[Correction] Sean Egan leads the Google Talk Libjingle program. Before Google he led the GAIM open IM project. He talks of an API that is running ahead of client development. Great for developers.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there)

There's a new calendar+groupware in town for Skypers and it brings some slick new features with it. I met yesterday with the management team at Airena who took me through the paces on their Airset - Skype integrated solution for group management. AirSet software allows users to manage all their groups - family, work, social - in one place using a free Web-based service that includes calendars, address books, to-do lists and blogs. It's an interesting product and I've extended my testing to a group calendar for the Skype Journal and another for the family.

Airset was described to me as a "Lifeware" product for the small companies, and individuals that want control of their life but don't have access to MS Exchange servers and the complex systems that groupware traditionally requires. The more I've played with it the more it makes sense to me. I'm not part of a large company and yet I do need to coordinate calendars, and updates with others. Similarly, many social networking services for me are simply 'broken" as they don't integrate effectively with the events in my life. It's also responds quickly as a result of being "Ajax-enabled". I'll leave that to the real techies.

I'm pleased to see Airset incorporate Skype. By using Skype presence information and adding easy calling it provides a whole new dimension to managing events. It's also yet another illustration of where communications is going.

Thinking about setting an appointment for the group; Skype makes it easy to check online; potentially reducing time and adding productivity. By adding Skype, now voice services are integrated so instant conference calls or mulit-chats can help with what were once logistical nightmares. Airset is also demonstrating what "mashups" are all about. If you look deeper they are also hooking into Google Maps and tying mapping information to contact details. Thus uploading your contacts means you now have a map at a click for everyone.

A point worth remembering is you can manage your groups, (eg a groups calendar) and never ever have any of your contacts join up and be Airset members. AirSet will still send them messages and reminders. For those wanting to augment email reminders with mobile updates then Arena has a premium service which I'm sure is going to evolve to add a lot more. Updates are sent by email and SMS is ready to integrate with your mobile phone. Overall it synched quickly and easily with my Outlook contacts and calendar system. I even feel happier that I now have a backup for that part of my life!

There are other Skype related groupware products in the works. However, this is a strong signal (even late!) that companies providing other core services (eg an accounting package) should be racing to add VoIP functionality to their solutions. Another thing to keep in mind. Airena like others should be complemented for testing and moving forward with Skype and Google Maps API integrations. However, soon we are going to see IM agnostic solutions. Airset could just as easily cross connect different IM systems or turn their learnings to Google Talk or Gizmo.

So whats your Calendar solution? Does it integrate with Skype? Can you access it anywhere?

Today Santa Cruz Networks made available a new version of Festoon that integrates to either Skype or Google Talk.

It is free. Festoon is available for download here.

I caught up with Santa Cruz Networks’ CEO Itzik Cohen, former VP of Corporate Development at WebEx, on his mobile using SkypeOut:

SJ: “Okay Itzik, first Skype, now Google. Who is your next target for Festoon? And when?”

Itzik: “AOL is next, before year end.”

SJ: “I really liked seeing the same user interface for both Google and Skype. But I want a combined list. I don’t want to switch back and forth.

Itzik: “Bill, you are so damn impatient! First we will develop each community. Like I said, today Google, AOL by Christmas. Then Yahoo, then MSN for first half of 06. When that’s done you will get your buddy lists integrated! It is sure nice to have instant messaging clients with API’s!”

SJ: “I hear you have been busy trying to raise venture financing. What can you tell our readers?”

Itzik: “Not much at this point Bill. We are very, very close to closing. I have been at it night and day for three weeks. Our story of making video an immersive experience is resonating very well with investors just as our product is resonating with our users. I expect to be back leading a well funded team before the snow flies up in your neck of the woods.”

SJ: “Thanks for your time Itzik. I think you guys will do all right. Multi-user video, cross-platform and desktop sharing are my favorite features. Give me a call when the financing closes.”

Richard Zhao Liang and Bill Campbell.

