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Skype for iPhone 1.1 Update
Late last night I saw an update notifications on my iPhone 3GS for Skype. New version? Sweet! I updated it and checked out the release notes for Skype 1.1 for the iPhone and iPod touch. It sports some new languages and now includes Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish and Traditional Chinese and of course English.
The bigest new feature is the ability to send text messages (SMS) using Skype credit. They also added voicemail support and improved dialing help when calling phones.
According to the official Skype blog, “we’ve made some improvements to the look and feel, particularly when calling phones using the dial pad.”
You can download the update in iTunes, or even better just launch the App Store on your iPod touch or iPhone and then tap Updates to get the latest version of all your apps!
Some things I would have liked to seen in this release:
- Push notifications (Skype might have to haggle with Apple on this one since Apple places restrictions on third party apps that can run in the background on the iPhone.)
- Video conferencing support - Though that probably isn’t coming any time soon.
So what would you like to see in a future release of Skype for iPhone?
Tags: apple, im, iphone, iphone 3gs, itunes, push notifications, skype, Skype 1.1 for the iPhone, voip
Related tags: skype iphone, calling phones, skype, iphone, release, update
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Big Stage Adds Cool 3D Avatars to Skype
Big Stage today announced that their popular 3D avatars based on pictures of your own face now works on Skype with their new Skype Add-on. It’s similar in concept to JibJab, perhaps the most popular site to feature animated avatars based on your own face. However, Big Stage goes one step further with technology that lets you move, change expressions, and more. I downloaded the beta to check it out. Here’s their demo video, but I hope to include one of myself soon:
QT_WriteOBJECT(’http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/videos/BlabberForSkype.mov’, ‘200%’,'195%’, ”, ‘autoplay’, ‘true’, ‘bgcolor’, ‘black’, ’scale’, ‘aspect’);
Others trying to make 3D avatars popular include Gizmoz and Kloonies. Gizmoz also uses your own digital photo to create an avatar based on your own face, but according to Big State, it falls short compared to their technology. They use three photos to make a more accurate 3D representation of your face, where as Gizmos only uses one. Kloonies is a different model all together sine they use cartoonist 3D avatars that you pick from a list.
Pretty cool stuff! As I was quoted in the press release they put out:
“Blabber’s advanced facial modeling and real-time animation makes voice over IP lots of fun,” said Tom Keating, CTO, VP, Founder of TMC Labs. “It’s a compelling example of the role the animated digital version of people will play as ever more advanced virtual world capabilities converge with voice and video in the connected online world.”
“Through the launch of a Big Stage-enabled Skype plug-in, we’re extending our advanced 3-D avatar technology into the realm of real-time expressive communications and further advancing our goal of projecting ’self’ into digital life.” said Big Stage CEO Phil Ressler. “The estimated 450 million people using Skype can have fun speaking as an ultra cool version of themselves instead of using chat, or substitute Blabber for video when for any reason they aren’t ready to face their web-cam or need to conserve bandwidth. Blabber debuts our voice-sync engine, which we intend to leverage as we extend a similar capability into video games, virtual worlds, virtual conferencing, and social networks like Facebook.”
You can download the Skype add-on here.
Tags: 3d, avatar, big stage, skype, voip
Related tags: avatars based, skype, stage, avatars, video, technology
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Military Suspension Plan from VoIP Providers - Who’s Going to Step Up?
I received an email from a U.S. military service person asking me if I was aware of any VoIP service providers offering a “military suspension plan” which allows U.S. military members to “suspend” your contract without paying monthly fees.
Mr. Tom Keating,I’m a current customer of Vonage, but have recently been disappointed by them. You see, being in the military, deployments do not allow us to use our regular phones, for obvious reasons. As far as I’m aware, every cell phone carrier has some form of “military suspension plan” which allows you to keep your contract without paying any monthly fees until you notify them that you want it reactivated (not sure about landlines, but most ISP’s seem to have a similar policy).
My question to you is: do you know of any VOIP companies that have a policy to accommodate military deployments, or even long vacations? At $35ish/month, I’d prefer not to pay this during a 6+ month tour in Iraq.
“Bitter cold, Bitter fight” a weary U.S. Marine in Korea 1950
Tags: iraq, korea, military, military suspension plan, packet8, service provider, troops, voip, vonage
Related tags: military suspension, service providers, contract paying, military deployments, military, suspension
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Skype Video Calls on Google Android
What if you could do Skype VoIP & video conferencing on the Google Android? Sounds pretty damn cool, doesn’t it? Especially given all the media hype surrounding the new iPhone 3GS. I already tweeted my displeasure that the new Apple iPhone 3GS doesn’t support Flash and also tweeted my annoyance that Apple didn’t put a front-facing camera for video chat support using Skype. Thus, while the iPhone supports a native Skype app, it only supports VoIP and not video chat. And don’t expect video chat anytime soon either. As Skype Journal remarked, “iPhone programmers can use the webcam to store video to a file, but won’t be able to write apps that manipulate or route the stream. This means Skype for iPhone won’t be able to add video calling any time soon.”
Well forget about the damned new iPhone! I have a method that “should” enable Skype video chat on the Google Android mobile phone.
How do you ask? Well, first we need to “cook” in a Flash player into Google Android’s ROM, since Flash support on the Android isn’t officially released yet. But we’re not waiting on Google, so let’s get cookin’!
Here are the steps to get Skype video chat working on the Google Android:
1) Download the HTC SuperHero V2 ROM for the Google Android
2) To keep memory freed up and automatically install apps to SD, go download this. (direct link to .zip file here)
Download a2sd.zip, unzip put the unzipped file onto your C drive
Open command prompt and type these:
adb remount
adb push c:\a2sd.sh /system/bin
3) Upgrade to the latest SPL & radio by heading over to this page on android-unleashed.com
4) Launch Skype Flash application and make a video call to another Skype user.
Where the heck is the “Skype Flash” application you ask?
Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that. I want to test this first to make sure it works & capture some screenshots to put here as proof.
Sorry to be such a tease, but I want to be the first to get a Skype video chat call to work on a popular mobile phone platform. Stay tuned though!
Tags: apple, flash, google android, iphone, skype, video, video chat, video conferencing, voip
Related tags: google android, skype video, flash application, mobile phone, skype flash, skype
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flaphone, the Flash Web-based SIP-to-SIP & SIP-to-Skype VoIP App, Adds New Features
Flaphone has done some updates to their Flash-based VoIP application. Back in 2007 I broke the story about the first Adobe Flash-based SIP VoIP app called Flashphone, later renamed Flaphone. Flaphone is a web-based SIP softphone that uses ubiquitous Flash (Mac, PC, Linux), to enable you to make or receive calls to/from all SIP phones and SIP services, including Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk. You can make free web-based Flash calls to Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk (gtalk) users. You can even make Flash-based SIP-to-Skype calls using Flaphone, which I tested back in February. You simply enter sip:skype_username@skype to make a call to a Skype username. Good stuff! 
They just announced some new features, including a new skin (white), emoticons in chat, and the ability to transfer files up to 5MB in size between Flaphone users if both have Flash player 10 installed. The file size is restricted for now, but Flaphone stated that when they add P2P support they will remove the restriction. I like Flaphone since I can run it from any PC and make SIP-to-SIP calls or SIP-to-Skype calls without installing anything. Definitely worth checking out.
Tags: adobe, chat, file transfer, flaphone, flash, google talk, im, msn messenger, p2p, sip, skype, voip
Related tags: flash based, messenger google, skype calls, skype username, yahoo messenger, flaphone
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Elektrobit MID Reference Design Aims to put Linux Desktop apps + Smartphone in your pocket
Smartphones, netbooks, smartbooks, and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) while very similar feature-wise, each has their own distinct advantages. Smartphones such as the iPhone have been widely successful, while the MID market has been a bit slow to take off. Elektrobit Corporation (EB), based in Oulu, Finland aims to change that with their new MID reference design that combines the “pocketability” of smartphones with the power of PCs/netbooks since it can run desktop Linux applications. Picture an iPhone that can actually run full version Linux applications such as Firefox, Opera, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, SSH client, and more. That’s exactly what you’ll get with Elektrobit’s (EB) new MID reference design. EB’s sleek, media-centric MID reference device takes the power of the PC and makes it pocket-able so you don’t have to compromise on mobile capabilities.
I spoke with EB’s Vesa Kiviranta Vice President, Mobile Internet Device Solutions, Wireless Solutions BU about their new reference design. Vesa explained that it’s based on Intel’s next generation Moorestown platform. The reference design includes touch-screen support with multi-touch (cool!) support. It uses the latest 3D and high resolution capacitive sensing touch screen (3.97″) powered by EB Touch & Feel technology. Because the screen measures nearly 4 inches (3.97″), it fits into the MID category, while smartphones have screens smaller than 3.9 inches and netbooks have screens larger than 5 inches.The reference design relies on a Linux-based OS with EB’s MID UI & Application framework based on QT. It also features EB Navigation Suite with integrated GPS.
