Ricochet Seeks Cash To Expand
Ricochet, a wireless service I loved, but which missed its opportunity by a long shot via stupid pricing policies, and an extended bankruptcy process, is still trying to come back into the game, despite the fact that WiFi has really taken over where Ricochet left off (even though there are some very big differences in the technologies and what you can do with them). The latest is that Ricochet is trying to raise more money, but is clearly having some problems. Besides the fact that most people who used to use Ricochet have now discovered WiFi meets their needs, they also lost their CEO who organized the whole plan to bring Ricochet back from the dead, and laid off a number of employees. This is all really unfortunate. I was an early subscriber to Ricochet, and still think they could have taken over the market, if they had positioned themselves (early on) as a competitor to DSL and cable modems, offering high speed, always on, internet access to the home – with the wireless aspect being a really nice additional feature. Instead, they targeted a very small niche audience of “mobile professionals”, and tried to get away with charging exorbitant fees. Chances are Ricochet won’t be around much longer.
