Dan Borislow, the inventor of magicJack and a pioneer in developing phone calls over the Internet, died Monday, officials at the company he founded said. He was 52. A spokeswoman for MagicJack Vocaltec Ltd. said he died of a heart attack. MagicJack, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Netanya, Israel, became widely known through television commercials and infomercials beginning in 2008. More than 10 million of the devices have been sold since, MagicJack VocalTec says, and they remain a ubiquitous offering in some 25,000 stores. In a statement, MagicJack CEO Gerald Vento praised Borislow as a visionary. "Dan was a true telecom pioneer whose vision, creativity, energy, passion and single-minded focus was the driving force behind the success of magicJack," said Vento, who was named president and CEO of MagicJack VocalTec in December 2012. At the time, Borislow said it was time to hand over the reins to someone else to grow the business. Borislow was also well-known as a horse breeder and for his controversial stint as the owner of a women's soccer team.
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-The Associated Press