It supports two cameras (front & back of phone) so not only can you snap photos, it can also easily support videoconferencing/videochat. I asked EB about support for Skype video chat and they told me it will indeed be supported in their MID design. In fact, they tested it using the Linux Skype application in their labs. As far as I know, this marks the first time a pocketable mobile phone can perform Skype videoconferencing! Cool stuff! I know many iPhone fans were very disappointed the new iPhone 3GS didn’t add a front-facing camera (myself included), which would allow for videochat capabilities. Of course, the current Skype for iPhone client doesn’t support video, but my sources tell me it’s in the works. It will be very hard to have a videoconference if you have to turn the iPhone around so the camera is facing you, but not the iPhone screen. Basically, they’ll be able to see you, but you won’t be able to see them - unless you spin the iPhone back around.
Tags: chat, eb, Elektrobit, mid, mobile phone, netbook, reference design, skype, smart phone, Vesa Kiviranta, videoconferencing, voip
Related tags: reference design, mobile internet, linux applications, touch screen, iphone, design
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PC Pursuit - the Forerunner of VoIP
My first modem back in the 1980s was a pokey 300 baud modem, which I used to war dial into my high school’s computer system. No, I didn’t change my grades. 
I recall connecting to my dad’s SNET (now SBC) phone company’s servers using a modem list that my dad gave me. Talk about corrupting the morals of a minor! 
I wasn’t a hacker per se. Just a curious teenager checking out remote computer systems. My parents bought me a 1200 baud modem for Christmas which I thought made the text fly on my screen. When I then upgraded to a 2400 baud modem, I thought life was great. I was logging onto BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and playing online games, including Risk, Trade Wars, and more using colored ASCII text/characters for graphics.
I also remember in the 1980s playing with PC Pursuit which leveraged the Telenet network. Telenet was a packet switched network started in 1974. It was the first publicly available commercial packet-switched network service. With a flat-monthly fee, PC Pursuit users could dial into the Telenet’s packet-switched network in one city, then dial out on the modems in another city to access bulletin board systems and other services, thus avoiding long-distance charges. Sound familiar? PC Pursuit was a forerunner of Voice over IP services. Who knew I was playing with something in my teenage years that would later evolve into VoIP technology and indeed my career in VoIP.
Tags: pc pursuit, telenet, voip, war games
Related tags: packet switched, switched network, bulletin board, board systems, modem, network
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sipgate enters U.S VoIP Broadband Market offering free calls
Today, sipgate is launching a new free VoIP broadband phone service called sipgate one. sipgate one is similar to Vonage, Packet8, and other broadband VoIP providers, but with some additional cool features and a fairly unique pricing plan. For instance, you get a free telephone number, no set-up costs and no monthly charges or minimums.
I spoke with sipgate CEO Thilo Salmon to find out more about sipgate one. First, unlike many VoIP broadband providers, sipgate one isn’t tied to any specific SIP hardware (locked ATAs, SIP phones, softphones, etc.), so you can use it with your favorite SIP device or use a SIP-based ATA and connect your favorite analog cordless phone. Want to use a softphone but don’t want to mess with SIP credentials? No problem - sipgate one has a free softphone app that will autoprovision for you. Those that want to use their favorite SIP device will be pleased to see a helpful drop-down list of many popular SIP devices with corresponding screenshots on how to configure the device to work with sipgate one.
What does it cost?
When using a VoIP phone, outbound calls to other sipgate users are completely free, just like Skype. However, inbound calls on the free U.S. phone number are also free, unlike Skype which I know charges a monthly or yearly SkypeIn subscription. I was a bit surprised sipgate was offering the first phone number for free, so I contacted Thilo a second time to confirm. He responded, “The first U.S. number is indeed completely free. So we are inviting everyone to sign up for a free number and as long as one only uses sipgate to receive calls on a SIP phone the service is free in its entirety. We do not even ask for a credit card. That does set us apart from Skype. While they do not charge per incoming minute, Skype charges a yearly (monthly?) fee as you have pointed out.”
When dialing other phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada are just 1.9¢ per minute and calls to toll-free numbers are free. Other rates apply when calling other countries. Thus, sipgate only charges for outgoing calls and E911 ($1.90 monthly), if activated. No other charges or fees are leveraged on a sipgate one subscriber. Thus, to get started you can initially charge your account with a minimum of $10 with automatic crediting if the balance falls below a user-specified amount ($5, $10, $20, $50). Thilo told me that they aim to keep their international rates lower than Skype’s to make them a very compelling option to potential customers. I then asked Thilo who was comparable feature-wise and he responded, “Google Voice. They don’t allow you to connect a SIP phone, but the features are very similar.”
The true power behind sipgate is its Web-based interface which gives you full access to your voicemail messages, recordings, and faxes. I tested a preview version of sipgate one and was pretty impressed with the features and ease of use. My experiences in my mini-review of sipgate follow below…
Thilo told me that they designed the Web-based interface with Google’s Gmail in mind. For instance, you can search, star/unstar a recording, as well as label recordings, which are very similar to Gmail. Additionally, the interface allows users to call someone back with a single click, as well as divert calls to other landline or mobile phones. Starting a call is as simple as clicking the New Call button and then choosing which phone device you wish to use. Below you’ll see I have 3 options for a new call - an arbitary connection (specify any phone number ad hoc), phone of Tom Keating, and Mobile or Landline of Tom Keating.
As seen by the screenshot above, you can bridge a call to any of your phone devices by initiating a call via the web. This is very similar to Jajah, who made the web-based calling method famous. This interface can be used on your web-enabled smartphone - Windows Mobile, Apple iPhone, etc. if the device doesn’t have an embedded SIP stack or 3rd party SIP softphone installed for making outbound calls.
Mobility features are just as powerful. You can have your home, office and mobile phone ring in parallel. If you are using a mobile phone with a SIP stack, (many Nokia series have SIP) you can be in the car, receive a VoIP call, and then simply press *6 on your mobile phone to record the call. When you next gain access to a web browser you can retrieve the call recording. This is perfect for sales people on the go and who need to enter important call details into a CRM system.
Other features included the ability to customize your outgoing message by uploading an mp3 file, divert calls to another number, create an ad-hoc conference with the touch of a button, and the ability to view missed calls with CallerID info. I asked Thilo what they use on the back-end and he told me they use a fork of SIP Express Router, which enables Class 5 type features. Additionally, Thilo stated there is no maximum storage limit for voicemail and faxes.
Outbound faxing is a breeze. You can click some fields on the web interface and add the fax number, from/to info, add a signature, and of course body text. You can also attach a PDF and it will render it. I asked Thilo about Word support and he said that was in the works.
Inbound faxing does require a separate phone number, but there is no fee to receive faxes. There is a nominal $2.90 one-time fee per additional phone number. I asked Thilo about CNG autodetection of fax tones using just a single universal phone number, but he said “We have found that most people don’t really like that.” Personally, I’d rather just have one phone number on my business card, but it’s a minor complaint.
“There is simply no barrier to people disconnecting their old phone lines anymore. Phone and cable companies have long been pushing voice plans in the region of $25 to $40 per month–which end up being as much as $60 or more with extra charges–and that’s just ridiculous,” said Thilo Salmon, CEO of sipgate. “Even with calls to other landlines and mobile phones, most users will spend less than $5 a month using sipgate one. And for those people only receiving incoming calls on their VoIP phone, the service is completely free.”
sipgate is also readying a multi-user edition of the service aimed at small businesses, which will not only replace landlines, but also customer premise phone systems. sipgate is certainly setting a new low-price benchmark with bundled powerful features that should cause VoIP fans to seriously consider them. Free phone number, free toll-free calling, free inbound calling, free inbound faxes, what’s not to love? 
Tags: broadband voip, e911, free calls, iphone, packet8, sipgate, sipgate one, skype, voip, vonage, windows mobile
Related tags: phone number, asked thilo, phone service, mobile phone, based interface, phone
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Truphone 3.0 comes to the Apple iPod touch
Truphone today launched Truphone 3.0, a major new upgrade to its mobile VoIP application for the Apple iPod touch. Truphone 3.0 was already available for the Apple iPhone, so this release just brings the latest features to the popular iPhone touch.
