Verizon‘s go-to-market teams had Skype in place last week.
Employees were oriented. Six months’ ago these same employees had never tried Skype. Now they know a few talking points.
Demo Blackberry and Android phones had Skype installed and easy to find
Local test accounts with contacts were created for each demo phone
Information cards for the phones were updated with Skype listed as a feature of each phone (right above Bluetooth!)
A small Skype sign was with the phones
The in-store phone selector software now lists Skype as one feature among many.
Inventory comes with a shortcut to install the latest version of Skype mobile for Verizon, a thin client.
Seven things to improve:
Preload the whole Skype client, not just a download link. Conversion rates are much higher with a full preload.
International positioning. "Call your family" in Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, Ethiopian and Portuguese (my neighborhood) on store-front posters.
Unbury Skype. Show Skype on the first page in the phone selector.
Enroll. "What Skype name would you like to use with your new phone?" in the check-out procedure.
Top up. Accept payments for Skype credits in the store.
Educate. Data sheets and flyers for customers to take, explaining Skype, Skype mobile, Skype To Go, Calling Plans, and how Skype mobile is different from Skype on PCs or iSkype.
Front of store posters showing video calling (whoops, not this year)
Great rollout to the company-owned stores. Now to check the reseller channel.
SKYPE MOBILE FOR VERIZON WIRELESS AVAILABLE THURSDAY Companies Deliver Expansive Global Calling Community and Free Skype-to-Skype Calls on the Most Reliable Wireless Network in the United States
LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg; LAS VEGAS and BASKING RIDGE, N.J., United States – (Virtual Press Office) – From CTIA WIRELESS 2010® in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced Skype mobile™ will be available this Thursday, March 25, starting with nine Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones. Skype mobile uses the Verizon Wireless voice network for the wireless connection of the Skype-to-Skype calls, providing Verizon Wireless customers with a superior experience and top-notch call quality.
Beginning Thursday, new and existing Verizon Wireless customers with Android 3G smartphones and BlackBerry 3G smartphones can get Skype mobile in a number of ways. Visit www.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile or www.skype.com/go/mobile from a PC to enter the mobile phone number to receive a text message with a link to the application. Verizon Wireless customers can also text “SKYPE” to 2255 to receive the link. In addition, Android customers will be able to download the app from Android Market™. New BlackBerry customers will find the application on their 3G smartphones’ home screens in the Downloads folder when activated.
Skype mobile gives Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans a simple new way to stay in touch with friends, family and business colleagues around the corner and around the world while on Verizon Wireless’ network. Skype mobile users can:
make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype contact around the globe;
send and receive unlimited instant messages with other Skype users;
manage the Skype contact list directly from the mobile application; and
call international phone numbers at competitive Skype calling rates.
John Harrobin, senior vice president of digital media and marketing, noted, “Skype mobile will change the way mobile consumers in the United States make and receive calls. With an ‘always on’ capability, Skype mobile on your 3G smartphone means you never have to miss a call or make an appointment to connect with Skype users around the world. With Skype mobile, we’re untethering Skype users from their PCs and enabling them to stay connected – on the best wireless network in the country.”
Russ Shaw, general manager of Mobile for Skype, noted, “Skype mobile will deliver an unparalleled experience for Verizon Wireless customers. It will be the best way to enjoy unlimited conversations with Skype contacts all over the world at no extra cost. In addition, Skype mobile will allow people to easily and inexpensively make calls to landlines and mobiles abroad at Skype rates.”
Customers need a Verizon Wireless smartphone and data plan to use Skype mobile. Skype-to-Skype calls will not be charged against their monthly minute allowances or data plans. Verizon Wireless customers can visit www.skype.com to purchase Skype Credit to make Skype Out calls and make calls to international landline or mobile numbers.
Skype and Verizon Wireless have been working together to create this application specifically for Verizon Wireless customers and to take advantage of the most reliable wireless network in the United States.
Skype mobile will be available initially on millions of best-selling Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones, including the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530, Storm2™ 9550, Curve™ 8330, Curve™ 8530, 8830 World Edition, and Tour™ 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS™ by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR™.