Although the worldwide VoIP market is booming and Skype has wooed millions of users, its road to China is not so bright as in other parts of the world, especially for revenue.
There are four kinds of VoIP services: phone to phone, phone to PC, PC to phone, PC to PC. In China, the phone to phone and phone to PC are clearly defined in law as the basic telecom services that no one besides these six services providers can provide: China Mobile, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, China Railcom, and China Satellite Com.).

The Ministry of Information Industry (MII), according to the notification no. 413(2005) on July 18, will continue to ban commercial PC-phone VoIP services, except for a trial at four cities countrywide: two for China Telecom at South China (Shenzhen and ShangRao, Jiangxi Province), while two for China Netcom at North China (Changchun, Jilin Province and Tai’an, Shandong Province). During the service trial by Shenzhen Telecom (a subsidiary company of China Telecom), the price of VoIP phone is about 2.5 cents (US) for both domestic and international calls.

A joint venture with TOM Software will not help Skype generate revenue in China. Skype would require a joint-venture with China Telecom or China Netcom. But without clear commercial benefits to those two fixed line carriers such a joint venture is unlikely to occur.

Skype’s only source of revenue from mainland China will only be from SkypeIn and SkypeOut originating from outside of China. And none of that revenue will flow to Skype’s Partner TOM Software. So the marketing approaches shown below might be suitable for Skype into China:

First, continuously fight for an increasing market share at IM and PC to PC market, competing against QQ, MSN, YIM, Google Talk, Sina UC, and NetEase PP.
Second, cooperate with those smartphone/handset/pda hardware vendors for solutions like USB-plugable PC phones.

Skype’s competitive advantages come from its voice quality, encryption, and ease of use.

See original post here.

Last Tuesday we were all waiting for Google Talk. By Wednesday we had Google Talk, MSN Messenger's 7.5 with video and quality talk, Skype opening up SkypeNet and SkypeWeb.

Something's breaking through. "Something wonderful."

Let's talk about it over spicy noodles at Jing Jing. Come one, come all. Bring friends and spread the word.

Join the bloggers of Skype Journal: Phil Wolff, Stuart Henshall, and Bill Campbell in town from Canada. Bring $25 and we'll eat family style. See you Tuesday at 7 in Palo Alto.

Please RSVP on Evite or leave a comment so we have a headcount.

In all the talk about Google Talk many missed Microsoft's release of MSN 7.5.

If you use MSN it is time to upgrade. Leah, the program manager for MSN messenger introduces it here and writes a letter to Google Talk here. I think Leah knows how to use a blog!

Net net, the new MS MSN 7.5 is impressive at least under the hood. It is like an old car that has been hotrodded with a new motor and at the same time they've upgraded the suspension without fixing the seats or interior. However they did stick in the new boombox. The control interfaces remain so yesteryear. Still it now kicks ass in the Voice - audio quality - and Video - department. Here it is very impressive. So real improvements and radical upgrades are under the hood. Even Leah contrasts usability with Google Talk, where she writes "I will improve my usability. Maybe your straightforward interface will bring people into the IM markets who have been intimidated out of it by the more complex clients."

Effectively we now have a defacto audio standard emerging with GIPS codec driven clients (Skype, MSN, GoogleTalk, Gizmo etc.)perhaps tuned differently, while anything else remains inferior. Even so none of these conversation clients talk to each other yet.

Thus MS now has a platform in place to build on. The next generation will be very competitive. It will need to get off the PC to be really exciting. It's also limited to Windows XP at this time. Where is that multi-platform?

So why am I not that excited?

It is not just the lack of messenger buddies I have. I can see this version will keep hardcore MSN Messenger fans happy. So if your life revolves around MSN Messenger then it's a nice step forward. I'm going to brush over some of the contact enhancements and tie-ins with Spaces etc. They are worth looking at, also don't fix it for voice users.

Biggest complaint from a "voice" user.

I said the control mechanisms were screwy. I've made a big thing in the past about "computers are connecting" "accept this conversation" and that's where this client still feels very dated. The modes eg "in a call", even how you start a call and hang up a call are not obvious. At least version 7.5 rings. Then strange things like wanting to go from "voice" to "video" force you to drop the call and reconnect. I can't explain that.