IM services currently supported include Skype, MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. It also does free calls when in Wi-Fi to other Truphone users as well as free WiFi calls to Skype and Google Talk users. Though I would like to see 3G data support to enable VoIP over 3G. Yes I know Apple blocks VoIP over 3G apps, but if you jailbreak your iPhone, you should be able to make VoIP over 3G calls. (read my tutorial on how to do VoIP over 3G on jailbroken iPhones) Yet, there is no mention whether their truphone app will work over 3G on jailbroken iPhones. Ironic that in 2007 truphone was the first to demonstrate VoIP over WiFi on an Apple iPhone that they jailbreaked.
Of course, you could use Truphone Anywhere for free calls, but that uses the 3G voice channel not 3G data. It leverages a callback system that uses your bucket of cell minutes for ‘relatively’ free calling.
In any case, check out the news.
Tags: 3g, apple, google talk, iphone, ipod touch, skype, wifi
Related tags: apple iphone, jailbroken iphones, truphone, apple, calls, iphone
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Despite Twitter, Oprah To Reaffirm Her Skype Love
Twitter, might be Oprah’s new tech love, but it goes without saying she loves Skype, the internet calling service that makes appearance on her show pretty much every day. She is going to re-affirm her love for Skype on Thursday, May 21, 2009, in an episode called “Where the Skype Are You?”. The show will […]
Second Life Takes Aim at Skype
Second Life creator Linden Lab will announce on Wednesday that SL users have generated 15 billion voice minutes on their internal avatar-to-avatar VoIP service since the product was launched 18 months ago, and are now forecast to do 15 billion total voice minutes in 2009. By contrast, Skype handled 65 billion total voice minutes […]
Incoming! for Skype on the Apple iPhone
A new Skype for the Apple iPhone app was just approved and is available in the iTunes app store called Incoming! for Skype. Basically, it makes every call an incoming call so you can save your minutes on your wireless dialplan, since they often feature unlimited inbound minutes and only charge for outbound minute usage.
Here’s how it works:
1. Open the Incoming! App on your iPhone
2. Dial the phone number, choose from Favorites, choose from address book or conference call
3. Press call and it will re-route the call through the Skype helper app on your home computer.
4. Your phone then rings, you pick it up and then the other person is called.
Using this app you can connect to any landline or mobile phone over Edge, 3G, and WiFi - unlike the ‘official’ Skype for iPhone app, which is WiFi restricted - unless you jailbreak your iPhone for 3G support of course! Basically the calls are routed through your home PC’s Skype software. You will use SkypeOut credits for PSTN calls. But if you’ve already signed up for one of Skype’s unlimited call plans (U.S./Canada $2.95/month), the call is essentially free. Another benefit is that you get some of the Skype features in this application. For instance, you can do 9-way conference calling on your iPhone, making business meetings while on the go a snap! Essentially, the app is harnessing the power of your PC for the audio mixing. (Note: I don’t believe the free ‘official’ Skype for iPhone app can do 9-way conferencing)
Features include a visual favorites list, address book and support for both Windows and the Mac. An iPod touch will work as well, but you can’t route calls to it, but you can route it to a nearby phone.
The app will cost you $4.99 on the iTunes store, which is pricier than most iPhone apps.
You can check it out here
Tags: apple, gadget, Incoming! for Skype, iphone, skypeout
Related tags: official skype, apple iphone, skype apple, skype iphone, incoming skype, skype
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Microsoft UC Developer Sandbox Featuring OCS 2007 R2 & Exchange Server 2010 Launches
Want your own little UC sandbox where you can learn how to develop speech and UC applications using Unified Communications Managed API (UCMA) without the hassle of setting up your own OCS 2007 R2 & Exchange Server 2010 beta environment?
Well, today Marshall Harrison over at GotUC.net announced a Microsoft UC sandbox for developers to play in, enabling them to develop UC applications quickly and easily.
Well, whatcha waitin’ for? Head on over and kick some sand in your very own UC sandbox!
Tags: beta, developer, exchange server 2010, Marshall Harrison, microsoft, OCS 2007 R2, sandbox, UC, unified communications, voip
Related tags: exchange server, sandbox
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eBay CEO: $2B Valuation for Skype Is “Low”
One thing is for sure: eBay, a disaster of an Internet company, really wants to rectify its megabillion-dollar mistake and get rid of Skype — even if it means taking a small haircut. But eBay CEO John Donahoe thinks the company is worth much more than $2 billion figure being thrown around by analysts, calling […]
Microsoft Bans VoIP From Its Mobile Marketplace
Microsoft has banned VoIP applications from its upcoming Windows Mobile Marketplace, according to PCWorld. The blocking move is part of a 12-point restriction on applications sold in the Redmond giant’s online marketplace, the opening timed to coincide with the introduction of Windows Mobile 6.5. But is the software giant fighting a rear-guard action against […]
Microsoft Blocks VoIP on Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Microsoft has banned several applications for it’s new Windows Marketplace for Mobile app store, including VoIP. Guess Apple isn’t the only VoIP crippler in town. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Google Android to surpass BOTH Apple and Microsoft within the mobile phone space. After all, Google’s philosophy is do no evil.
As I wrote yesterday:
… when carriers like AT&T pull crap like forcing Apple to only allow VoIP over WiFi and not over a 3G data connection, it’s no wonder why mobile VoIP growth will be stunted by anti-competitive tactics. Then you have countries like Canada which outright block Skype on the iPhone. Fortunately, avid mobile phone users aren’t taking this lying down. For instance, you can jailbreak your iPhone and run VoIP over 3G no problem.Why do we have to put up with this crippleware? I get that AT&T is a business and needs to make money. If they’re worried that flat-rate data plans that run VoIP over it will drastically hurt their voice revenue, then change your business model! Keep the flat-rate data plan, but install packet-inspection technology that detects voice packets and charge a few cents for VoIP calls. If the flat-rate data plan’s business model is outdated, which it seems to be, then change it.
Microsoft is playing catch-up to Apple and they could have potentially garnered more new mobile customers by allowing VoIP applications. When will the mobile phone software vendors get it that they should develop products that customers want to buy? Forget about ticking off the carriers. With SIM cards and prepaid cards that are industry-standard, Microsoft could bypass the carriers by allowing customers the “choice” of using VoIP over a pre-paid voice/data card and buying the phone online from Amazon or elsewhere. Screw the Verizon and AT&T retail stores that won’t carry phones that support VoIP over 3G! Sure, most people don’t use prepaid cards, however, technically savvy folks that want VoIP over a 3G data connection would kill to have a good smartphone that has this capability. Microsoft could build an avid/loyal core customer base, which would eventually force the carriers to respond.
It’s time for one of the mobile software operating system creators - Apple, Google, or Microsoft to throw down the gauntlet and not kowtow to the carriers. Stop kneeling before Zod. C’mon Microsoft, you used to be Superman, invincible to all comers. Now you’re playing it safe and being beat by the likes of Apple and Google. Where are you Superman?
Check out the full list of prohibited application types for Windows Marketplace for Mobile below. Listed at #4 is the blocking of VoIP apps. So no Skype on the Windows Zune phone for you! Even worse, you can’t change the default browser, search client, or media player on the device. Nor can you customize the default dialer, a popular thing to do on current Windows Mobile devices. Way to go! That’ll entice developers to develop software apps for your mobile operating system. 
List of 12 banned apps:
1. Applications that are or distribute alternate marketplaces for content types (applications, games, themes etc.) that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.
2. Applications that link to, incent users to download, or otherwise promote alternate marketplaces for content types that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
3. Applications that promote or link users to a website, or contain functionality within the application itself, which encourages or requires the user to purchase or pay to upgrade the application outside of Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.
4. Applications that enable VoIP (Voice over IP) services over a mobile operator network.
5. Applications that sell, link to, or otherwise promote mobile voice plans.
6. Applications that display advertising that does not meet the Microsoft Advertising Creative
Acceptance Policy Guide http://advertising.microsoft.com/creative-specs.
7. Applications that replace, remove or modify the default dialer, SMS, or MMS interface.
8. Applications that change the default browser, search client, or media player on the device.
9. Applications with an OTA (over the air) download >10 MB.
10. Applications that run code outside Microsoft runtimes (native, managed, and widgets)
11. Applications that publish a user’s location information to any other person without first having received the user’s express permission (opt-in) to do so, and that do not provide the user a means of opting out of having their location information published.
12. Applications that publish a user’s data from their mobile device to any other person without first having received the user’s express permission (opt-in) to do so, and that do not provide the user a means of opting out of having their data published. A “user’s data” includes, without limit, contacts, photos, SMS or other text communication, browsing history, location information, and other data either stored on the mobile device or stored in the “cloud” but accessible from the
mobile device
They put at the bottom of this list, “Microsoft reserves the right to update these policies as needed to protect the Windows® Marketplace for Mobile service or the users of the service.” Yeah, sure. “protect the users of the service” alright.
