Ten Web Startups to Watch

摘要

Worldwide, people sent 1.9 trillion text messages last year. That's a lot of tedious triple-tapping on mobile phones, and it's not free. Pinger, a startup in San Jose, CA, is giving us a voice version of text messaging that's Web accessible, so picking up messages need not trigger mobile-phone charges. Pinger lets you send voice messages without calling (and interrupting) the recipient. Instead, you speak a name or phone number into your cell phone and then leave your message, which sits on Pinger's servers. A text notification lets the recipient know that a voice message can be picked up by phone or on Pinger's website. Pinger cofounder Joe Sipher, a former executive at smart-phone maker Palm, describes the service as "noninter-ruptive voice mail."