First, Skype plans to formalize and extend its premium (prioritized queue, private resources) online customer support for enterprises and to deliver local language, in-country customer support through channel partners.
Last, Stefan said survey results show Skype is making its way into US and UK workplaces.
hmmm. "The future of business communications" is a pretty big scope.
Not much new about the consumerization of IT. Been going on for generations. Mobile phones were smuggled in. Wi-Fi, Macs, even PCs were first brought to work by employees. Here’s a 2005 Gartner release saying "Consumerization Will Be Most Significant Trend Affecting IT During Next 10 Years."
Tough times call for desperate measures. Even "consumer grade" tools will do if they save lots of money.
We do have lots of connectivity, for now. Good enough for Skype video calls.
Not just by IT employees but by everyone. Darned employees, using strange software and connectivity in ways we didn’t plan.
We have one life, and we spend it at home, at school, and working. Our tools are becoming closer to us, less tied to or provided by our employers.
Presence will be matter when people stop lying about their availability. Skype’s presence service only lets you set one presence message for everyone. Yet you might be available to your best customer and not available for Bob from the accounting department.
More stats…
Oh, and Skype Lite is coming out for the Blackberry this month.
Harder questions: What percent of smartphone users in the UK and US have ever downloaded an application? What percentage of smartphones sold in the US and UK will come with Skype preloaded?
Less integrated than bolted on or sitting next to your existing workflow. With a few limited exceptions, you cannot build Skype into an enterprise application. Unless you consider Outlook an enterprise workflow app.
Of the nine applications shown above, five were made by Skype, and three were made by one Skype developer. Not exactly a robust ecosystem.
The "tools" talking points are real accomplishments, although far from complete. Skype offers a version specifically for easy configuration (networking options and feature crippling) by IT. The readable admin guide to Skype has been useful in explaining how to make Skype installations conform to company security policies and assert control over users. Skype’s business control panel is a first stab at letting companies manage user accounts and distribute account funds.
"Enhanced service" as used here means customer service and technical support. Interoperability, well, Skype’s not there yet but it’s nice to hear executives acknowledge it as an opportunity.
The closing slides say Skype is good wherever you work (office, travelling, at home).
Critique: A friend in the audience told me it was too salesy for the Interop IT crowd. Everyone there knew Skype already and they generally appreciate live demos more than PowerPoint. I tend to agree. The best parts of the talk were the hard numbers and the real world stories of companies putting Skype to work. Using real company names and showing photos or video of people using the tools at work would have been more meaningful.
Ars Technica: Analysis: IT consumerization and the future of work(2008). "’IT consumerization’ is one of the more unwieldy buzzwords to come down the pike in some time, which is a shame, because there’s definitely something to it. Here’s a look at three factors that contribute to the IT consumerization trend, and at what this trend may mean for the future of how we work."
There’s still room to grow: no voice or video chat, no making or taking phone calls, no chat rooms or multichat, no gateway to Yahoo!’s IM partners (Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Lotus Sametime), no file transfer, no Yahoo! address book.
Yahoo!’s mobile messenger line also includes Y!IM for Sidekick, BlackBerry, and other phones.
Company parties at tradeshows have messages.Skype‘s Wednesday night party at last week’s CTIA Mobile 2009 event had a few.
Fruit: Celebrating the launch of Skype for the Apple iPhone and announcement of Skype Lite for the Blackberry. Without permission to use the logos, Skype had the two fruit (apples, blackberries) on murals, in staff wigs, inside furniture, in cocktails, in ice sculptures, and in deserts.
Circus: Performers from Cirque du Soleil (or something similar) performed throughout the evening, on stage and intimately. Jugglers, strong men, gymnasts, acrobats, mimes. Buxom hostesses in dramatic wardrobe spent an hour learning how to demo Skype for iPhone and four hours in makeup. Message: excitement.
Ice: Skype ice sculptures decorated a Bellagio ballroom. An ice tower at the entrance, an ice pool table (along with pool cues and billiard balls) on the terrace, and a large monument in a lounge area. Message: we’re showing our money.
Everyone there had a great time. Good food, smart people, pleasant music quiet enough that you could talk them, warm weather, and elbow room amid garishly over the top decoration and eye candy.