Tags: android, apple, google, iphone, microsoft, mobile phone, voip, Windows Marketplace for Mobile, zune
Related tags: marketplace mobile, windows marketplace, location information, windows® marketplace, mobile phone, mobile
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50% of Mobile Voice Traffic Will Use End-to-End VoIP by 2019
Gartner, a respected research firm located just a stone’s throw from TMC said today, “mobile VoIP poses a huge challenge for traditional mobile voice providers.” You don’t say? Hmm, I would have never guessed such a thing. Ok, other than stating the obvious, the research does have some fascinating points, including claiming that ore than 50% of mobile voice traffic will be carried using end-to-end VoIP by 2019 - or basically 10 years from now.
“Mobile portal voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offered by third-party application-based providers poses a huge and direct challenge to the $692.6 billion global mobile voice market”, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner predicts that over time traditional network-based mobile carriers face the real prospect of losing a major slice of their voice traffic and revenue to new non-infrastructure players that use VoIP.
But Gartner doesn’t paint an entirely rosy picture for VoIP. Gartner said “that despite this significant potential, conditions for the rapid expansion in the use of mobile VoIP are not yet right and are not likely to become right for at least five years and perhaps as long as eight years.”
Yeah, well when carriers like AT&T pull crap like forcing Apple to only allow VoIP over WiFi and not over a 3G data connection, it’s no wonder why mobile VoIP growth will be stunted by anti-competitive tactics. Then you have countries like Canada which outright block Skype on the iPhone. Fortunately, avid mobile phone users aren’t taking this lying down. For instance, you can jailbreak your iPhone and run VoIP over 3G no problem.
Why do we have to put up with this crippleware? I get that AT&T is a business and needs to make money. If they’re worried that flat-rate data plans that run VoIP over it will drastically hurt their voice revenue, then change your business model! Keep the flat-rate data plan, but install packet-inspection technology that detects voice packets and charge a few cents for VoIP calls. If the flat-rate data plan’s business model is outdated, which it seems to be, then change it.
Yeah, sure customers may not like the idea and certainly it seems that our culture today expects “something for nothing”, but hey, it’s business folks. I’d rather have the capability of making VoIP calls using a SIP provider or make Skype calls and pay a few pennies than not be able to use VoIP over 3G/4G at all. I’m sure if AT&T did try and charge money for VoIP calls running over a data connection that customer advocate groups, the ACLU, and people who think they should get something for nothing will run to the government and complain that AT&T is charging them money for using VoIP. Perish the thought that a business is charging you money for using their services!
Maybe we should just nationalize all the carriers like most countries have and then petition Congress to pass a law that will force the nationalized carriers to give us free mobile VoIP. Heck, with trillions of dollars being spent on the bailout package, why not free mobile VoIP at the expense of the big bad carriers? Free healthcare for everyone, free mobile VoIP for everyone, it’s all free baby! Socialism here we come!
Ok end rant. Back to Gartner…
“Mass-scale adoption of end-to-end mobile VoIP calling will not happen until fourth-generation (4G) networks are fully implemented in 2017,” said Tole Hart, research director at Gartner. “Once the basic market conditions are in place, transition to mobile portal VoIP should be fairly rapid because of the inherent convenience and end-user cost savings. In 10 years time we expect that 30 percent of mobile voice traffic will be carried out through third-party mobile portals, such as Google, Facebook, MySpace and Yahoo, which will adopt wireless VoIP service as a voice option to their current communications hub.”
A number of third parties, such as Skype, Truphone and fring, which carry VoIP traffic using a mobile phone, have cropped up in the past couple of years, offering access to voice services via Wi-Fi and/or the carriers’ wireless voice networks. This has been the most efficient way to offer the service to date because of the inconsistencies of voice services over third-generation (3G) data networks. However, with the advent of 4G networks (WiMAX and Long Term Evolution [LTE]), and increased use of smartphones with open operating systems, it is conceivable, perhaps even inevitable, that wireless voice services will be run completely over VoIP.
“Ten years from now, more than half of mobile voice traffic will be carried end-to-end using VoIP,” said Akshay Sharma, research director at Gartner. “Carriers will adopt voice services because of the increased capacity and reduced cost of delivering voice over 4G networks. Third parties will adopt a voice option for their communications hub.”
Gartner analysts warned that there will also be a number of factors that will inhibit the adoption of third-party, end-to-end VoIP services, including the delay in rolling out 4G networks because of current economic conditions and also the general plan to put 4G only in the main cities and build out from there. Nevertheless, in five to 10 years time, as 4G networks become common, mobile VoIP services will have a strong impact on the communications market.
Competing with mobile portal VoIP will be wireless carriers that offer circuit and VoIP voice and data services, and resellers and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that also offer services off the carrier networks. Gartner expects this opening of the VoIP channels to spawn a number of voice services from companies that offer voice services to communities using voice as a communications link. This means that the biggest competitors to mobile VoIP may be text messaging and e-mail, as people may prefer to use these types of communication because of their non-intrusive, less emotional and less time-consuming nature.
Although the impact of the technology shift will be gradual as 4G networks roll out, Gartner advises carriers to start thinking now about how the transition will occur and how they might cooperate and partner with other types of service providers. Third-party providers, such as Google and Yahoo, should look to offer voice services today using the carriers’ networks and Wi-Fi to leverage their portfolio of services. Mobile social communities, such as Facebook and MySpace, which benefit from messaging traffic as it keeps eyeballs on their sites, should also have a voice option.
Tags: 4g, fring, gartner, long term evolution, lte, mobile voip, sip, skype, tole hard, truphone, voip, wimax
Related tags: voice services, mobile voice, voice traffic, third party, voice option, mobile
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Skype Cuts Prices On SkypeOut Service
Skype is really looking to ramp up its revenues: It’s offering a 25 percent discount on its unlimited packages if you sign up for a 12-month plan. For instance, if you sign up for the Unlimited World plan, which costs $12.95 a month, you get 25 percent off the $116.55 annual tab. The good news […]
3 of UK Marries Itself to Skype; Shakes Up the Mobile Market
Ever since Skype’s iPhone client enabled Skype-to-Skype calls (and send IMs) for free over Wi-Fi, I’ve been wondering what the next step towards the mobilization of Skype would be. The answer came today by the way of 3 UK, a 3G wireless operator. The company unveiled a new $3, Skype-enabled SIM card that will allow […]
Free Calls on Skype
3 UK is opening up its network to allow anyone with a 3 SIM and a compatible handset to have unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messages without ever having to pay. 3UK announced that on May 1st users with a 3UK SIM and a 3-provided Skype-enabled handset will be able to use Skype for free. Additionally, previous deals for free Skype required a monthly topup of £10 on pay-as-you-go and there will be no data charges. Thus, Skype will be 100% free, subject to their fair use policy of course. 
There is just a one time fee of £1.99 for a SIM card.
Anyone with a compatible unlocked 3G handset in the UK, can take advantage of free Skype calls, whether or not their phone is from 3. This is a huge barrier-busting move by 3 that changes the game. Forget about using AT&T on your iPhone who is preventing Apple from allowing Skype to run over the 3G data connection. Simply get an unlocked iPhone, stick in a 3 SIM and enjoy free Skype calls! Of course, this “free” calling deal only applies to the UK. Why do the Brits get all the fun? 
No worries, I’m sure this is just the first step before the U.S. gets in on the free Skype calling action. I wonder if there might be some synergies with the new Skype for SIP program (of which I’m a beta tester)?
According to 3 UK, “By removing these key barriers to Skype-to-Skype calls, 3 UK is creating a compelling reason for new customers to join 3 and to enjoy all the products and services available on the UK’s biggest mobile broadband network.”
According to 3 UK:
We’ve been working with Skype for over two years now and we’ve learned a lot about how our customers use the service. We know that a keen mobile Skype user is an instinctive, active communicator. They want to take full advantage of free mobile calls.Increasingly Skype use is linked to other internet communications activities, such as Facebook, Twitter and a host of other services for which our customers will happily pay a fixed fee for unlimited use.
While others have looked at Skype as a potential threat to voice and text revenues we see another advantage. Did you know when you call a friend on a different mobile network their network will charge your operator a fee for carrying the call? This is called a Mobile Termination Rate or MTR and is currently charged at around 4.7p or more for every minute of the call.
This fee is regulated by the industry regulator Ofcom but we think they’re still too high. Without these fees we’d be able to offer our customers much better value and that’s where Skype comes in. With Skype, MTRs don’t apply so we can give our customers all the minutes they like without over charging them.
At 3, we believe our customers should be able to choose how they communicate because that’s mobile as it should be; simple, useful and always good value.
