Source: solokay.blogspot.com

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

AOL has been behind SIP for over three years or more. They are not jumping on board now. They are simply using what little they have left to SPIN this. Alec pretty much nailed it here as did Ken Camp.

What’s really here?…and more importantly, is anyone going to use a platform which is:

1) Pricier?

2) One way calling?

3) May not be there in six months?

Over the past 18 months the entire Voice team at AOL has been cut layer by layer and dismantled. Their mobile group also.

What’s more, before that AOL made a big deal about the Vonage/CallVantage Competitor (whatever it was called) then canned that, leavingcustomers hanging. Why? Could it have been Time Warner Cable. Rumor has it they didn’t want AOL to have a major voice play and guess what?

TWC looks like they have won that battle as the triple play only helped inflate their revenues.

So now at a time when TWC is being spun out someone says "oh, now we can launch voice again because they are no longer our big brother."

Caring about SIP and developers? I don’t think so. If there isn’t an advertisement in the window, AOL/TimeWarner can care less. It’s that simple.

AOL had the opportunity, the platform and the people. Now all they have is a bunch of code, some infrastructure and a team that’s hanging on to keep their jobs or have something to put on their resume.

Alec and Bill Volk have both heard the promises,,,,what has been delivered? ????

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Alec gets up to bat and swings a heavy club this morning as he lays out his perspective based on experience of working with AOL and their now apparently defunct AIM PhoneLine developer program.

His event by event account isn’t a pretty picture and should be noticed.

It should make for an interesting Sqawk Box today.

Technorati Tags:
AOL

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

AOL is making noise about releasing API’s for voice with OPEN AIM and their desire to work with developer.

I wonder what developers who have worked with AIM PhoneLine have to say about that?

So far the announcement applies to AIM Call Out. One reason is that AIM Phone Line is pretty much dead and AOL doesn’t want to be in the inbound call handling market it would seem.

Source: gigaom.com

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Tom Keating reports on AIM Call Out which looks and acts very much like Jajah to me. Some well placed sources lead me to believe it may be a private label version.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

New Symbian Platinum Partner Provides Free Software for Symbian Smartphones, Offering VoIP Calls, Text Messages and Instant Messaging.
EQO Communications today announced plans to release a native Symbian C++ version of its mobile VoIP, text and IM application. EQO (pronounced “echo”) is a free mobile application that lets users call anywhere in the world for rates as low as 1.2p/minute (2.3 cents USD) and also features inexpensive international text messages and free access to popular instant messaging services, including MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber. By developing a Symbian C++ native version of EQO, Symbian smartphone users can enjoy a faster and more responsive mobile VoIP experience.

By using EQO, Symbian smartphone users can now save up to 95% on international calls to landlines and mobile phones, and save up to 70% on international text messages. In addition, calls and texts exchanged between EQO users are free. Once the EQO application is downloaded, users can automatically import all of their existing contacts into their EQO phonebook. With EQO’s presence feature, users are able to see which of their contacts are online and who is available for a call, to receive a text or have a chat using EQO’s free IM feature.
EQO is inviting all Symbian enthusiasts to be part of the beta trial by signing up at www.EQO.com/symbian.
EQO works on hundreds of different mobile phones – for a complete list of supported phones please visit www.eqo.com/supportedhandsets
News Source

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Cerulean announced that they have released a new beta version of Trillian Astra for iPhone. According to the article on Cerulean Blog, more than 3000 people have down loaded the application. This number might go higher as other users get to know about the Astra.
Lack of communication, (IM, Chat) has been a complain of many iPhone users.
If you are wondering what Trillian is, it is the the grand daddy of IM communication hubs. It supports many instant messaging programs, including AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. I I think most user’s contacts are covered with these.

