Cloud mailbox service YouMail signed on to provide voicemail services for Viaero Wireless, a regional wireless carrier, pointing to consumer desire for richer voicemail options in a changing mobile landscape.
Irvine, Calif.-based YouMail has been on the rise lately, with more than three million downloads of its voicemail app across all platforms since its 2009 launch. The company offers the call answering and messaging services familiar to all voicemail users, but its real value is the enhanced features it provides through its premium service.
Growth in third-party voicemail services such as YouMail underscores an industry-wide shift in how people are using mobile devices. Surveys show less than half of smartphone users actually make and receive calls on their handsets, with most people preferring to text, video chat or connect via social media sites on their smartphones.
Tablet use is also on the rise, with more people turning to them to communicate and socialize. The confluence of shifts in communication may be making simple voice messaging via traditional voicemail services obsolete, but is also providing opportunities for innovation.
YouMail's premium users can identify any caller by name and a Facebook photo or other visual image, even if they aren't in their address book. They can also post voicemails to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter from any location and access their voicemail via a variety of connected devices, including tablets and laptops as well as smartphones.
YouMail is expected to provide its voicemail application free to subscribers of Viaero Wireless, a local carrier serving Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. The YouMail app will come pre-loaded on the carrier's Android phones and will be available for download to iPhone and BlackBerry users.
YouMail CEO Alex Quilici says the company's agreement with Viaero will give it a chance to showcase its free voicemail app and potentially grow its premium offerings, since users will be able to upgrade with a single click and pay the charges on their wireless bill, rather than by credit card.
Quilici says he doesn't expect nationwide wireless carriers will get rid of voicemail anytime soon. However, as users continue to demand more advanced, feature-rich services, more carriers may turn to third party providers like YouMail.
As mobile use continues to expand and sharing of information on social media sites grows, enhanced voicemail services that aren't tethered to a wireless carrier's plan may become more attractive, allowing people to use feature-rich voicemail services from any device or location.
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