Kevin Russell, Chief Executive Officer of 3 UK, said “Communication through the internet is exploding. Internet calling or VoIP, social networking, instant messaging and email are used by millions in the UK every single day. They are open to all on their PCs and laptops. We want people to be free to communicate from their mobiles in the same way as they do from their PCs.
“In future you will be able to buy a 3 SIM for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls for less than the price of a cup of coffee and talk for as much as you want without ever paying us another penny. We won’t ask you for a top-up or a monthly commitment. If you want to talk on a mobile for free, just join us and give it a go. This is for everyone.”
Josh Silverman, President of Skype said, “Demand for mobile access from our users has never been higher. The introduction of unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messages across all 3 price plans is a really exciting move from a key partner. 3 UK clearly understands the desire for people to use Skype wherever and whenever they want. This is the first mobile network to show this kind of innovation to enable their customers to access Skype.
“We believe this is how the future looks for the Internet on mobile. With this bold move 3 UK has again shown their willingness to be the customer champion for mobile services in the UK.”
Currently, 3 UK’s growing Skype community enjoys 1.5 million minutes of free Skype-to-Skype calls every day. The launch of the first 3 Skypephone in October 2007 really kick-started the growth of free internet calling on the 3 network. With over 433 million people registered on Skype worldwide, the new free Skype-to-Skype offer from 3 opens up a world of free calling.
Two years experience of providing open access to Skype-to-Skype calling has enabled 3 and Skype to better understand the behaviour of mobile Skype users. Success with an easy-to-use Skype experience on more specialised internet-enabled handsets, such as the INQ1 and the 3 Skypephone collection; has proven to 3 that enabling customers to make free Skype calls to other Skype users on their mobiles or PCs is a real benefit.
3 UK has found that regular Skype users:
- Are less likely to churn than non-Skype users
- Use more traditional voice minutes than non-Skype users in addition to calling their Skype contacts
- Use Skype IM, but also send more SMS than non-Skype users
- Are more likely to browse the internet on their mobile
- Are higher margin customers
- Are twice as likely to access social networking sites as non-Skype customers
“Today we are moving in a clear direction towards making Skype-to-Skype calling available to all UK mobile consumers,” said Mr Russell. “We know that Skype users are instinctive communicators, keen social networkers and mobile internet users. They love the things that we are building the UK’s biggest mobile broadband network for.
“Our network is built to deliver the benefits of the internet to the mobile. That’s why we’re removing the conditions and restrictions from our current Skype offer and opening up the opportunity to try free internet calling to all UK mobile users, whether they are currently with us or a competitor network.”
Tags: 3, 3 UK, calling, free, josh silverman, kevin russell, SIM, skype, skype-to-skype, unlocked phone
Related tags: skype calls, skype skype, skype users, internet mobile, internet calling, skype
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Plantronics Voyager PRO
The Plantronics Voyager Pro is the successor to the much-loved Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset, which goes on sale today, although, Best Buy started selling its stock a bit early. I have a review unit which I plan on testing and giving my thoughts/opinion on in the new few days. I reviewed its predecessor, the Plantronics Voyage 510, which had a cult following. I was a big fan of the Voyager 510 and have one on my desk. It is an excellent headset and one of the first to feature PC audio support via a Bluetooth dongle allowing you to use the headset on your mobile phone or your PC, supporting all your PC sound applications, including VoIP apps such as Skype.
The new $99 Voyager Pro is pretty similar to the 510, though it is clearly targetting the Jawbone 2, with their AudioIQ2 technology which Plantronics claims results in superior sound quality which combines noise cancellation and wind reduction. Plantronics stated, “Today’s headset users expect great noise cancellation and Plantronics Voyager PRO delivers it with AudioIQ2 and a unique adjustable dual-microphone boom. While other headsets deliver noise cancellation at the expense of overall audio quality, the boom provides the advantage of capturing your voice close to your mouth so the AudioIQ2 technology can more effectively remove ambient noise, while still maintaining the natural sound of your voice.”
Plantronics Voyager PRO features three layers of WindSmart technology. Dual external stainless steel microphone screens and acoustic fabrics that surround the microphones together help to eliminate wind noise. The AudioIQ2 DSP algorithms also intelligently decipher your voice from the wind to enhance the sound quality.
The Voyager PRO also features a custom speaker that delivers full-spectrum audio so conversations are richer and more vibrant. It sports an adaptive 20-band equalizer that helps eliminate distortio in the audio and automatically adjusts sound levels based on the noise level around you.
Price:
The Plantronics Voyager PRO is available at Best Buy for $99.99 and at www.plantronics.com, but will be available in other retail and wireless carrier stores in late May.
Tags: 510, headset, jawbone 2, Plantronics Voyager PRO, review
Related tags: plantronics voyager, noise cancellation, audioiq technology, sound quality, plantronics, voyager
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With an IPO on Its Mind, Skype Shows Growth
Regardless of what happens to Skype — if it’s resold to founders, merged with another web giant or spun off via an initial public offering — one thing remains clear: The company is showing raw growth in both its revenues and registered user numbers. For the first quarter of 2009, the company reported […]
Using monit Tool to Monitor Asterisk
Your IP-PBX is one of the most critical pieces of corporate infrastructure. It cannot afford any downtime, which is why the fives 9’s (99.999%) of reliability was coined. While Asterisk is a pretty stable open source IP-PBX platform, it it still in its infancy, so it hasn’t had the same time that the old ‘Big Iron PBXs’ have had to reach five 9s of reliability. Then again, many traditional PBX manufacturers have abandoned 100% proprietary hardware and use many of the same standard off the shelf components that are in Asterisk, including motherboards, memory, processors, etc. So the old wives tale that big iron PBXs are more reliable than PC-based PBXs no longer applies.
Still, Asterisk and all of its derivatives (trixbox CE/Pro, PBX in a Flash, etc.) have a cult following (of which I’m a member) — and like any cult, we like to do crazy things, like tweak Asterisk or trixbox in the middle of the work day to see if some newfangled text-to-speech feature will work. Well, with so much tweaking by some Asterisk cultists, something is bound to go wrong, usually at the end of the work day on a Friday when you’re driving home, forcing a return to the office or waiting to you get home and SSH into Asterisk to restart the service.
So how do we ensure a more reliable Asterisk platform using an automated tool? Surely there must be a way of monitoring the Asterisk service and if it crashes, automatically restart it, right? Ever second is precious when you’re trying to achieve 5 9s of reliability, which equates to 5 minutes, 15 seconds or less of downtime in a year. Or if you want to get really crazy, shoot for 6 nines of reliability (99.9999%) which is 31.536s of downtime per year!
Well, before we continue, you must remember that Asterisk runs on Linux and there are many great monitoring tools for Linux. In fact, for the blog web server you’re reading this article on, I’m running a free monitoring tool aptly called monit, which you can get here. This tool is so easy to use, it should be in any Linux admin’s arsenal. I use it to monitor various parameters of the blog server, and if certain conditions are met, it automatically restarts the apache web service.
It got me thinking, “Why not use monit to monitor Asterisk?” Well, here’s how to do it!
1) Install monit.
2) Simple way: Run ‘yum install monit’ or run ‘apt-get install monit’ Go to Step
3) Compile/Harder way: Go here: http://mmonit.com/monit/download/ and download the .tar file, currently called monit-5.0.tar.gz
4) Untar monit
# tar -zxvf monit-5.0.tar.gz Configure and compile monit:
# cd monit-5.0
# ./configure5) Install monit
# make
# make install
6) Copy monit configuration file to /etc/ folder
# cp monit.conf /etc/monit.conf (older versions used monitrc filename)
7) Edit monit.conf & put in your monitoring rules (see examples below)
Add monit service to the startup. Red Hat command follows:
# chkconfig --add monit
# chkconfig –level 2345 monit on
# {confirm the run levels}
# chkconfig –list|grep monit
It is super easy it to setup the mail server for notifications and to configure monitoring of processes, files, loads (CPU, memory), and ports. And of course, using monit you can monitor Asterisk, trixbox CE or Pro, PBX in a Flash, and other IP-PBXs that run on Linux.