Also on the voice side there are no conference calls and no capability to interconnect into the PSTN or even other SIP clients.

Some Pluses:

On the plus side there are all sorts of new goodies enabling new ways to express yourself. Most intriging to me is what MSN calls "voice clip". This is similar to push to talk and enable clips of up to 15 seconds. This is an innovative way of providing this feature. It remains in the chat client where you can also replay it. Note pressing it during a voice call only results in your comments being recorded. So we lack call recording.

Like Google Talk, MSN 7.5 is peer to peer just using a central directory to set up the original connection. Like Google neither of these are providing a safe encrypted service. That's a starting point for Skype and I think an important one.

I like how Leah is writing about her product. It's personalising the experience. It's a great bloggy example. I'd also be interested to hear her thoughts on Skype. Then I believe Microsoft is very busy with their "Skype strategy".

It’s crazy how two IM clients like us can be so similar yet so different. You are so dedicated to your primary functions, that you have a chance at really mastering them. I love the way you concatenate messages from the same person, and that I can choose the names for my buddies. Your call connection time is very fast, and your sound effects are pleasant too. I, on the other hand, spend my energy in many different directions at once. I value chat and voice, but I also get a kick out of video and personal customization. I love helping people to share files, and stay engaged with whiteboard, P4 apps, and games. I like the silliness and vibrancy that winks and emoticons and dynamic display pictures can bring to an otherwise static interaction. I have users with such a wide variety of interests and it’s important to me to keep all these things going so they can pick and choose. I admit, though, that concentrating on so much at once sometimes makes it tough to give each feature the spotlight it deserves.(In some cases, impossible – providing simplicity and extensive choice can be mutually exclusive). Leah - "I'm Just a Messenger"

Where does Skype fit in?

I think it remains materially ahead of both MSN Messenger 7.5, Google Talk and all the rest as defining the role of a "conversation client". The IM clients are learning how to imitate aspects. None have begun to integrate modes of voice operation with headsets and handsets. None of them have released API's. None yet have an announced embedded strategy. For the most part PSTN interconnects aren't there and they aren't cross-platform. Still the combination of what's invented in these communication clients is developing as the replacement for telephony.

While I mull over how a client can have so much potential and so many flaws I start to think about what I might do given MS resources. I think I'd start comtemplating a "range of communication clients" --- launching MSN in different formats with different skins to cater to different audiences. It appears stupid for both MSN and Yahoo to continue developing just one chat client. Why not broaden the range?

The SkypeNet and SkypeWeb announcements are interesting. A bit scary too. Not for Google, the intended target, but possibly for members of the Skype Developer Community.

Lenn Pryor in today's Share Skype blog had this to say,

"We are announcing two new initiatives that make Skype and the Web a little more interesting and open up new possibilities for the developer and partner community... "

I am glad Lenn feels that SkypeNet and SkypeWeb will "open up new possibilities" because Skype's actions have been shutting down opportunities for developers.

Using the Skype API the Development Community created Web Presence Applications, integrations to e-mail systems like Outlook, and browsers like Internet Explorer, along with voice messaging/answering systems, like Pamela. In each case Skype moved into these tested and proven markets, thus eating the children they had spawned. Now the Skype Ecosystem is offered another API─ SkypeNet API.

For me, Skype’s new announcement just killed a $10,000+ contract for web presence I spent five months cultivating. Thanks, Skype. However, where I see a blunder of biblical proportions (lev 26:29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.), Martin Carleton, a developer of the Jyve Web Plugin for Skype, sees the move by Skype to be very positive.

A third perspective comes from Martin Geddes,

“Skype's limited resources are too diffused. Is a Skype toolbar really the biggest strategic imperative, something that cannot be done by a third party? An in-house video solution? Yet another web presence server?”

If Martin's insight is correct then Skype may be shooting itself in both feet: loss of strategic focus and a disheartened ecosystem. These are big problems to have just as Google Talk is emerging into the marketplace and as Yahoo and Microsoft sharpen their swords.

