Source: www.voip-news.com
VoIP & Gadgets Blog has news about a great offer for Mac users who want to Skype – Free access!
Gigaom takes on building a phone system for your business — for free or almost for free.
Vyke has joined forces with Nimbuzz. Read about it on VoIP News of the UK.
Source: goebel.net
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A commentator to my last post "Why Truphone and Gizmo5 applaud that Nokia turns it’s back on mobile VoIP" doubts my argumentation by asking:
I thought Truphone is based on the built-in SIP client? Then it would seem unlikely that Truphone applauds Nokia dropping the mobile VoIP stack from certain models.
My answer is the following:
Yes, Truphone until now works on top of the built-in SIP client. But the Truphone software develops more and more into a standalone application: with the inclusion of SMS, callthrough where no Wifi is available, presence information and so forth. They aren’t afraid of building their own SIP app since it ties the customer even more to them. Therefore Gigaom wrote:
Truphone isnt waiting around for Nokia to do something. A company spokesman told us: From Truphones perspective Nokia has removed the VoIP client from all the N-Series phones for the planned future. We are putting in a replacement client functionality so that existing customers are not orphaned.
Don’t forget that Truphone has a very high pricing for Wifi calls! Their software is convenient to install, but many other VoIP companies are three times cheaper. That’s why they would be very happy to be your only mobile VoIP provider. Vyke already launched their own client, as you can read here, and Gizmo5’s CEO Michael Robertson officially applauded Nokia’s move in a FierceVoIP article.
The only losers are the cellphone users, since these 3rd party apps are much more difficult to use than the native SIP client. Read this insightful comment, posted at Phoneyboy’s blog:
"Im using VOIP on Nokias phone via my own asterisk server. How can Nokia expect me to develop my own Internet telephony application so that I can continue to use it? There are simply thousands of small users out there for whom this is beyond what they could do. This will leave them out in cold.And further comment. Any third party application will have hard time to match the comfort of integrated symbian UI, where normal and internet calls are integrated together and one push of a button decides which one to make. Just compare this with Fring whose UI is just terrible."
We tinkerers who use Asterisk, Voxalot, Voipstunt, PBXes and Iptel.org are out of the game for the new Nseries devices. I am afraid that the Nokia E71 is the last cool device for a VoIP aficionado like me. Hopefully the Android devices will have more to give. Phoneboy calls us, who use 10 VoIP providers on our Nokia devices, a "minority". Nevertheless he "understands the frustration". Thank you!
But still I think that he is wrong, or maybe just blue-eyed, when he says: "It sounds like the problem is only limited to these two handsets". The problem affects all Symbian Series 60 3rd generation Feature Pack 2 (S60 3.2)! This means: All new handsets from now on are affected. Nokia’s VoIP isn’t revolutionary disruptive anymore, but has changed to a big boys’ only business.
Source: www.voip-news.com
Vyke is running a beta trial on its Symbian client for Symbian phones. The standalone VoIP client would allow users to make VoIP calls from their mobile phones. Read about it on VoIP News of the UK.
Andy Abramson has the scoop on Aircell — you know, the company doing WiFI in the skies for American Airlines. It seems despite their cries of we-don’t-do-VoIP, they do do a VoIP product for the skies — a handset actually. Talk about talking out of both sides of a mouth. Read it here.
Here’s a new one: ViFi – VoIP in the car, so you can use it while driving. TMC has the story.
Source: gigaom.com
Microsoft Launches Unified Communications Portfolio. Jeff Raikes, President of MicrosoftРІР‚в„ўs Business Division tells CNET “The era of dialing blind, the era of playing phone tag, the era of voice-mail jamРІРâ€.¦that era is ending.” Good sound byte but far from truth. Aswath rightfully points out that problem is not that of technology but of social behavior. Anyway lets sit back and watch them duke it out with Cisco Systems.
Vyke, another VoIP Client for Nokia S60 phone. The options for making VoIP calls from Nokia S60 phones with WiFi keep on increasing. Vyke is the latest to join the party. I still like Truphone.