Here’s a snippet from two monit.conf configuration files (one the blog server, the other Asterisk):
############################################################################### ## ## Start monit in background (run as daemon) and check the services at 2-minute ## intervals. # set daemon 120 # can set lower if want downtime <2min set mailserver mail.tmcnet.com # primary mailserver ## You can set the alert recipients here, which will receive the alert for ## each service. The event alerts may be restricted using the list. # set alert blogalerts@tmcnet.com # receive all alerts set alert anotheremailhere@somewhere.com check system blog.tmcnet.com if loadavg (1min) > 4 then alert if loadavg (5min) > 2 then alert if memory usage > 75% then alert if cpu usage (user) > 70% then alert if cpu usage (system) > 30% then alert if cpu usage (wait) > 20% then alert check process apache with pidfile /var/run/httpd.pid start program = "/etc/init.d/httpd start" stop program = "/etc/init.d/httpd stop" if cpu > 60% for 2 cycles then alert if cpu > 80% for 25 cycles then restart if totalmem > 1300.0 MB for 5 cycles then restart if children > 250 then restart if loadavg(5min) greater than 10 for 8 cycles then stop if failed host blog.tmcnet.com port 80 protocol http and request "/monit/doc/next.php" then restart if failed port 443 type tcpssl protocol http with timeout 15 seconds then restart if 3 restarts within 5 cycles then timeout depends on apache_bin group server # Asterisk Monitoring rule set daemon 30 # Check every 30s set logfile syslog facility log_daemon set alert asteriskalerts@yourdomain.com check process asterisk with pidfile /var/run/asterisk/asterisk.pid group asterisk start program = "/etc/init.d/asterisk start" stop program = "/etc/init.d/asterisk stop" # Check uptime via Asterisk Manager Interface (AMI) port 5038 if failed host 127.0.0.1 port 5038 then restart if 5 restarts within 5 cycles then timeout #Check Veritas BackupExec Agent check host blog.domain.com with address 192.0.0.6 start program = "/etc/init.d/VRTSralus.init start" #stop program = "/etc/init.d/VRTSralus.init stop" if failed port 10000 with timeout 35 seconds then restart
Further, you can even test the SIP protocol, which uses port 5060. The SIP test is similar to other protocol tests that monit supports, however, it allows extra optional parameters.
IF FAILED [host] [port] [type] PROTOCOL sip [AND] [TARGET valid@uri] [AND] [MAXFORWARD n] THEN action [ELSE IF SUCCEEDED [[<X>] <Y> CYCLES] THEN action]
TARGET : you may specify an alternative recipient for the message, by adding a valid sip uri after this keyword.
MAXFORWARD : Limit the number of proxies or gateways that can forward the request to the next server. It’s value is an integer in the range 0-255, set by default to 70. If max-forward = 0, the next server may respond 200 OK (test succeeded) or send a 483 Too Many Hops (test failed)
SIP examples:
check host openser_all with address 127.0.0.1
if failed port 5060 type udp protocol sip
with target “localhost:5060″ and maxforward 6
then alert
check host sip.broadvoice.com with address sip.broadvoice.com
if failed port 5060 type tcp protocol SIP
and target 1234@sip.broadvoice.com maxforward 10
then alert
Now that you know how to automatically monitor Asterisk, trixbox, PBX in a Flash, etc. those five nines (6?) of reliability are just around the corner. As the PBX administrator / telecom manager, you will be worshiped by your sales team 
and boss for keeping the phone system up all the time. 
They will think you an Asterisk God, who will be adored and who shall command great respect and admiration. And none shall mourn for any Asterisk outages.
Tags: asterisk, five nines, monit, monit.conf, monitoring, pbx in a flash, sip, trixbox, voip, Who Mourns for Adonais?
Related tags: monitor asterisk, install monit, start program, asterisk trixbox, asterisk start, monit
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Will JoltID Turn EBay’ Dream of Skype IPO Into a Nightmare?
It was in a conversation with Skype CEO Josh Silverman, I raised the question: when will eBay spin-off the mammoth Internet calling service via a public offering. Of course, he didn’t answer the questionThe answer to that question came today when eBay CEO John Donhaue announced that Skype will have an IPO, sometime in 2010. […]
eBay to Launch Skype IPO
It just gets better and better - First, there was the legal fight between Joltid (Niklas Zennstrom) and Skype/eBay that I wrote about. Then the NY Times reported that Skype’s founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, were in talks with several private equity firms to make a bid to buy back Skype. Now, eBay today announced they want to spin off Skype as an IPO. Apparently, they don’t like the bid prices offered by Niklas and Janus. eBay probably didn’t like the patent threats by Joltid run by Niklas and Janus either.
I’m not sure in this current economic climate that a technology-based IPO is a good idea. Heck, any IPO at this point is very risky. This could be a bluff by eBay to get Zennstrom and Friis to raise their offering price for Skype and to counter the Joltid lawsuit. Can’t we all just get along? What’s a few billion dollars between friends?
Check out the full announcement below:
eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced that it plans to separate Skype from the company, beginning with an initial public offering that is intended to be completed in the first half of 2010. Specific timing of the IPO will be based on market conditions. “Skype is a great stand-alone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum,” said eBay Inc.’s President and CEO, John Donahoe. “But it’s clear that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPal. We believe operating Skype as a stand-alone publicly traded company is the best path for maximizing its potential. This will give Skype the focus and resources required to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications. In addition, separating Skype will allow eBay to focus entirely on our two core growth engines–e-commerce and online payments–and deliver long-term value to our stockholders.”
The decision to separate Skype is based on a timeline outlined by Donahoe when he became eBay’s CEO in April 2008. At the time, the company said it would spend a year evaluating Skype and its potential synergies within the eBay Inc. portfolio before making any decisions about Skype’s future. Donahoe also installed a new management team at Skype led by Josh Silverman, which has driven stronger momentum and improved performance. In 2008, Skype generated revenues of $551 million, up 44 percent from 2007, and segment margins of approximately 21 percent. Registered users reached 405 million by the end of 2008, up 47 percent from 2007, and user metrics improved significantly throughout the year. The company recently announced that it expects Skype to top $1 billion in revenue in 2011, nearly doubling 2008 revenues.
“Under the leadership of Josh Silverman and his management team, Skype has become a stronger business in the past year, and I expect it will be even stronger a year from now,” Donahoe said. “Skype has accelerating global user growth and strong fundamentals, diversified revenue streams and is competitively positioned in a large market. We expect Josh and his team to continue delivering results as we prepare Skype for an IPO.”
Most recently, the release of the Skype for iPhone application has generated a great response. More than one million people downloaded Skype for iPhone in the first 36 hours after it became available–and Skype immediately became the No. 1 downloaded free iPhone application in more than 40 markets, including the U.S., UK and Japan. In just over a week, downloads passed the two million mark, putting Skype on more than 6 percent of all iPhones and iPod Touch - and adding almost half a million new Skype users.
Tags: ebay, initial public offering, ipo, Janus Friis, Niklas Zennstrom, skype, voip
Related tags: strong fundamentals, separate skype, niklas ennstrom, skype iphone, niklas janus, skype
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Comments on this Entry:
(Ruben on
Apr 14, 2009 6:37 PM)
I doubt that eBay will do a IPO. As I wrote in my blog entry at http://bit.ly/17cyqh - there are to many loose ends before a IPO makes any sense.
However - I completely agree with your stance that “suddenly” talking about an IPO now, with all that is happening, is just to push the price higher.
It’s all a game from now on - and let’s sit back, relax and eat our pop-corn while watching the battle.
Founders Talking To Private Equity Groups for Skype Buyout
Skype Founders Niklas Zennstorm and Janus Friis are talking with private equity firms - KKR, Warburg Pincus, Providence Equity Partners and Elevation Partners to raise money to buy Skype back from eBay, reports The Wall Street Journal’s the Deal Journal blog. According to the report, the private equity groups would kick in about $1 billion. […]
Skype Founders Bid to Retake Skype from eBay
Well well well. It appears the legal fight between Joltid and Skype that I reported several days ago has deeper ramifications than I first thought. The NY Times is reporting that Skype’s founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, are in talks with several private equity firms and along with their own financial resources, plan to make a bid to buy back Skype.
eBay has been shopping around Skype for the “right” price. Niklas, who founded Joltid along with Mr. Friss have an ace up their sleeve, namely certain licensing rights to the peer-to-peer technology used in Skype.
As I wrote nine days ago, there are serious implications over the Joltid lawsuit against eBay/Skype and I ‘hinted’ at Skype’s potential demise:
Skype’s technology roots are in Kazaa, the P2P file-sharing network. Both Skype and Kazaa were co-founded by Niklas Zennstrom. I now come to find out that Joltid is also founded by Niklas Zennstrom. No doubt when Niklas sold Skype to eBay for billions and then founded Joltid, he still retained licensing rights to his P2P technology. How did eBay spend billions on Skype and not retain exclusive rights to the P2P technology? Either eBay is a fool or Niklas is the best damn negotiator on the planet! I’m going to try and reach out to him to find out more.If Joltid wins, does that mean the end of Skype? No more Skype for iPhone, just days after it was announced?
Perhaps Niklas is playing some hardball to renegotiate the licensing terms? Hard to say who’s right or wrong until I find out more.