I have yet to meet a software developer who has made any money with their Skype Add-on applications. And yet these add-ons have created value for Skype. CRM and Outlook add-ons increase the use of SkypeOut. But the developers get no share of the revenue. Isn’t sharing good?

What do you see? Is Skype eating its children? Is SkypeNet and SkypeWeb creating new developer opportunities? Is Skype losing strategic focus? Tell us what you see.

Is it all over for Skype? As Google Talk launched tonight with an Orkuttian viral shove provided by Gmail. At first glance it could be Skype's worst nightmare or the kick start necessary to refocus Skype. If you missed the buzz, Google Talk is the long awaited and predicted IM / Voice client. It won't be over for a while and the battle will take to the trenches with Yahoo, MSN and AOL battling to the end. This is a first salvo. Don't expect Google's feature set additions to follow Skype's path immediately to Telecom as Google has other opportunities sitting there within its empire. These are my first impressions.

• Extreme Simplicity. If you have a Gmail account you can just log in. The client is very simple.
  
• Find buddies quickly. If they are in Gmail then you can make hundreds of invites very quickly. Authorization is simple.
  
• Presence. Simplified and more intelligent than ever with customized field options that add new fun to presence. It's about time!
  
• Chat. Very basic, no emoticons etc. Still it's clean and archived and I bet searchable (if not now soon) by google desktop. Chat uses XMPP and thus iChat and Jabber clients can connect directly to Google Talk. You can also add it immediately to Trillian. (Trillian could be quite a winner). Guess that will put Google Talk presence on mobiles too!
  
• Talk. Talk is chat centric. Ie click to chat rather than Skype's click to call. Clicking opens a chat dialogue box. You then initiate a call from the chat window. Talk quality matches Skype and is better than Yahoo.
  
• Chat Window Organization. Windows self organize in an interesting fashion until closed.
  
• No profiles and no friendly pictures at this time.

How it really worked.

I had 8 conversations all around the world. Some of the voice connections didn't connect immediately and felt like they failed. There was just no sound. Sometimes the sound started after the call was connected for 30 seconds or more. This is likely just a short term bug. I enjoyed the inbound ring tone. Distinctively different from Skype. The invite process was very simple, building my list very elegant.

What's Missing?

From a Skype user's point of view: Almost everything. There are no profiles, no photos / pictures, no voice mail, no multi-conference or multi-chat. Plus there is no SkypeIn or SkypeOut capabilities. This is not a phone replacement. The multi-chat and conference calling should be easy to duplicate. The telephone system more difficut. However, each name is a SIP name and that is designed to connect with Vling and Gizmo project in a very short time. Plus with rumors around Google raising money, a TMobile USA purchase can't be that far away. That would provide a user base, the WiFi hotspots and most importantly the chance to integrate mobile numbers with VoIP.

Where's the Strength?

Talk is already integrated with Gmail and thus links nicely with IG, Google's personal content portal. So when will GoogleTalk have access to Orkut (profiles / social networking - pictures and profiles) Blogger (another place to share presence), Desktop (archive searching), Maps (location information) and instantly the whole Jabber/XMPP community. How quickly can Google bring these all together. Then they already have a photosharing program etc. Google has all the elements to bulk up to a Yahoo like client very quickly. Add in Ad Sense etc. Very neat models are likely to emerge. I heard from one punter tonight they had told their mother to buy more Google shares.

Developer Talk

Google has a great page outlining their preliminary plans and open strategy for the future of "talk."

Google's mission is to make the world's information universally accessible and useful. Google Talk, which enables users to instantly communicate with friends, family, and colleagues via voice calls and instant messaging, reflects our belief that communications should be accessible and useful as well. We're committed to open communications standards, and want to offer Google Talk users and users of other service providers alike the flexibility to choose which clients, service providers, and platforms they use for their communication needs.
Google

How does Skype stack up? Yahoo?

• Google may win on philosopjy alone (see above mission) or the resources in dolars and manpower. However today, while Google may get it's Orkuttian swell of new users isn't actually an acceptable replacement client for either Skype or Yahoo. Both do more better for their current audiences.
• On features, Skype is still ahead and if they would speed up their development and releases of call forwarding, VM improvements, Video, and their Presence Server they still have a chance althougth the market has shifted dramatically. Yahoo is bulking up however still does nothing really well. That may change.

