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Sep 8 2008 8:37AM EDT

The New Ooma, Ashton Kutcher in the Wings

Kevin Maney writes: Passing through Silicon Valley last week, I met up with Andrew Frame, CEO of Internet phone operation Ooma -- which generated a comet of publicity a year ago and then seemed to smolder out. Frame believes he's got the company "on the rails" and this week the product will start to be sold in Best Buy stores. "We're shooting for the moon this holiday season," he says.

Ooma got off to a great/terrible start when it launched with backing from tech celebrities Mike Ramsey (who created TiVo) and Steve Jurvetson (a VC who has backed companies such as Hotmail and Skype) and actual celebrity Ashton Kutcher (who is friends with Frame, and not a bad businessman in his own right). Ooma's offering was also intriguing: Buy the $399 Ooma phone, plug it into the Internet, and use the phone to get free domestic phone calls forever -- or until the company goes out of business, whichever comes first.

The combination led to a publicity explosion that Ooma couldn't handle. "We didn't need it to go so big," said Frame, who looked Hollywoodish in a stylish black jacket with a red handkerchief in the pocket and highly gelled hair. "We stopped doing all media until now."

So, what's different? The offering is a little more refined -- and cheaper. Instead of buying an Ooma phone for $399 and a second phone (called a Scout) for $50, you now can buy a package of an Ooma phone and Scout for $249. Domestic calls are still free for life after that. All the kinds of services you'd get from a phone company -- caller ID, call waiting, etc. -- also come free from Ooma. But a new premier bundle, for $12.99 a month, will add some unique services, like ring tones.

More features are coming, but Frame is being coy about them. He let slip something about "mobile integration," and then said he couldn't talk about it. I also asked how many Ooma phones are out there, and Frame said they'd be releasing that info soon -- but not yet.

 

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