BT in talks to buy Ribbit
BT in talks to buy RibbitBT is in talks to buy Silicon Valley internet-phone software developer Ribbit as it looks to create a one-number
web-based communications platform to take on the likes of Google and Skype in the burgeoning online telecoms market.
Ribbit, founded two years ago and based near Google's headquarters in Mountain View, claims to be "Silicon Valley's
first phone company". It has created software that allows programmers to design applications that tie together
mobile phones, fixed-line phones and even social networking sites into a single online communications hub.
Ribbit allows any software developer to use its technology to create applications, in the same way as Google has
opened up its soon to launch mobile phone operating system android and Apple has allowed other people to develop
software for the iPhone.
There are a number of communications tools such as Evernote - which allows forgetful iPhone users to access their
"to do" lists from their phone or computer - which are designed to integrate the mobile phone with internet-based
services.
Bringing together the information stored on the web with mobile phones, a trend known as unified communications, has
been mooted for many years. But the take-up of broadband and the creation of fast mobile phone networks has made it
easier to achieve. Last year Google snapped up another Californian company involved in this area, called
GrandCentral, for about $50m.
BT is understood to have offered as much as $55m (￡28m) for Ribbit, although a deal has not yet been signed. BT
refused to comment yesterday.
Ribbit's technology has already been used by a number of third party application developers. American business
communications group Salesforce.com has a Ribbit-based application that lets the company's sales people keep track
of all their calls and contacts through a single web page.
Ribbit is also testing a consumer platform called amphibian, which looks like a social networking site with a phone
attached. It allows users to convert voicemail messages left on their mobile into text which can be read online, so
users can search for keywords. Calls can be patched through from a mobile to a computer; not only will the caller's
number be displayed but amphibian can pull up their profile and latest postings from sites such as Flickr, LinkedIn
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and Twitter. Calls from other web-based telephone services such as GoogleTalk and Skype can also be accessed.
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