If you own an iPhone, please feel free to sign up as a Trillian Astra alpha tester. Don’t forget to tell us you own one in the “About Yourself” section in the form! If you are a Mac user, you may also get a chance to use the browser edition of Trillian Astra as a part of the alpha program. I do not have a iPhone yet! but now that DVD Jon has provided a way to use iPhone as a PDA (an expensive PDA) i might get one! But I have a new Mac!

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
fix8 is a free interactive communication tool that animates your expressions and movements in real-time. All you need is your PC, a webcam, and a dash of creativity. Use a wide mix of creative tools including avatars, creative "dress-up" accessories, flash animation and more to create your own world of videos to upload to your personal blog or post to video sharing sites. fix8 isn’t just a video creation tool - it’s a communication tool that allows you to dress yourself up with the full offering of avatars and creative accessories for streaming IM video chat.
Fix8 enables you to apply an avatar character in real time to mimic your own facial expressions. You can record the result of course and put it on YouTube, or simply apply the avatar while using instant messaging video chat systems such as Skype, AIM or Instant Messenger! Yet another exciting and creative opportunity for educators. Have a look at the showreel and contemplate the possibilities.
Visit FIX8 and get your fix on your avatars.

Source: voipcentral.org

According to Paul D. Kretkowski,

Voice 2.0 is an umbrella term for a loosely defined set of technologies and ideas that let people transmit voice, data, video and instant messages via IP, anytime, from anywhere. It also implies a world where users, rather than a central authority, will have much greater control over who they communicate with, how and when.

He says that the Voice 2.0 applications would bring down telecom bills significantly. However, the implication of Voice 2.0 applications needs a lot of hard works and efforts.

Some of the technocrats consider that we are in the Voice 2.0 era.

Andy has asserted that we are in the Voice 3.0 Era. He claims,

In essence I think we are headed to Voice 3.0, which as pal Jeff Bonforte at Yahoo likes to say, brings 2.0 approaches to a 1.0 world. In my interpretation that’s taking Yahoo Voice or AIM PhoneLine and all they have to offer and applying them to a 1.0 world. That’s where friend and client David Beckemeyer’s PhoneGnome falls in my book. I would have previously thought of them as a 2.0 solution but really PhoneGnome is in the space of bridging both worlds and providing the first and true Voice 3.0 solution even before 2.0 was fully baked.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Geniousnet has released Genius Navigator 380, which is 1200 dpi optical mouse as well as a tethered VOIP / IM phone.
According to Genius, Genius Navigator 380 can be carried along with your notebook anytime, anywhere. As long as you have internet connection, be it in the office, home or your favorite hangout, and you are writing that paper, over due home work or browsing the Internet, and the LED on the Navigator 380 blinks to tell you that someone just called you through Instant Messenger or your VOIP application like Skype. And if the PC speaker is on, the ringing will also alert you for the incoming phone call. So one just needs to pick up the mouse, and open it up like a clamshell mobile phone to Navigator 380.
Genius also tells that, the Genius VOIP Mouse software can support up to six Instant Messengers (Skype, MSN, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, QQ and AIM) and combine these IMs into one window. Seven buttons in Navigator 380 are for the phone functions — Phone on/off, List up/down, Volume up/down and OK for call up the IM window.

Links;
Genius net

Source: voipcentral.org

After shutting down its much-hyped TotalTalk service, AOL is now eyeing on the global Voice market with adding new features to its Instant Messaging Application (AIM), although the US online service provider has registered very negligible number of non-American customers towards its messaging service.

However, with the close down of TotalTalk ATA VoIP solution, AOL has now a plenty of resources to expand its VoIM solution (Voice over Instant Messaging) that comes with AIM Phoneline.

AOL is intended to bring three application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable developers to build systems like personalize the AIM Phoneline service by adding ringback tones and ring tones for frequent callers and provide call management functionality into the AIM Phoneline service.

AIM Phoneline provides a telephone number to subscribers free of charge. The company also releases a pay-version of its AIM service, which provides users unlimited calls to US and 30 countries worldwide for $14.95 per month.

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