Well, I was definitely onto something. The NY Times article just confirms my suspicions that Niklas is playing some hardball to keep other potential Skype suitors at bay, such as Google or Microsoft. If they want to get Skype at the lowest possible bidding price, scaring away potental rivals with a patent lawsuit is the perfect way.
Read this from the SEC filing:
As previously disclosed, Skype has been in a dispute with the licensor of certain key technologies and had terminated a “standstill” agreement that had been entered into between the parties, permitting either to take action against the other with effect from March 2009. On March 12, 2009, Skype Technologies S.A. filed a claim in the English High Court of Justice (No. HC09C00756) against Joltid Limited, a BVI company.In connection with the license agreement between the two companies, Skype licenses peer-to-peer communication technology from Joltid, and Joltid has claimed that Skype has breached the terms of the license agreement. Following the filing of the claim, Joltid purported to terminate the license agreement. In particular, Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software code (the “Code”) and that, by doing so, and by disclosing the Code in certain U.S. patent cases, pursuant to orders from U.S. courts, it has breached the license agreement.
Very smart of Niklas to drive down the price of Skype. Hey, if he’s in his legal rights, then all the power to him and Mr. Friss. I’m all for intellectual property. Ironic, that Niklas who started Kazaa, one of the biggest purveyors of stolen intellectual property over its shared P2P network is now using the intellectial property argument. I’m even more incredulous that eBay paid billions for Skype and didn’t purchase the P2P technology used at the very core of Skype. It almost makes me root for eBay since surely no company or person could swindle another person or company out of billions of dollars. Uh, Madoff? Ok. Enron? Yeah yeah.
Anyway, I’m a huge fan of the Skype empire they’ve built, which although has grown since they sold it to eBay, seems to have floundered and hasn’t for instance taken advantage of the popularity of social networking. I wrote in 2007 before Facebook really took off that Skype took trump Facebook.
So what are the ramifications of Niklas and Friis taking back Skype? Hard to say, but these guys are the P2P kings with Kazaa. Sure Bittorrent is the king of the block these days, but Niklas and Friis were at the P2P beginning. When they launched Skype, it took VoIP to a whole new level. Sure Joost, their video P2P venture tanked, but they’re still 2 for 3. I wouldn’t put it past these guys to take Skype to the next level. It’ll be interesting to watch.
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Related tags: niklas ennstrom, license agreement, niklas friis, intellectual property, niklas playing, skype
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Comments on this Entry:
(John McDonald on
Apr 11, 2009 12:44 AM)
It is ironic that Kazaa, which I used to ummm ‘borrow’ a few copyrighted materials is now being used by Kazaa founder Niklas Zennstrom to keep the bidding war in their favor.
Smart chaps!
I’m rooting for the Skype founders myself. Skype is great, but like you say, has been a bit stagnant.
(skypeage on
Apr 11, 2009 12:52 AM)
Niklas & Friis sell Skype for 3.1 billion with 53 million users and losing money. Now they want to buy it back for half that with 9-10 times as many users?
Greedy bastards!
And last I checked, Skype was profitable. No, it isn’t making gobs of money, but it’s profitable.
Sounds to me like Niklas and Friis aren’t in this for the money. They want their ‘baby’ back. I think they miss the limelight.
(midnightrun on
Apr 11, 2009 12:55 AM)
Tom,
You smelled out this story 9 days ago & were supposed to get in contact with Niklas for more details. How did you the let the NY Times get the jump on you?
Per shame!
Just busting!
Keep up the great VoIP blogging! One of my favorite sites.
KIRK 2010 WiFi VoIP phone
The KIRK 2010 WiFi VoIP handset launched today. This is the latest edition to the Polycom KIRK Series. I wonder if Captain Kirk is aware that Polycom is trying to copy his copyrighted ‘communicator’?
Then again, Kirk’s communicator didn’t have a numeric keypad. Just turn the dial and instantly talk to the Star Trek bridge with seemingly no latency either. You can compare the look of it here:
Or this closely resembling USB-based Star Trek communicator:
They definitely kept it simple, by going with a black & white screen, but they no doubt kept the costs down. The pricing for its brethren is certainly pretty expensive, i.e.:
The list price for the Polycom KWS 300 is U.S. $360. The KWS 6000 list price is U.S. $1,200 and includes a server and one base station, which supports up to 30 users. With the scalable nature of the KWS6000 it can also be set up for more users. The KIRK 5040 handset sells at a list price of U.S. $310.
I couldn’t find pricing info online for the KIRK 2010, but certainly businesses are looking for affordable WiFi VoIP phones.
Features and Benefits of the KIRK 2010
- Black & white LCD screen (3 lines of text/icons)
- Internal/external ring pattern, volume control and silent modes
- Telephone book with room for 40 numbers
- Speech/stand by time > 12/150 hours
- Weight incl. battery: 120g
- Size (LxWxH): 124×47x31mm
Tags: captain kirk, KIRK 2010, polycom, voip, wifi, wireless
Related tags: black white, communicator, polycom, price
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IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone
IPEVO’s S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone is a pretty neat Skype phone, that unlike most Skype phones, was designed for your desk, not to carry around. That includes the IPEVO Wi-Fi Skype phone, I recently reviewed. While the IPEVO Wi-Fi Skype phone was designed to be portable and carry around, Skype phones like these are small which means a very small speakerphone (or none at all), resulting in limited or no hands-free speakerphone capabilities. The IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone solves that problem.
Rather than sporting an Ethernet connection, however, it uses a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, so you could carry this around the house / business if you wanted to (still needs power, so would have to plug it back in). The S0-10W offers the normal feel of a desktop phone in usability and appearance, but features a built-in CPU for computer-free Skype communication. The S0-10W features an adjustable 2.4-inch color LCD three user-defined speed dial keys, an LED light indicating incoming and missed calls, as well as new voicemails, and a hands-free speakerphone button with echo cancellation.
It’s too bad this desktop phone doesn’t have an embedded webcam so you could do some Skype videoconferencing. Now that would make this an even sweeter product! Add internet surfing to the mix and we’re golden.
“IP calling no doubt offers a financial benefit to consumers, however as with any unfamiliar technology, some may be hesitant to try something new,” said Royce Hong, CEO of IPEVO. “That’s why we designed the S0-10W Desktop Phone. By offering consumers a similar interface to the landline desktop phone most people currently use, we feel confident that families and businesses alike will have the confidence to make the switch for their everyday communications needs.”
The IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone is now available at the MSRP of $169.99.
Tags: desktop phone, ipevo, IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone, S0-10W, skype, voip, wi-fi
Related tags: desktop phone, skype desktop, skype phone, skype phones, skype, phone
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IPEVO’s S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone is a pretty neat Skype phone, that unlike most Skype phones, was designed for your desk, not to carry around. That includes the IPEVO Wi-Fi Skype phone, I recently reviewed. While the IPEVO Wi-Fi Skype phone was designed to be portable and carry around, Skype phones like these are small which means a very small speakerphone (or none at all), resulting in limited or no hands-free speakerphone capabilities. The IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone solves that problem.
Rather than sporting an Ethernet connection, however, it uses a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, so you could carry this around the house / business if you wanted to (still needs power, so would have to plug it back in). The S0-10W offers the normal feel of a desktop phone in usability and appearance, but features a built-in CPU for computer-free Skype communication. The S0-10W features an adjustable 2.4-inch color LCD three user-defined speed dial keys, an LED light indicating incoming and missed calls, as well as new voicemails, and a hands-free speakerphone button with echo cancellation.
It’s too bad this desktop phone doesn’t have an embedded webcam so you could do some Skype videoconferencing. Now that would make this an even sweeter product! Add internet surfing to the mix and we’re golden.
“IP calling no doubt offers a financial benefit to consumers, however as with any unfamiliar technology, some may be hesitant to try something new,” said Royce Hong, CEO of IPEVO. “That’s why we designed the S0-10W Desktop Phone. By offering consumers a similar interface to the landline desktop phone most people currently use, we feel confident that families and businesses alike will have the confidence to make the switch for their everyday communications needs.”
The IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone is now available at the MSRP of $169.99.
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Tweefind a new rank-based twitter search
Fellow VoIP blogger Luca has launched a new endeavor called Tweefind, which is a rank-based twitter search engine rather than a simply timeline search on keywords.
Luca explains:
How is the Tweerank calculated? Behind the scenes there is a sophisticated algorithm which analyzes how users use Twitter and calculates their rank accordingly. The rank is obtained taking into account a certain number of different parameters in a certain timeframe:
Luca explains that a twitter user’s ranking can change daily, depending on how much they use twitter, and other variables. It’s an interesting model. Read his post for more details.
I just tried it out on various keywords, including voip, skype, iPhone, and others. It’s pretty fast. It must preload several pages of search results, because when I click the paginate/next page button at the bottom, it instantly loads. It appears to max out at 7 pages of results, so that may explain why it loads so fast.
