YouMail, the visual voicemail service that’s been described as “isn’t a business anymore” (more on that later,) has over 17.5 million monthly active users according to today’s announcement.
The 17.5 million active user figure means that approximately 23 percent of anyone who’s ever used YouMail is using it on at least a monthly basis because the company also announced it’s passed 75 million people who have at least interacted with the service. YouMail notes that is over one-third of the U.S. adult population (206.8 million) and about one quarter of the total population (313.5 million.)
It counts anyone who has heard a “smart greeting” when they call a YouMail user, a “this number is out of service” message when they’ve been unknowingly blocked by a YouMail user, has gotten a voicemail receipt, or has played a voicemail shared via social network or by other means as someone who has interacted with YouMail’s service and therefore includes them in the 75 million.
Now let’s go back to that quote from earlier. Alec Saunders of RIM called out YouMail CEO Alex Quilici in April after the company announced plans to drop support for BlackBerry after it saw declining usage on the platform. Saunders wrote this long blog post that I found to be pretty humorous defending BlackBerry and saying all sorts of negative things about YouMail and Quilici as a stubborn entrepreneur.
“YouMail’s flagship product, visual voicemail, isn’t a business anymore – it’s a feature that comes on your phone, and it has been that way since Apple first launched the feature in June 2007 on iPhone,” he writes. “It’s no surprise, either, that YouMail’s business on BlackBerry is declining.”
17.5 million active users — not too shabby for a product that “isn’t a business anymore.”