INTERNET--(esecurities.W)--June 21, 1999 - CBS.MWs Calandra Has His Ear To The Voice-Chat Wars
"Prepare for voice wars and score one for Lipstream, a privately held Silicon Valley company that is developing voice chat technologies for the Web.
The venture-backed company says ExciteAtHome (ATHM: news, msgs) is its first customer. Companies such as Lipstream and Mpath Interactive (MPTH: news, msgs) are competing for Web portals that offer users voice technologies. Lipstream says its patent-pending version of voice chat is easy to use, downloads in a minute and is available at voicechat.excite.com.
All you need is a Web browser, some speakers and a microphone. Oh yeah, and someone to talk to. Prepare for voice wars. Mpath runs www.hearme.com and www.mplayer.com -- two of the many voice communities that allow Web users to interact with their voices. Those two Web sites have more than 3 million registered users combined.
Audio technology developers will find themselves fighting a scrappy battle for the big Web portals that want to build eyeball -- and now, eardrum - share. Mpath's live audio product is a part of Yahoo's (YHOO: news, msgs) pager.yahoo.com, an instant messaging product. Mpath is publicly held after it sold 3.9 million shares at 18 each in an April IPO. Since then, the stock has been on a roller-coaster: as high as 51 1/4 and as low as 16 7/8.
Audio technology developers will find themselves fighting a scrappy battle for the big Web portals that want to build eyeball -- and now, eardrum - share. Mpath's live audio product is a part of Yahoo's (YHOO: news, msgs) pager.yahoo.com, an instant messaging product. Mpath is publicly held after it sold 3.9 million shares at 18 each in an April IPO. Since then, the stock has been on a roller-coaster: as high as 51 1/4 and as low as 16 7/8..."
Source: © 1999 Current 6/21/99 CBS.MW Perspectives StockWatch News cbs.marketwatch.com |
