Update: Ok, Scott Faber comments below that I may have jumped the gun in judging Ether so quickly. So I’ve gone and had a closer look, and I’ve changed my opinion. The difference with Keen is actually very important, and this implementation could really be very powerful. Scott’s PayPal/eBay analogy was helpful in communicating the difference.

My main critique at this point is that everyone has to pass via the same 800 number. Why not give each person a distinct number (or at least let them choose)?

Oh, and kudos to Scott for reaching out to me, and probably many other bloggers who misinterpreted the Ether product as a Keen rehash.

I just saw on TechCrunch that super-stealth Ether to launch tonight….

Things come full circle for this company: they started as Keen, then became Ingenio, and now are launching Ether, which turns out to be exactly what Keen originally was!

I suppose it’s a measured risk. There are plenty of businesses that are working today that would never have worked 5 years ago because of growth in the meantime of broadband penetration, comfort with ecommerce, etc.

So why not bring back Keen from the dustbin? But then again, maybe there was a reason it failed in the first instance. Ingenio should probably just stick to it’s booming, solid business of pay-per-call.