Ozonetel Systems, a company that develops cloud based telephony solutions, has launched a social networking voice application, ‘Voice Buzz‘ that allows users to update their Facebook status through their landlines and cell phones. While Aircel’s Voice updates on Facebook are via a premium short code 51555, Voice Buzz uses a landline number 040-30512834 for updates. Naspers owned Ibibo was the first to launch voice updates in India; in their case, the user sends an SMS, or requests a voice update, and they call the user on his mobile phone. Previously, OzoneTel had demo’ed a similar application for Twitter.

How does it work?

Users need to register on Voice Buzz, and provide their phone number. The user has to then synchronize his Facebook account and grant the Voice Buzz application, permission to access basic information from the Facebook profile, as well as to post to the Facebook wall. After this, the user can call 040-30512834 from the registered number, and leave a voice message which will appear on his Facebook feed as a status message immediately.

Kookoo – The Voice Integration Platform

Ozonetel offers the cloud telephony platform, Kookoo to developers who can build voice apps for web applications just by integrating its API. Whenever a user calls the Kookoo number, it informs the application which inturn instructs Kookoo to complete an action, for example in the above case collect a voice input from the user. The system performs the action and sends it back to the application. It’s pricing options begin from pay-per-incoming call option (Rs. 0.50 per call, and Rs 500 monthly rental) to annual and semi annual plans of up to Rs. 25,500 per year.

Our take

Although there is nothing new in terms of the offering, the very fact that the service is platform independent and does not restrict itself to users of one particular telecom operator, makes it more accessible. Since, Ozonetel’s cloud telephony system aims to be an interface between the web application and the caller, why not extend more features and allow users to listen to other people’s updates and be reminded about events and birthdays as well.

Also, these services (from Aircel, Ibibo and Ozonetel) publish audio files as updates. There’s an opportunity for deploying a voice-to-text technology to let users post text updates by just calling in. Note that Copyright issues related to karaoke licences that we discussed previously also exist here, though OzoneTel could probably be seen as a platform provider, and hence an intermediary.

Related:
– Facebook Users Can Post Voice Updates Via Aircel; Karaoke License?
– Ibibo Enables Voice Based Status Updates Via Mobile; Group SMS
– Reliance Launches User Generated Caller Tune Service; Liability