Fonpods
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Fonpods turned any mobile phone into a podcast player. Users called a phone number and listened to preselected podcasts from their personal channel over the call, no web-enabled handset or MP3 player required; channel selection was managed on the fonpods.com website.
02 / Fonpods FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Fonpods was collateral damage in a telecom legal fight. Qwest sued Voice 2.0 companies that built their business on the CLEC access-charge loophole, and as apparent fallout the Fonpods site was taken over, effectively shut down, by Qwest in early 2007. A small startup could not withstand litigation from a multibillion-dollar carrier.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Service launches
Fonpods launches its call-in podcast listening service, covered in the tech press in September 2006.
- Shutdown
In February 2007 the Fonpods site is taken over by Qwest amid its lawsuits against Voice 2.0 companies, and the service shuts down.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Fonpods shut down in February 2007 after Qwest's legal action against Voice 2.0 companies using the CLEC loophole.
- 02
No funding or loss figures were ever published.
- 03
No reliable loss figure with a clear subject, period and basis exists, so no loss amount is recorded.