Friday 26 March 2010

Operator voicemail is worst than the 80s answering machines!

“Voicemail is a big frustration for many people as it has simply been neglected by mobile carriers for almost two decades! Instead, they have concentrated on delivering innovation elsewhere (3G, mobile internet etc). This is why I set up my business (HulloMail) as I felt that voicemail needed to catch-up with the times. Today, people expect voicemail to be as flexible as any other form of digital communication, and there’s no reason why this can’t happen. Voicemail needs to be instant and also accessible where ever you might be, whether you’ve access to the web, email or mobile. Plus, it needs to be free and can be used across all carriers. This is how I believe people prefer to interact in today’s digitally-driven world. Wouldn’t you agree?” Andy Munarriz CEO, HulloMail

Monday 22 March 2010

Goodbye Spinvox, Hullo HulloMail


At the end of last week, Spinvox users received a text message from the provider stating that it is no longer supporting individual users and in 7 days their accounts would expire.

Although the principal concept of the Spinvox service was strong, the issues the firm faced with its core technology in correctly transcribing messages were widely publicised.

When I launched HulloMail in 2008, the key fundamentals were to deliver a new voice messaging service that is not only instant. Our service delivers voicemail directly to the mobile app, email or to your HulloMail account online so, with one click, you can play it. It’s there in an instant.

With this, it’s not only quick but you have the benefit of hearing the tone of the person’s voice, plus you can keep the messages or even share them online. I wanted our service to be flexible (and free).

Transcription is on our agenda and we do plan to integrate this into our service later this year. However, as transcription cannot be fully automated with speaker independent speech recognition engines, 100% accuracy can only be achieved via human intervention. This means charges would apply to customers, and so it is not something we want to do right now.
However, for any SpinVox users out there who are now looking for an alternative method of voicemail, I would encourage them to download our app for free to see how it suits their lifestyle.

And don’t just take our word for it. Ewan MacLeod from Mobile Industry Review is already a convert; “I swapped from SpinVox back in late July over to HulloMail. And I haven’t looked back. I thought that I might miss the semi reliable transcription of SMS from SpinVox. I reckoned that getting the ‘gist’ was good enough — and, for a long time, it was. But I’m not missing it one bit.”*

Andy Munarriz, founder
HulloMail
* http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2009/08/hullomail-30-days-later-and-im-still-loving-it.html


Monday 15 March 2010

Presenting the Hullo Family

We would like to introduce you to the Hullo Family and friends...


This family is very special to us at HulloMail as they have been created by us to help us communicate the great benefits of our service and highlight the new Hullo feature, which allows you to send short, voice messages to your friends for FREE. You can find out some more details about each character, find links to their Facebook page so you can become a fan, watch their videos and view their pictures.
Hugo Hullo

Hugo lives in NY city with his wife Hillary and his son Harry. He works as an accountant in a small company in Astoria. Originally from London, Hugo moved to the US in the 80s to be with Hilary. Hugo loves gadgets, and is always checking out technology blogs online for something new to add to his collection, He wouldn’t be without his BlackBerry Bold.
Hilary Hullo

Originally from Wisconsin, Hillary works as a maths teacher at a college in Brooklyn. She is married to Hugo and they have one son Harry. Hillary is crazy about fashion, and loves to shop in Manhattan, making Hugo crazy with all the shoes she buys. Hilary has an iPhone which Hugo bought for her last year.
Hilda Hullo

Hilda is Hugo’s mother. She lives in a nice residential area in the north of London with her cat Hef. She loves watching EastEnders, and never misses an episode. Hugo brought her a laptop for Christmas and she is never off the internet.
Harry Hullo 

Harry is 16 years old and is a rather rebellious teenager, and just wants to party all the time. His favourite band is The Hulligans, and he doesn’t miss a concert. He also loves hanging out with his friends, Hitch and Herbert playing videogames. Harry’s mobile is a Hero, he likes the cool features.
Hero Hullo

Hero is a rather crazy dog, who is always looking forward to his next walk. He constantly plays with his pink ball and loves to bark at Holly, the parrot.
Hef Hullo

You can't get a more chilled out customer than Hef. His main highlight of the day is being fed and he loves to take a lovely long nap on the couch until he continues his sleeping on Grandma’s bed. Hef is a cat of peace (secretly he’s a fan of U2's Bono).
Holly Hullo

Holly the parrot is never silent and is always getting Harry into trouble by mimicking Hilary, Hugo and even Hero. She just won't stop talking and trying to be part of conversations.
Herbert and Hitch

Harry's best friends, they are completely obsessed with video games, and usually like to spend Saturday nights playing Call of Duty round at Harry's.
Heather 

Heather is Hugo's PA. She is really lazy and takes every opportunity to slack off at work and read cheesy romantic novels. She is desperately looking for her ‘prince charming’.
The Hulligans

They are the coolest band in NY and have finally made it in Europe and Japan. Their latest song, Send a Hullo to my Heart, is a worldwide number one hit. They love to get closer to their fans and have a million+ fans on Facebook.
Become a fan on facebook
Watch episode one:  the Parrot
Watch episode two: the Hulligans
Check out the family album




Monday 1 March 2010

HulloMail joins BlackBerry Alliance Program and releases latest version of BlackBerry App V1.1.2

London, UK – HulloMail™ (www.hullomail.com), voice communications innovator, today announced it has become a member of the BlackBerry ISV (Independent Software Vendor) Alliance Program.  Participation in the alliance program deepens the product development and marketing relationship between HulloMail, which develops and markets a free, advanced voice messaging application optimized for BlackBerryรข smartphone users, and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM).

“Membership in the BlackBerry Alliance Program demonstrates HulloMail’s continued commitment to growing the technical feature set specifically for BlackBerry smartphone users,” said Andy Munarriz, founder and CEO of HulloMail.  “HulloMail’s recently enhanced app delivers everything that a smartphone user wants from a visual voicemail service, plus the added bonus of our powerful new two-way digital audio messaging capability, Hullos. We are receiving great feedback from our UK and US users and we’re excited to be working closely with RIM through the alliance program to make our advanced voice messaging service key to BlackBerry smartphone users.”

 

As a BlackBerry Alliance Select member, HulloMail can gain access to additional marketing, sales and technical resources on the BlackBerry platform. 

For further information, visit www.hullomail.com or to download the latest release of HulloMail via BlackBerry App World™ go to: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/search/hullomail.

-ends-

About HulloMail’s App for BlackBerry Smartphones:
HulloMail offers BlackBerry smartphone users a free visual voicemail application.  Features include a centralised view and management of messages with push notifications, automatic downloading and Bluetooth® support, plus unique message syncing capabilities with email compliant accounts such as Gmail, MobileMe and Microsoft® Exchange that provides an enhanced level of integration, especially with Google contacts. 

The free app also incorporates the new Hullo technology, enabling subscribers to send short digital voice messages to friends, family and colleagues without having to make a call.  HulloMail believes that Hullos will dramatically change the future of voice communication as they allow users to converse back and forth with other smartphone users, domestically or overseas, if desired, for free.* 

* Your mobile operator may charge for sending a Hullo if you exceed your monthly data allowance or you are roaming.


About HulloMail™
HulloMail™ develops and delivers smart voice messaging services for the consumer and enterprise markets.  The technology is the fastest, easiest and most flexible way for mobile users to manage their voicemail from virtually any mobile device – and the only cross platform, carrier agnostic offering to deliver the power of free two-way digital audio voice messaging, Hullos.  For more information, visit http://www.hullomail.com.          

Follow HulloMail on the Web:



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