Startup company Jaxtr has launched a free, private beta of its new Jaxtr service which looks to expand the utility of blogs, profiles, sharing pages, and even email messages by enabling readers to telephone the author, in real time, without revealing phone numbers or other identifiable information.
“There is nothing less satisfying than creating a social network page or blog and not getting a response,” said Jaxtr’s brand-new CEO Konstantin Guericke, founder of LinkedIn. “Social networks are a catalyst for people to meet, and Jaxtr ‘jacks up’ the power of networks to help users make new connections. By putting a widget on their social networking page or blog, Jaxtr users can hear from callers worldwide on their existing landline or mobile phone.”
Here’s an example of how Jaxtr works: a reader encounters a blog or Web page bearing the Jaxtr widget, offering to let the reader speak to the page’s author over the phone. The reader enter his or her own phone number, and their phone rings—that’s Jaxtr calling them. Once they pick up the phone, Jaxtr attempts to connect them to the page’s author. If the recipient isn’t available, users can leave a voicemail message; Jaxtr users can check their voice messages via the Web. Callers can also opt to leave a voice mail message without ringing through to the Jaxtr user—handy if you’re pretty sure that person’s in a time zone where sleep would be a normal activity.
Jaxtr keeps phone numbers private, and users can select which of their phones should ring when someone calls or if calls should go straight to voice mail. Users can receive email notifications of incoming voicemail, and can block calls or select which callers can reach them or get immediately routed to voicemail on a caller-by-caller basis.
Jaxtr currently has local numbers set up in 29 countries (including markets in Europe, the Americas, and Asia) to eliminate international calling charges, and can accept calls from any standard or mobile phone. Of course, Jaxtr users can invite their friend to join up; if they do and share their Jaxtr link, jaxtr user can call those friends without incurring international charges.
The Jaxtr beta is free, and, so long as a local number is available, placing a call via Jaxtr is also free to the caller.
Jaxtr is primarily aiming at young Web users who, when they aren’t cruising each others’ online profile, probably have one ear glued to their mobile phones. Jaxtr aims to make the link between these users’ online activities and their phones more explicit. Jaxtr plans to earn revenue from value-add services sold to power users, advertising, and advanced features.
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