-Decompressor" or "Coder-Decoder," which describes a device or program capable of performing transformations on a data stream or signal.

Learn more about codec on wikipedia

Big eBay Users Shun Skype

Looks like eBay chief Meg Whitman has plenty of selling to do herself.

Russell Shaw points to a story in TheStreet.com that claims that “Big eBay users shun Skype”.

The original article quotes the executive director of a group of high-volume eBay sellers as saying that "Skype doesn't give me a capability that I already don't have." Apparently this based on informal conversation with members. Of course it is not clear why they should feel this way.

The story doesn’t give enough supporting evidence for their claim. Nonetheless, I feel that eBay sellers can use third party VoIP tools as well instead of Skype. So I feel Skype is not going to change much the landscape for eBay.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Today is Thanksgiving Day. In US of A, this is a day when families gather (whether they want to or not), offer thanks (some heart-felt, some fake), share a festive holiday meal (I don't really like Turkey that much), and watch a football games (How about them Cowboys?)

Looking back at 2005, I have a lot to be thankful for - my parents, my wonderful girl-friend for taking such great care of me, my friends and my buddies @ damaka.

I think I have achieved a lot this year - both at personal & professional front - and this would not have been possible without the love, inspiration, help & support of my family & friends.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone!

Band of Brothers

VoIP providers, EarthLink, Google, Pulver.com, Sonus Networks and Skype, have created a group, called the Internet Voice Campaign, a part of the VON Coalition, to increase adoption and use of voice over IP.

Read the story

Happy Diwali 2005

Today is November 1, 2005 and I am celebrating an Indian festival - Diwali. It also called the festival of lights and on this Indians all over the world clean and decorate their homes, light up candles and fireworks, exchange sweets and gifts with their friends and loved ones, pray to the Goddess of Wealth and Education (along with other Deities) for blessings and prosperity.

To learn more about Diwali, click here.

Best wishes to you and your family for a very happy Diwali.
May the festival of lights brighten up your life in every possible way!

Happy Holidays!

Some Diwali pictures:

• Celebrating Diwali
• Deities
• Fireworks
  

Happy Halloween 2005

Today is October 31, 2005 and I am preparing for the trick-or-treaters. Its cold and rainy but I am sure the charm of dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door for trick-or-treating will not dampen the spirits of the kids and their parents. My friend's daughter will be a parrot. Another 4 year old cutie will be an IPod (this is the extent of Apple's infliuence on people's lives)

Be good to the tiny tricksters ;-) BOO


Happy Halloween to you all.
To learn more about Halloween, click here.

VoIP Growing Astronomically, $23.4 Billion By 2009 Projected

According to a report by Infonetics, released on wednesday, VoIP service is predicted to grow 18-fold -- from $1.24 billion in 2004 to $23.4 billion in 2009 -- representing total revenues of $62 billion to be spent on the technology over the five-year period.

Read the story on Yahoo News

Return of dot com boom?

Michael Copeland and Om Malik of Business 2.0 magazine have written a wonderful piece for CNN Technology. According to the authors, "Startups are hot -- again. Valuations are nuts -- again. Fortunes are being made -- again."

I agree with them. Look at the insane $4.1 billion Skype-eBay deal that has all the pundits and analysts scratching their heads. Rupert Murdoch was eyeing Skype after acquiring Intermix Media for $580-million.

I quote from the article:

• Corporate IT spending, both an engine and an indicator of tech industry health, was up 9 percent through the first half of 2005 and is expected to rise 7 percent more in 2006.
• Internet advertising, $9.6 billion last year, was up 26 percent in the first half of 2005 and is projected to hit $12 billion for the year
• Google is sitting on more than $7 billion; Yahoo has about $3.5 billion. Microsoft remains the cash king with almost $40 billion on hand. A lot of that money will be earmarked for strategic objectives—acquisitions

I am not sure if Startups are really hot or not. But Valuations are definitely nuts -- and yes, again. We are beginning to see Fortunes being made -- example Myspace, Skype.

Whether this becomes Internet Boom 2.0 or Bubble 2.0, remains to be seen. I think we can all use a boom right now ;-)

Read the complete story - "Tech's big comeback"