It wouldn't be surprising to see Vonage's PR folks and investment bankers furiously cutting and pasting from TeleGeography's new report on the U.S. VoIP market in the second-quarter. Vonage continues to be the leading voice-over-broadband provider with 28% market share. The market has grown to 2.7 million customers from 440K in Q2 2004, while revenues are expected to be more than $1-billion this year compared with $250-million in 2004. While Telegeography notes that cablecos such as Time-Warner and Cablevision have posted "blistering" growth this year and collectivley have more customers than Vonage, it said Vonage's growth has been "remarkable by the standards of any industry: Vonage's subscribers have more than tripled in the past 12 months." That strikes me as excellent fodder for anyone trying to raise $600-million from an IPO soon.
Andy Abramson, who has been talking for some time about Sprint acquiring Vonage, was quick to post today that BusinessWeek is now touting the same line. Olga Kharif believes Sprint's lawsuit against Vonage is so vague and lacking substance that is likely a ruse for Sprint to get a better idea about the worth of Vonage's intellectual property portfolio before it makes a bid. I'm thinking Vonage CEO Jeff Citron is so anxious to create a liquidity event he's probably willing to dance with Sprint legally if it leads to an acquisition.

For years, there's been an urban myth of a huge pent-up demand for Wi-Fi access in cafes and restaurants. It's based on the notion people want to sip on a cappuccino while surfing the Web. Maybe it's just me but sitting in a cafe means taking a break and talking to someone or reading the newspaper. As a result, I'm far from taken with the news Bell Canada will provide Wi-Fi access at Starbucks locations across Canada. Apparently, a survey of 1,003 people - who trusts survey results anyway? - suggests 72% of Canadians would be more likely to use hotspots if they were available. I'd be more likely to drink free coffee at Starbucks if it were available. When it comes to wireless Internet access, I'm far more enthused about WiMax, particularly the mobile variety because it will offer Internet anywhere rather than being forced into a Starbucks. The way to look at Wi-Fi at Starbucks, et al is its a low-cost tool to keep a small segment of the population coming back rather than losing them to Tim Horton's where the term "double-double" is heard way more often than "Wi-Fi".
If you want a tip on where Wi-Fi access is needed and would work economically, it's hospitals. I spent four hours last week waiting while my daughter had her broken leg checked out. I would have killed - and paid - for some Internet access!

By now, AOL's $25-million purchase of Jason Calacanis' Weblogs Inc. has been widely strewn throughout the blogosphere and into the mainstream media. Lots of pats on the back for Calacanis for scoring another entrepreneurial home run. Strategically, the move makes complete sense for AOL, which has been aggressively driving to an advertising business model as its dial-up access business evaporates (20.9 million  subscribers and not going strong). Over the past few years, AOL vice-chair Ted Leonsis has been transforming the company by removing the walled garden - a strategy that's working given AOL's Web properties have more than 100 million unique visitors a month in the U.S. So what does Weblogs bring to the mix? The simple answer is: more traffic as its 80 or so blogs generate 30 million page views a month and another 25 million through RSS feeds. AOL apparently plans to sprinkle its newly-purchased blogs through sites such as Moviefone, AOL Music and Netscape - providing even more reason for people to visit these sites and, as important, give more reason for advertisers to come on over. At an even higher level, you now have to wonder if AOL's purchase of Weblogs is a sign that discussions to sell part or all of AOL to Microsoft are dead. If AOL is intent on enhancing its content portfolio, why would it then turn around and make a deal with Microsoft? Time-Warner CEO Richard Parsons has made it clear on several occasions recent that AOL is an important part of the growth mix so it appears Time-Warner will keep AOL within the fold.