Why CD Baby popped a Snocap. Derek Sivers, CD Baby CEO outlines why his company cut the cord with Shawn FanningРІР‚в„ўs start-up, Snocap. It seems like a case of too much expectations from a Silicon Valley company that seems to have drink too much of its own kool aid. Sivers didnРІР‚в„ўt say that, but should have.
Jim Robbins, former CEO of Cox passes away.
Life imitates art: The bizzare saga around the death of Seth Tobian, a hedge fund manager who often appeared on CNBC. He was found dead last month in his pool in Florida. It was then said, it was a heart attack. But now seems like foul play.
WhoРІР‚в„ўs an innovator? Motorola CTO Padmasree Warrior (my interview) has some thoughts on innovators and innovation on her blog. My favorite bit about her post is this bit of sage advise: Know when and what to stop doing. This is probably the hardest thing to doРІРâ€.¦it is next to impossible to get people to think about what not to do.
Source: voipcentral.org
Vyke (pronounced like Skype) reached a milestone this week when it registered more than one million paid customers for its innovative VoIP services that enables customers to enjoy VoIP services from their mobile phones.
Norwegian-based MVoIP startup has recorded rapid downloads of its digital VoIP client in the first six months of this year. The achievement of Vyke is certainly an achievement of mobile VoIP application, which is always challenged by the mobile operators. (Read: Vodafone and Orange).
Vyke provides cheap long distance and international calls to the customers. These services can be accessed from PCs and data-enabled mobile phones. Its AIM-listed stock has increased five times in the last six months.
Vyke will soon announce an upgradation version of its MVoIP application. It is known as Vyke Mobile IP. The new service will enable the customers to make and receive VoIP calls from their mobile handsets even if the operators block the network.
Tommy Jensen, Chairman of Vyke acknowledged that they have witnessed strong growth from all around the world, but particularly in Asia and the Middle East, where charges are high.
Source: goebel.net
The Norwegian mobile VoIP company Vyke seems to urge for an own reliable network. Today’s news is that they have signed a letter of intent to acquire a USA based VoIP network service provider. The Acquisition is subject to due diligence which is ongoing and final approval by the Board of Vyke. Sounds quite interesting. But who is it?
The Target is a VoIP service provider headquartered in the US with additional offices in China. Its VoIP network, comprised of over 50 international points of presence, delivers approximately 25 million minutes per month of VoIP call traffic and has a total estimated capacity of approximately 60 million minutes per month.The Acquisition, if completed, would provide Vyke with a vertically consolidated VoIP network presence in key geographical regions such as South East Asia and Africa, allowing Vyke to increase its services and lower associated costs of service supply in these regions. The Target’s complementary VoIP network will provide Vyke with approximately 80% more total call handling capacity.
A further announcement with further details will be made later, following the due diligence and definite deciscion about the acquisition.
Source: voipcentral.org
We cannot overlook the agony of Nokia users when Vodafone disabled VoIP functionality from N95. Vodafone is not the first company to do so. Ever since the MVoIP concept has come to the fore, the incidence like this has become a common phenomenon.
In the backdrop of this, Vykes recent announcement brings some cheers for the mobile VoIP users. The popular MVoIP service provider is updating its software to enable users to get around mobile VoIP blocking by mobile phone operators.
The upgradation version will be known as Vyke Mobile IP, which will enable the customers to make and receive VoIP calls from their mobile handsets even if the operators block the network.
Vyke CEO, Kjetil Bohn says,
In the short amount of time that this immerging technology has been in the market, they have already responded by removing VoIP capabilities from mobile handsets that they sell and by introducing very restrictive contract terms prohibiting their customers from using their networks to access services such as VoIP and third party peer-to-peer messaging clients.
The Vyke Mobile IP upgrade will be available during the end of this year. I am sure the mobile operators may be trying to find out some alternative way to pressurize the MVoIP operators. After all, they cannot see their revenue being snatched by the way of cheap VoIP services.
Source: goebel.net
Vyke plans to release an upgrade to its mobile VoIP software that will "restore full mobile VoIP functionality on mobile handsets that have been intentionally crippled by mobile operators", says their latest press release. The forthcoming version of Vyke Mobile IP will provide users with a "fully functional, stand alone mobile VoIP application that circumvents the mobile operator orchestrated removal of built-in handset VoIP capabilities".
