Userplane Asserts Industry-Leading Position With Innovative New Anonymous Calling Feature
Expanding the capabilities of its Flash voice and video communication offering, Userplane (www.userplane.com), a leader in community software, today announced new updates to its Webchat and Webmessenger applications — including a highly anticipated anonymous calling feature.
Userplane Anonymous Calling will now be seamlessly enabled for each room in the Webchat, facilitating a unique phone number and extension to enable users in each room to conference with each other easily and instantly. With no fee or signup process, users will have immediate access to a free phone number and extension — available for myriad of live multi-party functions such as web conferences, party lines, and online events.
Similar to its deployment in Webchat, the new anonymous calling system will be built into the Webmessenger IM tool, allowing free anonymous calls between the users inside an IM conversation. Like the calling feature for each Webchat experience, every IM connection will generate a private number and extension that users can call in to using their cell phone or land-line, and all for no additional charge to the site or the user. With no time limits or restrictions, this new Userplane calling feature will support a fresh user experience as well as offer a unique up-sell feature for sites and their members.
"While anonymous calling has been tried in the past and failed, our new application has been built for success," said Michael Jones, co-founder and CEO of Userplane. "We find users often embrace our voice over IP feature (VOIP) but many users prefer to take the conversation to the traditional phone. We believe this method of allowing the invitation to an anonymous and private phone call within our application environment, free of charge, will provide substantial benefit to each of our clients’ websites and their users. In addition, our clients can make access to this a premium or guest-access feature, further supporting their specific business models."
Userplane Webchat Version 1.8.9 features streaming audio and video (through Flash MX), mini-profiles, a user photo, and overall usable and flexible Flash interface. The new version allows for full support of unlimited user video streams, integrated chat history display, advanced user and administrative block and ban functions, and site-administered room alerts. The recent upgrade also includes the much-requested skinning feature, which provides full color and icon customization.
Userplane has also released new capabilities for Webmessenger 1.8.12, featuring archive function of all messages sent between users. Userplane returns all of this data to the site to be stored or even sent to users. Expanding the user experience, Webmessenger now allows for expanded control over A/V settings. This Flash instant messaging tool provides live text and audio/video instant messaging to some of the most popular online communities on the web, supporting millions of conversations each month.
Userplane will continue to roll out a range of new partnerships and product developments to expand its feature set and drive compelling user experiences. Through the recent success of its ad-supported Webchat and Webmessenger, Userplane has been able to offer advertising revenue-sharing to clients — dramatically changing the value added to a site community.
Unlike traditional Java- and HTML-based chat solutions, Userplane offers cross-platform functionality, performing with ease on virtually all operating systems. As distinguished from Java chat rooms — which frequently create customer support challenges because of platform inconsistencies — Flash comes pre-installed on Windows XP, and works seamlessly on both Macintosh and Linux platforms. Current studies show that Flash is installed on more than 98 percent of Internet browsers.
Userplane applications provide full site administrative control, integration via XML with a (members-based) site’s user database, and customization for each deployment to match the site’s business model and branding.
About Userplane
Based in Los Angeles, Userplane is the premier provider of enterprise social software for online communities. Userplane Apps are easy to use, rapidly deployed Flash web applications that support live text and A/V communication. Each Userplane App adds core, must-have features to thriving community websites. Deployed internationally on sites ranging from online dating to social networks to intranets, Userplane Apps reach millions of users in more than fifteen countries. Userplane dramatically increases online interaction and improves guest-to-member conversion. Recent clients include: Date.com, Friendster, Honda, and Red Bull.
Note to editors: High-resolution Web or print Userplane Application screenshots are available at http://www.userplane.com/partner/press.cfm.