Fonolo Announces Innovative Services to Ease Caller Frustration When Dealing with...

Fonolo Announces Innovative Services to Ease Caller Frustration When Dealing with Large Companies

'Deep Dialing' and 'Intelligent Call History' Will Save Callers
Time and Aggravation; Press 1 to Say Good-Bye to Phone Menus Forever
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Fonolo today previewed ground-breaking services that make it
faster and less frustrating to call large companies. For anyone tired
of navigating lengthy phone menus--"Press 1 for service, press 2 for
sales..."--Fonolo's "Deep Dialing" feature will be a welcome relief.
In addition, Fonolo's "Intelligent Call History" feature automatically
maintains a history of calls made to each company, along with notes
and recordings, for easy reference.

Company co-founder and CEO Shai Berger announced and demonstrated
Fonolo (Pr.: PHONE-uh-low) at the eComm2008 conference under way this
week at the Computer History Museum here. Fonolo, formerly FonCloud,
also announced a private beta program today and forecasted a
commercial launch later this year.

Fonolo's "Deep Dialing" feature enables a caller to skip
time-consuming touch-tone and IVR-driven menus and connect directly to
a point inside a phone menu to reach the person or department he
needs.

The process is simple. A user starts by finding the company he
needs on the Fonolo Web site, then visually scans through the phone
menu and clicks on the appropriate point. Fonolo will then dial the
company, navigate the phone system and call the user's phone. When the
user answers, he will be connected to the desired point in the menu.
Furthermore, the user can bookmark this point inside the menu so that
in the future, it is only a click away. With Fonolo, users can
navigate the call-path options visually, on a computer or mobile
device, then click to be connected directly, rather than plodding
through the menus step-by-step.

"No one should ever have to navigate a phone menu twice again,"
Berger said. "We're building Deep Dialing to respond to the growing
frustration of navigating increasingly complex phone menus.

"Everyone hates hearing the same questions and dialing the same
option keys when they call airlines, banks, utilities, insurance
companies, and the like. It's a universal complaint," he said. "We
know Fonolo will be useful to everyone who hates to waste their time
and valuable cell phone minutes."

Fonolo's "Intelligent Call History" revolutionizes call recording
and logging by:

-- Automatically organizing all of a user's calls to a given
company, regardless of which phone was used to make the call.

-- Storing call recordings that users can review at any time,
play back to the company or forward by e-mail. (Call
transcription will be offered later as a premium service.)

-- Allowing users to write text notes during a call and store
them along with the history; those notes can be searched and
reviewed later.

"Our goal with Fonolo is to empower the user," Berger said.
"Consumers have been getting the short end of the stick for too long.
Deep Dialing, combined with 'Intelligent Call History' and some
exciting features that we will be announcing soon, all serve to shift
the balance of power back to our side. We like to think of the service
as a consumer equalizer."

About Fonolo

Fonolo is a service that helps consumers deal with large companies
over the phone. Fonolo's Deep Dialing feature allows you to skip the
dreaded phone menus (a/k/a "IVR systems") and get right to the point.
With Fonolo, users can navigate the call path options visually, on a
computer or mobile device, then click to be connected directly, rather
than plodding through the menus step-by-step. Fonolo's Intelligent
Call History feature tracks all the calls a user makes to a particular
company, no matter which phone he uses, and automatically organizes
them along with notes and recordings.

Fonolo has developed proprietary technology that automatically
"spiders" IVR systems, thus building and maintaining a database of the
numbers that consumers typically call. This "map of phonespace," a
dataset that has never been built before, powers Deep Dialing and
Fonolo's other innovative features.

Fonolo is designed for anyone who has been frustrated dealing with
large companies over the phone. In particular, it appeals to people
who hate wasting time--and cell phone minutes--with automated phone
systems, and to people who want a better way to keep track of their
call history.

Fonolo is privately held and based in Toronto. The service is
currently in closed beta.

for Fonolo
Sue Huss, +1 619-379-4396
sue.huss@comunicano.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008