Vyke wants to prevent problems caused by the new guidelines from the Open Mobile Terminal Alliance (OMTP), an organisation of big mobile operators like Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3. The guidance recommends to disable mobile VoIP features from new handsets sold under contract subsidy.
Tommy Jensen, Executive Chairman for Vyke Communications plc speaks in strong words:
The user should be able to do whatever they want with the phone as they have already signed a contract that guarantees the mobile operator sufficient revenues to justify them giving him or her the device in the first place.There is an elephant in the room that no mobile operator or regulatory agency seems to be acknowledging – network neutrality. When Vodafone decides, as of June 1st, to prohibit their users from using third party applications for services like instant messaging, VoIP or text messaging, they are effectively censoring their users ability to choose what services they want to access from a network that they are paying for. Imagine if a home DSL provider blocked access to Google because they wanted to force you to use their own search engine, on which incidentally you had to pay a charge for each search. As wild as it sounds, this is a direct parallel to what is happening right now in the mobile arena.
It’s puzzling to read these words, after an article by The Register had declared that the OMTP guidelines would do no harm to Vyke, but only to Truphone. If so, why is Vyke’s latest announcement refering so much to the OMTP?
In every case a stand alone mobile VoIP application frees Vyke from the Truphone trap on Nokia N95 in the UK.
Source: goebel.net
The air is getting even thinner for mobile VoIP companies like Truphone or Wifimobile, tells The Register. The Open Mobile Terminal Alliance, a organisation of big mobile operators like Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3 has published a guidance for network operators and handset manufacturers on provisioning and maintaining VoIP settings on new handsets. It covers only the usage of pre-installed VoIP clients on handsets, such as that used by Truphone or Wifimobile. Applications which are downloaded later, like Fring or Vyke, go free.
According to the OMTP specifications, operators are entitled to remove or lock down VoIP applications on subsidised handsets, but they must provide the ability to remove that lock when the contract period expires, just as they now will release a handset to be used on another network (SIM lock).
Bad luck for some independent mobile VoIP providers, as the incumbents agree on that the initial VoIP settings should be securely protected in the terminal, and can only be changed by the operator. When the service contract comes to an end, the customer can request the provider to unlock the Terminals VoIP settings and associate the pre-installed voice applications with alternative VoIP service providers.
This means in most cases: No Truphone or Wifimobile in the first two years of a contract.
Much better off are independent mobile VoIP companies which install their own applications, such as Skype, Fring, Gizmo Project, Jajah, iSkoot, Nimbuzz or Yeigo. The customer may be able to install third-party applications (Java or other Terminal OS applications) that offer VoIP calling using third-party VoIP providers. The only VoIP applications that are forced to use the operators settings are those that were pre-installed on the Terminal, and only during the term of the contract that the Terminal was supplied with.
The mobile phone users must be informed that VoIP has been locked or disabled. So the removal of menu items, in the way that Vodafone and Orange crippled their Nokia N95, wouldn’t be allowed. The Register states that the guidance is not binding to the member companies. But as so many network operators were involved in writing, it’s surely what we will see next on the entire European or world market.
Let’s see if that’s acceptable to regulators such as UK’s Ofcom and what e. g. Truphone will do. Their new software Truphone 3.0 is so feature rich and has presence functions so that it seems quite similar to the mentioned "alternative VoIP applications" to me. If Truphone 4.0 packed it all in the software, instead of using Nokias underlying SIP functions, they would be out of trouble.
But then Truphone would suck as much battery as Fring does.
UPDATE:
I got an email from Wifimobile’s John O’Prey. He says that his company is NOT affected. "This is not the case as our client is a stand alone application which can be installed. I would be most grateful if you could kindly correct this."
Sorry for that!
Source: goebel.net
I nearly forgot to mention: The Inquirer reports that yet another mobile Voip provider has problems with the crippled Nokia N95, supplied by Orange and Vodafone in the UK. Vyke Mobile has also fallen into the Truphone trap.
