[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #227: Lessons from Bobsled

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #227: Lessons from Bobsled
April 27th, 2011

<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/bobsled_sm1.png>Last 
week, T-Mobile received quite a bit of attention in the technical media 
when they introduced "Bobsled," an app for Facebook that allows Facebook 
friends to talk to one another through their Facebook pages. This week, 
it's gone, temporarily suspended because of "design questions" from 
Facebook. While Bobsled's fast up-and-down trajectory is noteworthy in 
itself, it also illustrates just how much Facebook has become a 
widespread communication medium, one which has the ability to handle 
/all/ types of communication. The "between the lines" message for public 
libraries in this week's /4cast/: if you have a Facebook page, you 
should be gearing up now to handle direct patron-to-library 
communications through Facebook.

    * T-Mobile's Bobsled brand offers VOIP calling for Facebook
      <http://www.eweek.com/c/a/VOIP-and-Telephony/TMobiles-Bobsled-Brand-Offers-VOIP-Calling-for-Facebook-271099/>
      (eWeek/Michelle Maisto) "First to launch under the Bobsled brand
      [...] is a Facebook application that lets Facebook users---who
      don't need to be T-Mobile subscribers---call their "friends"
      through Facebook's chat window. The first VOIP (voice over IP) app
      to integrate into Facebook Chat, according to T-Mobile, users can
      place a call by clicking on a friend's name. There are no screen
      names or numbers to remember. Should the friend be unavailable,
      users can leave a private audio message on the friend's wall. And
      to receive a Bobsled call through Facebook, you don't need to
      download anything."
    * T-Mobile's Bobsled is a free, Facebook-based, VoIP app
      <http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/04/19/t-mobiles-bobsled-is-a-free-facebook-based-voip-app/>
      (MobileCrunch/Devin Coldewey) "So Bobsled is T-Mobile's wedge in
      the video chat world, an answer to Facetime and Skype that's
      carrier-operated and can easily be included on T-Mobile-branded
      devices like the G-Slate and G-series phones. I haven't tested it
      out, but it'd be hard to mess this up. It looks like this first
      step was taken mainly because it was the easiest (just branding a
      licensed service), and the meat of the program will show up later."
    * T-Mobile challenges Skype, Google with 'Bobsled' Facebook VOIP app
      <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383828,00.asp> (PC
      Magazine/Mark Hachman) "In March, Facebook and Skype were said to
      be mulling a partnership that would tie Skype directly into the
      Facebook environment. Currently, users can call Facebook friends
      using Skype, a less integrated approach. 'Last year we announced
      the integration of Facebook in Skype, so people can keep up to
      date with their Facebook friends through News Feed in Skype and
      even call and SMS their Facebook friends on any phone from Skype,'
      Facebook said in March. 'With regards to any further integration,
      we don't comment on rumor and speculation and have nothing to
      announce at this time.'"
    * Bobsled goes off the tracks: T-Mobile suspends its Facebook voice
      service
      <http://moconews.net/article/419-bobsled-goes-off-the-tracks-t-mobile-suspends-its-facebook-voice-servic/>
      (mocoNews/Ingrid Lunden) "Facebook and Skype announced a
      cooperative agreement last year
      <http://moconews.net/article/419-skype-rides-facebooks-graph-to-bring-voip-to-facebookers/>
      [...] but so far that has not extended into the golden,
      500-million user opportunity of offering Skype voice and video
      calls from within Facebook. If Facebook did enter into such a
      deal, having another voice (and potentially video) service
      available on Facebook, like Bobsled, could confuse people---and
      moreover drive users to the competing service instead of the one
      that Facebook itself was actually promoting."

*/Demand fact:/*

T-Mobile claims that 88% of Facebook users want voice chat built into 
Facebook.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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