Source: www.voip-news.com

iSkoot wins! The Skype-for-mobile provider won the mobile technology category at the 2008 MITX Technology Awards. The awards are presented by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange. They recognize innovations in the New England area (along with the people and companies that drive such innovations).

“We have been extremely impressed with the breadth and quality of the nominations this year. They show incredible innovation across a variety of sectors and highlight the vitality of our local technology community,” said Kiki Mills, executive director of MITX. “As we continue to enjoy a surge in technology investments in New England, we are proud to showcase the contributions our community is making to global technology development.”

iSkoot offers a mobile Skype solution that is carrier- and consumer-friendly.

“We are honored to be recognized for iSkoot’s excellence in developing innovative mobile technologies,” said Mark Jacobstein, iSkoot CEO. “MITX is a leader in identifying emerging technologies and industry leaders, and iSkoot is dedicated to delivering engaging and integrated Web services around the world that consumers value for their mobile lifestyle.”

For to see the complete list of winners click here.

Source: gigaom.com

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

PhoneBoy and to some extent Dan York get the gold stars here.

Both are security experts and have a real expertise in Voice. Dan hosts a regular podcast and Dameon does a wide range of blogging. But at heart both are white hat hackers, and what Dameon did in finding the flaw in a released version of iSkoot so quickly was worth its weight in gold.

This is just one more example of how the Blogosphere helps the startup community, whether asked or not.

It reminds me of the time when an former eBay executive said to some bloggers who were only trying to help "I’m not sure if you’re reporters, developers or consultants so I don’t know how to deal with you" and then repeated the same comment to me in a slightly different way. Basically, shortly after the eBay purchase Skype had a great chance to embrace the blogosphere, but only in the last six months or so has that really happened well, and largely at the direction of their out of house PR agency in NYC and Chaim Hass, who leads it.

Compare that to iSkoot whose team since the moment the first post went up, were engaging with the bloggers and after a first, reply, after some behind the scenes work a few of us to people we both know at iSkoot (as Dameon points out) the real mystery became clear and iSkoot did the right thing.

This is how the blogosphere helps and will continue to do so. Smart companies embrace passion. It’s only insecure executives who fear their help.

Bravo Dameon, Dan and Jim. Bravo iSkoot.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

In a short and polite but still corrective email I was notified by iSkoot that my guess that they were supplying Skype with the mobile client for 30 new handsets was incorrect.

They’re not…..HMMMM. That makes me realize some things, and apparently, so too is PhoneBoy who seems to have identified a very interesting problem that may have the folks at Skype a wee bit nervous about them.

So this begs the question, if iSkoot isn’t Skype’s provider of choice, then did the recent management shakeup at iSkoot that moved much of the USA based aspects of the business from Boston to the Valley in some way hinder the relationship?

The H3G SkypePhone is one of the most amazing platforms around. And, personally I can’t beat the cost savings for calling back to the USA when I’m in the UK. For twenty pounds each month I get global unlimited calling over the combination of Skype and the regular 3 mobile service. When I’m in my apartment I use Truphone on my Nokia E90 or N95 and if I end up somewhere where I don’t have a SIM card, I’ve got MaxRoam.

Source: goebel.net

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Hipsip is a nice and easy mobile VoIP service which let’s you call Skype and SIP contacts from a normal cell phone without a Wifi or 3G data connection. In the last weeks I could try out the service as beta tester and now they open to everyone. Hipsip does basically the same like iSkoot or Mobivox, but is easier to handle. You don’t have to install a software on the mobile phone or talk to a computer voice to establish the connection. The user just opens a mobile website where he sees his Skype contacts and calls them with a click on the name. The phone then starts a GSM call to the nearest Hipsip callthrough number where a server converts it into a Skype call. In my case it goes to a landline number in Hamburg, Germany.

Screenshot from the Hipsip mobile website.

One big difference is that Hipsip has no hosted bridge from the cell phone network to Skype. Your computer must always be switched on and you have to install a small software called Hipsip Bridge which has to be running together with Skype. Otherwise the mobile website on the phone says "Please connect your Hipsip Bridge to see your Skype contacts." That is a big disadvantage to the other mobile phone Skype services like iSkoot, Mobivox and Fring. But at least it’s cheaper than ideas from SkyQube or VoSky. They not only require you to leave your computer running, but also to buy an extra hardware which hands your mobile phone calls over to Skype. Again, they also let you receive Skype calls on a cell phone.

