TEL AVIV, Israel – A company called Parrot-Media today launched Poketalk, a new free global calling service in Canada and the United States.
This service lets users make free calls from any existing landline or mobile phone, to any other phone, locally and internationally.
To use the service, customers must provide their own number and the number and the number they’re calling and Poketalk connects the two phones.
No devices, headsets, or software downloads are necessary. There is no registration fee nor monthly fee required.
The Poketalk service subsidizes the calls by displaying targeted advertising on the phone’s screen during the call. These ads are tailored to the caller’s profile and serve as effective engagement points for advertisers, believes the company.
The company developed this technology to address two recognized market needs, according to its press release:
* A growing requirement for free communication of any kind, using existing infrastructure and devices: Users want to do away from the need for PCs, headsets and special phones. They want to use their own phone and get top level communication.
* A growing requirement for direct and targeted advertisements: Exposed only to the target audience, per their area of interest, generating maximum return on the advertisement investment.
This free service also offers advertisers the opportunity for targeted exposure, to a specific audience. The caller gets “a completely free, high-quality service, while the advertiser receives a highly targeted, unique advertising exposure. This is a win-win situation. Both sides benefit and earn,” reads the release.
“The communication business worldwide is rapidly changing into different ‘freemium’ models," said Tamir Galili, Parrot-Media’s CEO. "Similarly, Internet advertising is searching for fully targeted capabilities to enhance ROI," he added. It "is the first platform to optimize targeting, using its user databases and rewarding its subscribers by offering free domestic and international communications that utilize existing infrastructure, eliminating the need for any dedicated devices."
