Tellme Networks
Encyclopedia
Tellme. Networks, Inc. is a company founded in 1999 by Mike McCue
and Angus Davis, based out of Mountain View, California
, in the United States
, that specializes in telephone-based applications.
Tellme Networks was acquired by Microsoft
on March 14, 2007 for "close to $800M". The deal closed in late April. Tellme's phone network processes more than two billion unique calls per year.
.
In 2000, Tellme launched an internet platform that delivered content to telephones — a concept frequently called voice portals. Early competitors included TelSurf Networks, BeVocal, Hey Anita and Quack.com
. Quack.com was founded in 1999 and acquired in September, 2000 by America Online to power its competing service, AOL By Phone. At least ten additional competitors appeared in 2000 in various attempts to mimic the funding success of Tellme.
Tellme was featured in the 2001 documentary Wild at Start. and was referenced in a 2000 Malcolm Gladwell
article about recruiting.
In 2008, the company debuted a feature especially for Christmas Eve where callers can dial 800-555-TELL and hear recorded messages from Santa. If called on Christmas Eve, Santa will say what state he is over, and what he's doing. In 2009, they added a service where you can get messages from Santa a week early, and he will explain what he is doing in preparation for Christmas.
development tool. The Tellme platform is based on open standards like VoiceXML
, CCXML, and VoIP.
The Tellme Voice Portal can be accessed by calling (800) 555-8355. Tellme also hosts toll-free directory assistance.
) for AT&T and Verizon (landline), customer service for Merrill Lynch, E*TRADE Financial and American Airlines, and e-commerce services for Fandango.
Mike McCue
Mike McCue is a successful internet entrepreneur and a founder of Paper Software, Tellme Networks and Flipboard. Since December 2010 he has been a director of Twitter....
and Angus Davis, based out of Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, that specializes in telephone-based applications.
Tellme Networks was acquired by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
on March 14, 2007 for "close to $800M". The deal closed in late April. Tellme's phone network processes more than two billion unique calls per year.
History
In April 1999, the Tellme founding team, consisting of McCue, Davis, Rod Brathwaite, Jim Fanning, Kyle Sims, Brad Porter, Michael Plitkins, Hadi Partovi, John Giannandrea, Andrew Volkmann, Anthony Accardi, Patrick McCormick, Danny Howard, Vicki Flores, and Emil Michael assembled in Mountain View, CaliforniaMountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
.
In 2000, Tellme launched an internet platform that delivered content to telephones — a concept frequently called voice portals. Early competitors included TelSurf Networks, BeVocal, Hey Anita and Quack.com
Quack.com
AOLByPhone was an AOL interactive voice service that began in 2000. It was offered to millions of consumers. AOLByPhone started with the America Online acquisition of Quack.com, evolving through the subsequent relaunching of Quack.com's Voice Portal as AOLByPhone. AOLbyPhone expanded as AOL...
. Quack.com was founded in 1999 and acquired in September, 2000 by America Online to power its competing service, AOL By Phone. At least ten additional competitors appeared in 2000 in various attempts to mimic the funding success of Tellme.
Tellme was featured in the 2001 documentary Wild at Start. and was referenced in a 2000 Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
article about recruiting.
In 2008, the company debuted a feature especially for Christmas Eve where callers can dial 800-555-TELL and hear recorded messages from Santa. If called on Christmas Eve, Santa will say what state he is over, and what he's doing. In 2009, they added a service where you can get messages from Santa a week early, and he will explain what he is doing in preparation for Christmas.
Services
Voice portal customers build Internet-powered, voice-enabled applications on the Tellme Network using Tellme Studio. Tellme Studio is a Web-based VoiceXMLVoiceXML
VoiceXML is the W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It allows voice applications to be developed and deployed in an analogous way to HTML for visual applications. Just as HTML documents are interpreted by a visual web browser,...
development tool. The Tellme platform is based on open standards like VoiceXML
VoiceXML
VoiceXML is the W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It allows voice applications to be developed and deployed in an analogous way to HTML for visual applications. Just as HTML documents are interpreted by a visual web browser,...
, CCXML, and VoIP.
The Tellme Voice Portal can be accessed by calling (800) 555-8355. Tellme also hosts toll-free directory assistance.
Customers
Some of the services running on Tellme's network include directory assistance (4-1-14-1-1
4-1-1 is the telephone number for local directory assistance in the United States and Canada. One exception is the Pacific Northwest, which used 1-1-3 until the mid-1980s. Until the early 1980s, 4-1-1 calls were free in most states....
) for AT&T and Verizon (landline), customer service for Merrill Lynch, E*TRADE Financial and American Airlines, and e-commerce services for Fandango.