Call your Skype contacts with one click on a hyperlink.

If the Hipsip Bridge doesn’t run, you can still call every SIP address of choice or even email addresses, which will be explained later. I conducted a small email interview to the developer Christian Rees. He comes from Germany himself, where he long time ago used to write about Atari ST computers for the famous c’t magazine. On the phone he had told me that they are already considering a hosted solution without Hipsip Bridge, but that’s not so easy.

I see that you use HTML code like <a href="tel:+4940306988028">Call sip:johndoe@ipcall.com</a> on your mobile website. What does it do? A computer’s browser doesn’t know what to do with it, but a cell phone starts a call.

The answer is, that the so called telephone URL, tel:, is supported on converged devices (in the sense that they support circuit and packet data) like cell phones with a web browser. When a tel: URL link with a phone number is clicked in the browser, the phone starts dialing the number. It works on all phones that are less then 4 years old. It’s customary for the phone to prompt the user with the number, as a safeguard. Our users can be assured that we are only returning our local callthrough numbers.

Who is the company behind the Hipsip offer, Sipcall.com?

Sipcall.com Inc., the parent of Hipsip, is a California corporation with offices in Menlo Park. The company was founded in 2004, is privately funded and in the process of raising more capital. We are less then 10 people with backgrounds from academia, VoIP and the mobile industry. We consider ourselves an international company, that happens to be located in Silicon Valley.

Our history goes back quite a bit, starting in 1999, with the idea that email addresses will eventually turn into phone numbers. We attempted to raise funding in 2000, targetting the mobile space already back then. However, it took until 2004 for the climate to be right to start again with new ideas. In early 2005 we began developing the Hipsip Bridge for Skype. Due to our funding situation back then, it has taken until now for the relase.

What are your further plans?

We are planning to make Hipsip more useful and convenient for our users. One priority is to improve the Skype experience. We have already put emphasis on providing ISDN like voice quality for Skype calls over SIP, since Skype is so exceptional in this respect and we don’t want to loose too much of that. However, there are limitations to the current phone networks. We are not so hot on vaporware, so we’ll announce new features when they are available. And we are very interested to hear from users what they need.

When will it be hosted, so that my computer doesn’t need to stay switched on?

See above, but it is a high priority for us.

And what about new features?

One novel feature that we provide is EmailCall. With EmailCall, a user can turn their email address into their phone number, so to speak. This is how it works: if the user has verified his mobile number and email address and opts-in to EmailCall, he can now be called by his email address:

• by dialing the email address on any SIP phone registered on Hipsip, which will ring the users SIP devices (you could say we are sippyfying the email address).
• from any mobile phone by entering the URL: hipsip.com/john.doe@aol.com (as an example). When the URL is entered, the current mobile number of the owner of the email address will be returned. This is limited to other users of Hipsip, and is strictly an opt-in feature. The user can change his current number anytime, while the much easier to remember email address can be used to look it up in real time, and dial immediately.

The idea behind this is, that we will eventually see a convergence in the addressing space just as we are seeing it with networks becoming all IP, so that a single SIP/email/URI address will be sufficient for all the different modes of communications for which we have to remember identifiers today. This day is not here yet, but we believe that it will eventually happen. Today it is already possible to dial a URI on the Nokia N-Series and E-Series phones, which works very well over WLAN and 3G. Things will only improve when pure packet networks like Wimax and LTE come online.

My take: we have to wait and see how Hipsip develops. The market for such services is already crowded. But nobody has built yet the perfect bridge from Skype to SIP. Hipsip has potential if they get the service hosted, but then they would have to cover higher server costs. The EmailCall is funny but nothing new. Jangl already does it for nearly a year.

Side note:
Respect to blogger hero Russell Shaw who unexpectedly passed away last weekend when he was on his way to cover the Emerging Technologies Conference and VON.

