About half a month ago, TechCrunch leaked that Ribbit would be acquired by BT for $55 million. Not until the day before yesterday did Ribbit officially confirm the news, but the final deal price was $105 million.
The first time I encountered Ribbit, I felt it seemed to be a very idealistic company, one that fully matched my understanding of voice 2.0. (See also "The Way Out for Chinese VOIP Inspired by Ribbit".) Of course, the acquisition doesn't necessarily mean much, and certainly isn't a success for voice 2.0 entrepreneurs, but it can be seen as a starting point for the industry's reevaluation of VOIP. Google's acquisition of GrandCentral, and BT's acquisition of Ribbit respectively represent the integration paths of moving from the Internet to communications, and from communications to the Internet, or some explorations of this fusion concept.