Where should Skype's strategy start?

Open Up! By contrast with Google, Skype is on a philosophical back foot, well balanced. Being closed is no longer an asset, so Skype can compete only on its design, features and capabilities. To open up, the Skype chat client must adopt the Jabber/XMPP protocol, accelerating its interconnect and encouraging developers to "stick" / "start" developing products around the API. So far Google hasn't announced an API (count the hours). They will need one even if just for hardware. Skype will be forced to open up many aspects of its interface now.

The rumor of Google Talk appears to be rattling the cage at Skype and will shake some egos. This post reflects on Skype's latest PR release which opens the gates on new initiatives. Are they in response to Google Talk? I wrote this prior to testing out Google Talk this evening. I'll let you be the judge.

Party time at Skype over the next week.

...is preparing to mark its second anniversary next week by opening up its platform to anyone who wants to integrate Skype's presence and instant messaging services into their website or application. By opening up Skypes platform to the web, it will now be simple for anyone to connect to Skypes fast growing member base,.... Skype Anniversary Press Release

Underlying the fluff we find two new initiatives that indicate Skype is testing a bolder (or maybe reckless if the news is too premature) strategic direction. Certainly these components support Lenn Pryor's desire to build a broader ecosystem around Skype.

SkypeWeb: Creating a web of availability.

Skype will launch a web presence server solution under the name SkypeWeb. This will be supported in a new client release (we don't know when) which will broadcast your presence data via preferences in the client. Apparently a new bit of code in the P2P network will ping status updates every five second to a presence server. Presence information will be availabie in the form of an ATOM feed which will enable presence updates and also enable contact lists. All list detail is said to be controlled by the user. Thus the Atom feed will push presence data direct from the Skype client enabling contact lists for a circle of friends. The general idea space is good. Details? Client? We don't know yet.

SkypeNet: Stripped down client extends Developer opportunities:

Skype will open up presence and IM functionality to the whole world under the name SkypeNet. It's unknown whether this will include file sharing. SkypeNet is made up of SkypeLite clients --- a headless Skype client, without user interface, that can be integrated into any application. This should let you build Skype servers and web services. It should help Skype become enabled in programs like Trillian, make Skype more interesting for online game publishers, and create opportunities for business applications that need to scale. This is a huge gap in their architecture and, depending on execution, SkypeNet may fill it.

Some of the PR announcement is fluff. Skype has done a tremendous job of building and growing a software platform. Still, the combination of big deal buyers (Murdoch billions) and bragging on registered names (51 million) doesn't sit well with me. It hides the plain truths. Skype at two is still an upstart minnow. It's achieved much. Year One saw the launch of P2P telephony that just worked and free conference caling. Together these reinvented telephony. In Year Two we have SkypeOut, SkypeIn and the SkypeAPI and Skypers who want to do more with Skype. Today Skype has a global following in the 10's of millions talking for billions of minutes.

The industry clearly needs some metrics. However apples and oranges examples isn't the way to do it.

Skype's minutes served are currently flat. Active users are stalled. Releases with substantial features - voice recording, - call forwarding, work groups, contact lists, all seem to be coming along very slowly.

What is slow? From a developer's perspective progress may be very fast. However, from a Skype user point of view, many are now using Skype as a super telephone replacement, often for mobiles, so we expect all sorts of complex new features to be available. They are standard features on other systems. Now Skype adds these two initiatives. Expectations for Skype's next major client release are growing. We want it all and yet, two years after Skype first launched, I still can't do the things with it I dreamed I would like to be able to do.

So, Skype, please don't put your credibiltiy on the line with stretch announcements. The meme is still spreading because Skype is inherently good when I can talk to one or more for free. However, nothing kills a meme faster than the smell of desparation or an empty store. Telling me about presence servers and stripped clients is not the same as delivering them to me. The developer community has provided many gifts. I just hope when you blow out the two candles this week our wishes come true.