Source: goebel.net

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One thing I heard in Barcelona was that the mobile network operator 3 is not so happy with the 3Skypephone. People are allegedly using it like crazy and 3 is required to install more and more servers from the US startup iSkoot which powers the service. As you remember the 3Skypephone doesn’t do mobile VoiP but makes an GSM call from the phone to the 3-iSkoot server, which then cannels them over the fixed line internet to Skype. The data connection is only used to show the presence of the Skype buddies. These iSkoot servers must be quite expensive.

Skype on mobile phones is generally a problem, said Eric Lagier, Business Development Director for Mobile at Skype, last year. A native version exists only for Windows Mobile devices because only they have a strong enough CPU. Symbian users already gave up all hope for a native Skype on their handsets. For more than two years they are waiting for Skype to solve its battery drain and latency problems. Only a prototype was reported in February 2006. Symbian users still have to rely on 3rd party applications like Fring, iSkoot or Mobivox most of them eat up phone minutes.

But now a real native Skype version for Symbian cell phones will come out, I have been told at the Mobile World Congress. Maybe next week already. It will enable to make Skype calls over 3G and Wifi. The most interesting fact is that this software will NOT be released by Skype and also not by the Israeli software maker Fring, which until now was the only option for a Skype data call. Stay tuned and remember that you read it here first! I am quite excited to see when this rumour will really come true. Unfortunately I cannot tell the name of the company to not ruin their surprise.

Source: www.voip-news.com

A partnership between iSkoot and Cisco is intended to bring together VoIP and the public switched telephone network. iSkoot has integrated it’s services with the Cisco AS500 Series Universal Gateway and the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch to connect the VoIP network with traditional landlines.

“We’re excited to be working with Cisco and their state-of-the-art, carrier-class technology to enable seamless integration with carrier networks worldwide,” said Jacob Guedalia, Chief Operations Officer at iSkoot. “As a result of our successful interoperability testing, iSkoot’s mobile solution is now commercially deployed by mobile operators around the globe. We’re honored that Cisco is recognizing this achievement by featuring our software at the Mobile World Congress.”

The integrated system has been successfully deployed in several markets worldwide.

“As the Internet increasingly becomes the foundation for all mobile communications, the Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network architecture provides the scalability, openness, and reliability that service providers need to deploy innovative applications such as iSkoot and deliver new profitable services to their subscribers,” said Jon Hindle, director of mobility marketing at Cisco.

Source: goebel.net

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Jon Arnold has updated his very interesting portal website IP Convergence TV. This time I also wrote a guest opinion, because to make money from mobile VoIP companies have to accept certain realities: "WiFi isn’t everywhere and callback costs double".

I love the mobile use of VoIP but I still find it quite uncomfortable. That’s what I point out. Especially annoying is how Skype, Fring, Truphone and other SIP based VoIP services get blocked by German 3G providers. Sorry, Dean Bubley from Disruptive Analysys! The reality looks much darker for VoIPo3G than you predict for the future. (But thanks for your regular Google ads "3G mobile Voice over IP. Analyst report: is it a threat to carriers? Or a future opportunity?". I better put a direct link to your website.)

Mobile VoIP over Wifi works only at home or in the office where I don’t need it. So in my guest opinion I advocate intelligent cell phone software which automatically completes calls as callback, callthrough, Vo3G or VoWifi while the user doesn’t even notice. I have already installed an example software on a Nokia E61.

Maybe if more and more people use these options, Dean’s dream will come true. If everyone uses only mobile callthrough, triggered by intelligent software on the handset, the mobile network operators cannot charge any other items than the tariff’s included minutes for local calls. Their voice legacy cell phone networks would become dumb pipes into the internet, the way we already see it with the 3Skypephone or iSkoot, Ringfree, Mobivox, Jajah Direct, Sipbroker, Tpad, Rebtel, Mobiletalk, etc. If mobile operators wanted to charge for international calls at all, they would have to embrace VoIPo3G and could at least charge for data, the way Dean predicts it.

But until this comes true, the mobile VoIP companies should attack the incumbents with better callthrough options, to take more and more cell phone calls out of the traditional networks and into IP. Read the full text for further explanations!