Interestingly, there is no submit or ‘Go’ button to submit your search. You simply hit enter to submit. Still for people that are not keyboard-centric or don’t know you can simply hit ‘enter’, a submit button would be nice.
It’s too early to tell if I’ll use this regularly, but I’ll have to bookmark tweefind and try it out over the next few weeks to see how well it works vs. my usually twitter searching.
Tags: followers, following, luca filigheddu, search, tweefind, twitter
Related tags: twitter search, based twitter, distinct users, twitter, search, submit
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Fellow VoIP blogger Luca has launched a new endeavor called Tweefind, which is a rank-based twitter search engine rather than a simply timeline search on keywords.
Luca explains:
How is the Tweerank calculated? Behind the scenes there is a sophisticated algorithm which analyzes how users use Twitter and calculates their rank accordingly. The rank is obtained taking into account a certain number of different parameters in a certain timeframe:
Luca explains that a twitter user’s ranking can change daily, depending on how much they use twitter, and other variables. It’s an interesting model. Read his post for more details.
I just tried it out on various keywords, including voip, skype, iPhone, and others. It’s pretty fast. It must preload several pages of search results, because when I click the paginate/next page button at the bottom, it instantly loads. It appears to max out at 7 pages of results, so that may explain why it loads so fast.
Interestingly, there is no submit or ‘Go’ button to submit your search. You simply hit enter to submit. Still for people that are not keyboard-centric or don’t know you can simply hit ‘enter’, a submit button would be nice.
It’s too early to tell if I’ll use this regularly, but I’ll have to bookmark tweefind and try it out over the next few weeks to see how well it works vs. my usually twitter searching.
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OCS 2007 R2 PIC problem with AOL Fixed
Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 users were having communications issues with AOL’s AIM when federating using PIC (Public IM Connectivity) and using a Windows Server 2008 (x64) Edge role server - Windows Server 2003 (x64) is unaffected by this problem. Microsoft’s Scott Oseychik just issued a fix that solves the problem. The fix involves changing the Windows Server 2008 Edge role to initially establish the SSL dialog using the TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 cipher suite.
It’s pretty easy to fix via Group Policy (gpedit.msc). Once you make the fix you should be able to successfully communicate with AOL AIM clients using Office Communicator 2007 R2 via PIC.
Click here for the resolution.
Tags: LS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 cipher suite, Microsoft OCS 2007 R2, pic, Public IM Connectivity, Scott Oseychik
Related tags: windows server, server, using, windows, problem
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Skype for iPhone Passes 1 Million Downloads!
According to Skype, “In less than two days, Skype for iPhone has been downloaded more than one million times - around six downloads every second. This is a phenomenal performance, and we’re confident that it’s one of the fastest-downloaded iPhone apps ever. We’ll be back next week with an update, but for now, Skype on 
“
That’s pretty damn fast. Now imagine if AT&T allowed Skype over 3G on un-jailbreaked iPhones? That number might be double or triple. Though I bet the number of people that jailbreak their iPhones is going to increase as a result of the native Skype app for the iPhone. The voice quality of the Skype for iPhone app is excellent so I guarantee Skype is going to be a huge incentive for people to jailbreak using Pwnage or QuickPWN.
Well, if you’re one of those people that want to jailbreak your iPhone and get Skype over 3G to work, then I’ve got just the tutorial for you!
Tags: iphone, jailbreak, pwnage, quickpwn, skype, skype over 3g, voip
Related tags: skype iphone, people jailbreak, skype, iphone, people, jailbreak
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Skype in Legal Fight with Joltid over P2P technology
Skype and Joltid Limited are in a legal dispute over Skype’s licensing of Jolitid’s P2P communication technology. This is news to me, since I thought Skype invented the P2P technology used in Skype. Skype’s technology roots are in Kazaa, the P2P file-sharing network. Both Skype and Kazaa were co-founded by Niklas Zennstrom. I now come to find out that Joltid is also founded by Niklas Zennstrom. No doubt when Niklas sold Skype to eBay for billions and then founded Joltid, he still retained licensing rights to his P2P technology. How did eBay spend billions on Skype and not retain exclusive rights to the P2P technology? Either eBay is a fool or Niklas is the best damn negotiator on the planet! I’m going to try and reach out to him to find out more.
If Joltid wins, does that mean the end of Skype? No more Skype for iPhone, just days after it was announced? Perhaps Niklas is playing some hardball to renegotiate the licensing terms? Hard to say who’s right or wrong until I find out more.
In the meantime, read this from the SEC filing:
As previously disclosed, Skype has been in a dispute with the licensor of certain key technologies and had terminated a “standstill” agreement that had been entered into between the parties, permitting either to take action against the other with effect from March 2009. On March 12, 2009, Skype Technologies S.A. filed a claim in the English High Court of Justice (No. HC09C00756) against Joltid Limited, a BVI company.
In connection with the license agreement between the two companies, Skype licenses peer-to-peer communication technology from Joltid, and Joltid has claimed that Skype has breached the terms of the license agreement. Following the filing of the claim, Joltid purported to terminate the license agreement. In particular, Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software code (the “Code”) and that, by doing so, and by disclosing the Code in certain U.S. patent cases, pursuant to orders from U.S. courts, it has breached the license agreement.
On the basis of, among other things, the parties’ mutual dealings since the execution of the licence agreement, Skype is asking the English High Court for declaratory relief, including findings that:
(i) Skype is lawfully accessing, in possession of, using and modifying the Code so that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement with Joltid and accordingly Joltid’s notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid;
(ii) Skype lawfully disclosed the Code in the U.S. patent cases so that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement with Joltid and accordingly Joltid’s notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid; and
(iii) Joltid has certain indemnity obligations in relation to the U.S. patent proceedings.
Although Skype is confident of its legal position, as with any litigation there is the possibility of an adverse result if the matter is not resolved through negotiation. In such event, Skype would be adversely affected and the continued operation of Skype’s business as currently conducted would likely not be possible.
Also, TMCnet reports:
Skype, a division of eBay Inc. is asking a U.K. court to resolve a dispute with Joltid Limited, which owns peer-to-peer communication technology licensed by Skype for use in its software. In a recently filed claim with the English High Court of Justice in London, Skype is asking the Court to find that Joltid’s efforts to terminate the agreement are invalid and that Skype is not in breach of the licensing agreement.
The licensing agreement dispute was previously disclosed by eBay in its most recent annual report, issued February 20. The report states that Skype terminated a “standstill” agreement, allowing either party to take action against the other beginning in March. Joltid is attempting to terminate the agreement based on allegations that Skype has breached its terms. Skype strongly refutes those allegations and is confident of its legal position
Tags: ebay, joltid, lawsuit, niklas zennstrom, sec, sec filing, skype, voip
Related tags: license agreement, skype breach, joltid limited, communication technology, skype breached, skype
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What Skype & Rich Tehrani Do in Vegas Stays in Vegas
I won’t comment on Rich taking pictures of scantily clad women unawares. In fact, I won’t comment at all. I’ll just steal Rich’s pictures of the Skype CTIA event party in Las Vegas. The glass pool table with the Skype logo looks pretty cool, as does the giant mockup of an Apple iPhone. It’s too bad they didn’t show Skype running on the iPhone though.
And what’s up with the funky dude with the mask, stilts, wearing a Skype logo? Words can’t express my thoughts, but I’ll try via the photo captions.
p.s. check out my Skype over 3G on iPhone article. You’ll enjoy it!
Not sure, but I think the ladies are holding iPhones as Rich is taking this photo. You didn’t notice? Well what were you looking at?
Get back to work Rich!
I don’t think they knew you were taking their picture. Leave the peeping Tom to me.
What the???
A guy in a cage and not one of the scantily clad women? Go figure…
I bet he has no Skype buddies
Don’t look up! He’s not wearing underwear. Ack!
Skype runs rings around the competition, so this is apropos
I could do that. No problem!
Didn’t I tell you to get back to work? Oh wait, you’re the boss. Nevermind.
Cool. Is that ice? And what are those balls?
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AsteriskNOW 1.5.0 Released
AsteriskNOW 1.5.0, which launched as a beta in October 2008, is now available for download at http://www.asterisknow.org/downloads. Of course, existing AsteriskNOW users can simply run “yum update” to update to the latest release. I love ‘yum’ for Linux systems - it’s like Windows Update on steroids, but without the Internet Explorer GUI.
According to AsteriskNOW, here are the notable changes since beta2:
* Updated several packages to latest versions (Asterisk, DAHDI, etc)
* Fixed more permissions issues between Asterisk and httpd/FreePBX.
* Updated to CentOS 5.3 (http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-April/015711.html)
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