Twilio looks better from afar

#1

Post by aaronpk » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 3:53 PM UTC

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#2

Post by pratfall » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 4:37 PM UTC

I friggin hate Twilio, and I kick myself for ever getting suckered into using it. I'm down to a single account and a single line in, but I need to port it off, and Google doesn't care to port Twilio numbers off to GV. If Twilio could do something other than drop calls to PSTN (I mean here, make a fuggin VoIP call), I'd be singing a totally different song, but it's a one-trick pony.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#3

Post by josh2600 » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 4:38 PM UTC

Hello,

So I have a slightly different take on this. (Disclaimer: I'm the community manager for 2600hz).

I've always thought Twilio was trying to get acquired (their deals with AT&T and Microsoft seemed to imply a conversation was happening in this regard at the very least) but for a valuation north of $1B. My personal feeling is that you can't get a $1B valuation without Mobile and Twilio doesn't really do mobile in the same way 2600hz doesn't really do mobile (at least not yet).

The walled Garden that is Carrier-land prevents native dialing (dialing through the handset dialer instead of a native app/web app/plugin). Becoming an MVNO is super risky, but I was really encouraged by Twilio's announcement with AT&T and even more so by Voxeo's announcement with Deutsche.

This is a big world and the clear winner of the voice API war will be crowned in the mid 20-teen's not now. If your argument is that Twilio will burn out before their acquired, my reply is: Maybe. That's the risk they took, and it's similar to the risk Square took (see this leaked chart: http://i.imgur.com/b1Sm9.png).

I admire Twilio because they're the best developer evangelism team I've ever seen. Yes they spend a ton on marketing and they might be the Groupon of Voice APIs, but the fact is that they're doing it, and if they get acquired all of the Voice API companies will benefit from their success.

In short, Twilio doing well actually benefits Voxeo and so I don't understand the worst girlfriend analogy. I'm by no means in love with Twilio, but you have to admire them for what they do: they're hands-down the best evangelists for any platform out there. Their developer engagement is nothing short of awesome.

Cheers,

Joshua

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#4

Post by pla3rhat3r » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 4:54 PM UTC

Still waiting to find the connection in the article about how Twilio is like the worst girlfriend you've ever had. Just seems like a jaded bias article from a competitor. :-/

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#5

Post by sciurus » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 5:01 PM UTC

Cached version at https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.di...

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#6

Post by untog » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 5:01 PM UTC

pratfall wrote: post #2

I friggin hate Twilio, and I kick myself for ever getting suckered into using it. I'm down to a single account and a single line in, but I need to port it off, and Google doesn't care to port Twilio numbers off to GV. If Twilio could do something other than drop calls to PSTN (I mean here, make a fuggin VoIP call), I'd be singing a totally different song, but it's a one-trick pony.

You hate Twilio because you tried to use it for something that it isn't? I don't see what you're saying here.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#7

Post by tehwebguy » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 5:04 PM UTC

pla3rhat3r wrote: post #4

Still waiting to find the connection in the article about how Twilio is like the worst girlfriend you've ever had. Just seems like a jaded bias article from a competitor. :-/

Even if you take out the competitor factor the article was really about their opinion on Twilio's status as a company.

I expected an article talking about supposedly bad cancelation or privacy policies, something like that. Pretty bad headline.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#8

Post by meanJim » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 5:12 PM UTC

pratfall wrote: post #2

I friggin hate Twilio, and I kick myself for ever getting suckered into using it. I'm down to a single account and a single line in, but I need to port it off, and Google doesn't care to port Twilio numbers off to GV. If Twilio could do something other than drop calls to PSTN (I mean here, make a fuggin VoIP call), I'd be singing a totally different song, but it's a one-trick pony.

The post addresses that Twilio (from the author's perspective/research) is losing money, talent, increasing signs of desperation. How does this apply to that?

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#9

Post by clavalle » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 5:12 PM UTC

"Twiliots" Really?

Voxeo Prophecy is really nice (except for configuration which can be a bit of a quagmire) and their service is good but Twilio is very, very easy to use. This piece reminds me that I need to look at Twilio for more than SMS.

Re: Twilio looks better from afar

#10

Post by lbarrow » Fri, Nov 02, 2012, 5:12 PM UTC

The gist of the post is that Twilio is losing money, losing talent, and getting desperate. I don't see why the author couldn't have just said that instead of picking a sexist blog post title -- he didn't even use the girlfriend metaphor beyond the headline.

Edit: They've changed the title. Cool!