Source: goebel.net

Many commentators didn’t realize that the 3Skypephone doesn’t really do mobile VoIP. Even my friends at Areamobile thought at first that a 3G data flatrate would be necessary to use it. It was quite easy to get this false impression as the press release only said:

29th October 2007 Skype, the global Internet communications company and 3, the mobile operator, have launched a new affordable handset that lets you make free Skype to Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages from your mobile phone to other Skype users no matter where they are.

The 3 Skypephone is a fully-featured 3G Internet phone with Skype built-in. In addition to Skype calls the phone makes conventional calls and can be used to access 3s broad range of other internet services.

3 customers using the 3 Skypephone will be able to make Skype calls and send instant messages on the move with the push of a button. This is the first time an operator has offered a mass market device which is tailor-made for free calling over the internet from a mobile. Now, all of Skypes 246 million registered can be reached for free with the 3 Skypephone. …

No more technical details were given. But the mobile Skype calls on the 3Skypephone are basically GSM phone calls, since it’s the iSkoot service which is powering them. The day after the launch iSkoot could send out their own press release:

CAMBRIDGE, MA October 30, 2007 iSkoot today announced that it has been selected by Skype to help power the 3 Skypephone the first ever mass-market Skype-enabled mobile handset. …"

This means that Skype calls from the 3Skypephone aren’t 3G VoIP calls. They are GSM calls from the phone to the 3-iSkoot server, which then cannels them over the fixed line internet to Skype. The data connection is only used to show the presence of the Skype buddies.

The 3Skypephone doesnt really do any mobile VoIP, since it uses Skype only in the fixed line part of the call. The bad voice quality, that for instance Luca critizes, is not because of unreliable 3G coverage. Possible causes are the low sound quality of the GSM codecs or transcoding issues at a gateway level. Yet still iSkoot is a nifty solution to guarantee Skype coverage nearly everywhere.

That’s also why their FAQ list says:

Q: Will it work on 2G, 2.5G& 3G networks?
A: Wherever you have coverage in the UK, Skype will work. If you can make a normal voice call, you will be able to make a Skype Call.

Now it’s also obvious why the technology doesn’t work outside of the 3 network: It relies on free on net calls from the 3Skypephone to the 3-iSkoot server. Luca said that "if you are roaming (in Italy in some places you are under Tim coverage and not 3) Skype calls dont work".

The 3Skypephone is no new invention but just another marketing skin for iSkoot. Take that TIME magazine if you want to elect your next "Invention Of the Year".

Source: voipcentral.org

Its complete freedom for Skype users. They can now enjoy VoIP services without sitting before PCs because iSkoot has launched its much-talked iSkoot v1.1 mobile application. It brings Skype services for the BlackBerry smartphones.

With iSkoot v1.1, Skype users can instantly chat with their Skype friends. They can also make/receive Skype calls. At the same time, they can make calls to traditional numbers from their BlackBerry devices using SkypeOut services.

The iSkoot v1.1 also enables the users know their friends Skype status. It means that the BlackBerry device will display you who is online and offline. You are also empowered to manage your online presence.

The most striking feature of iSkoot is that it purges the need for special hardware, headsets, microphones, broadband connections, USB phones and even PCs, and consumers don’t have to go looking for a WiFi hot spot for VoIP services.

The iSkoot v1.1 is a free downloadable software.

Image:

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

BlackBerry users can call and chat with their Skype™ contacts using iSkoot on their mobile handsets

CAMBRIDGE, MA - July 9, 2007 - iSkoot, the leading provider of mobile Internet communications solutions, today announced the highly-anticipated release of the iSkoot v1.1 mobile application for BlackBerry smartphones. The new iSkoot v1.1 delivers a comprehensive mobile Skype experience on BlackBerry: With the click of a button, users can instantly chat with their Skype contacts, make and receive Skype calls, and use SkypeOut™ to inexpensively call regular phone numbers nearly anywhere in the world. iSkoot v1.1 also displays complete Skype contact status information, so BlackBerry users can see which friends, family members and business colleagues are available, as well as manage their own online presence. This latest release features a next generation, easy-to-use interface especially designed for BlackBerry users and will offer additional features soon. iSkoot works without any need for PCs, special hardware, custom phones or Wi-Fi hot spots, and utilizes the existing mobile network infrastructure to route Skype calls through the voice channel.

“We are extremely pleased to bring mobile Skype to the BlackBerry. iSkoot enables BlackBerry users running OS 4.0 or higher to take advantage of the benefits of their Skype accounts without having to rely on their PCs. With this new release of our software, we are bringing another key piece of the Web to the BlackBerry,” said Roy Erez, VP of Business Development, iSkoot. “BlackBerry commands a vast and rapidly-growing customer base, so extending support to this community marks a significant achievement for iSkoot. We will continue to work on ensuring seamless integration and expanding support for Skype across the entire line of BlackBerry devices.”

How iSkoot Works

iSkoot for BlackBerry is now available for free at www.iskoot.com. BlackBerry users can simply download iSkoot’s thin-client application to their BlackBerry devices, log on to their Skype account, and start making and receiving calls and chatting with their online Skype contacts. When a user selects a contact to call, the iSkoot solution connects the call to Skype’s peer-to-peer software so that the BlackBerry user only pays for air time on the smartphone. If the user makes a SkypeOut call, it works the same way, but the user also pays SkypeOut minutes, just as if the call were made from a PC. When a user receives Skype calls on a BlackBerry, SkypeOut charges also apply.

Supported Blackberry Handsets

iSkoot v1.1 currently supports the following devices running OS 4.0 or higher:

• 7100
• 7500
• 7700
• 8100 (Pearl)
• 8300 (Curve)
• 8700
• 8800

iSkoot will continue to work to extend support to other BlackBerry devices soon.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

BlackBerry users can call and chat with their Skype™ contacts using iSkoot on their mobile handsets

CAMBRIDGE, MA - July 9, 2007 - iSkoot, the leading provider of mobile Internet communications solutions, today announced the highly-anticipated release of the iSkoot v1.1 mobile application for BlackBerry smartphones. The new iSkoot v1.1 delivers a comprehensive mobile Skype experience on BlackBerry: With the click of a button, users can instantly chat with their Skype contacts, make and receive Skype calls, and use SkypeOut™ to inexpensively call regular phone numbers nearly anywhere in the world. iSkoot v1.1 also displays complete Skype contact status information, so BlackBerry users can see which friends, family members and business colleagues are available, as well as manage their own online presence. This latest release features a next generation, easy-to-use interface especially designed for BlackBerry users and will offer additional features soon. iSkoot works without any need for PCs, special hardware, custom phones or Wi-Fi hot spots, and utilizes the existing mobile network infrastructure to route Skype calls through the voice channel.

“We are extremely pleased to bring mobile Skype to the BlackBerry. iSkoot enables BlackBerry users running OS 4.0 or higher to take advantage of the benefits of their Skype accounts without having to rely on their PCs. With this new release of our software, we are bringing another key piece of the Web to the BlackBerry,” said Roy Erez, VP of Business Development, iSkoot. “BlackBerry commands a vast and rapidly-growing customer base, so extending support to this community marks a significant achievement for iSkoot. We will continue to work on ensuring seamless integration and expanding support for Skype across the entire line of BlackBerry devices.”

How iSkoot Works

iSkoot for BlackBerry is now available for free at www.iskoot.com. BlackBerry users can simply download iSkoot’s thin-client application to their BlackBerry devices, log on to their Skype account, and start making and receiving calls and chatting with their online Skype contacts. When a user selects a contact to call, the iSkoot solution connects the call to Skype’s peer-to-peer software so that the BlackBerry user only pays for air time on the smartphone. If the user makes a SkypeOut call, it works the same way, but the user also pays SkypeOut minutes, just as if the call were made from a PC. When a user receives Skype calls on a BlackBerry, SkypeOut charges also apply.

Supported Blackberry Handsets

iSkoot v1.1 currently supports the following devices running OS 4.0 or higher:

• 7100
• 7500
• 7700
• 8100 (Pearl)
• 8300 (Curve)
• 8700
• 8800

iSkoot will continue to work to extend support to other BlackBerry devices soon.