This was the first year Skype showed up in force at CTIA Mobile. The party was spoils of Skype’s war as the company moves into mobile telecom in a big way, with high margins, high growth, increased share, and sustained profits.
A six foot tall ice tower in the Bellagio hallway.
A full size pool table cast in ice. Folks played for hours, even as it melted. The far right pocket was a sure thing as it warmed up first.
This large ice statue overlooking the courtyard was filled little apples, symbolic of the iPhone.
After the party, the ice crew dismantled the Skype sculptures.
Heavy, massive ice blocks.
Skype carted off in pieces.
I asked several CTIA Mobile alumni if the event was overkill. They all said it was a shout out to the mobile carriers that Skype was here in a big way and here to stay.
My take: Old school B2B industry marketing. Just one deal with any of dozen heavyweights there will pay for Skype’s party, press conference, Showstoppers press event, and sponsorship of the VIP Lounge at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Skype, one of the most used IM/Chat/VOIP/Video-Conferencing application for PC and Mac is slowly working its dominance up the mobile alley and we love it! I’ve always known it’s support for Windows Mobile, Nokia devices and Wi-Fi Phones (Skype Phones) but it was the recent integration with Sony’s Playstation Portable firmware upgrade as well as the hot-off-the-press Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch that is really cooking up some serious mobile progress. With Skype application for BlackBerry phones coming soon, Skype is in a very good position to become one of the leaders in mobile application. Having Skype on the go across multiple platform is definitely going to enhance our mobile experience, this is very exciting indeed.
In this article, I will attempt to compare Skype for iPhone vs. Skype for Playstation Portable. I’ll update this entry when the BlackBerry version becomes available.
The iPhone (iPod Touch) and Playstation Portable is arguably two of the most popular gadgets for travelers on the go. When I review communication gadgets or software, I always like to imagine myself traveling abroad where I would not have access to a local cell phone and would like to keep in touch with friends or family at the luxury of my own mobile gadget. The appeal of Skype has always been there for me for that reason, that is why a laptop has been essential for all my travels until smartphones started to feature applications to support various communication needs such as Fring. That said, I think iPhone or Playstation Portable (PSP) are two of the most carried devices for travelers. I can just see myself in an airport lounge dialing international long distance over Wi-Fi to keep in touch with loved ones via either device.
Skype for iPhone
The iPhone and iPod Touch needs very little introduction. With a large touch screen display and portrait layout, it makes a very good UI candidate for Skype (much like its desktop counterpart).
Everything is integrated so well together on this handy little app. For example, your contacts from your iPhone is automatically hooked up with Skype in addition to its default contact list. To see who is online, you can easily toggle the software button towards the top of the screen.
One of the big advantage of iPhone is it’s integrated microphone that Skype can take advantage of without the need of additional headset. The VOIP function will only work in a Wi-Fi environment (at home, coffee house, airport lounges, etc…) whereas the text Chats can work over your phone’s standard data plan.
I love the fact that this little app does everything its desktop counter part can do, including editing one’s profile or add more Skype-out funds over the handset. Overall, its an amazing application that has been done right, I love it and its free to download!
Pros: Excellent UI and layout, very easy to use and intuitive. Perfect integration to leverage iPhone’s hardware (buttons, camera, etc…) Everything your desktop Skype can do can be done here!
Cons: No VOIP over 3G data, no web-cam video conference, app must be installed separately (only mentioning this because PSP is part of firmware OS)
Skype for Playstation Portable (PSP)
I love the convenience of having my beloved PSP-3000 as a gaming device and knowing it can also surf the web with Flash while keeping up with the communications needs via Skype.
No application to install here, its part of the firmware 3.90+ upgrade. While the PSP doesn’t have a touchscreen UI and the horizontal layout is not taking advantage of the screen real estate as much, it does offer a full suite of Skype features. The SkypeOut and VOIP PC calls are there along with text chat.
Because the onscreen keyboard is driven by the directional keys and based on the 12-button numeric pad, it can be frustrating when compared to the overall iPhone experience.
The one part I have to gripe about is the need of an external microphone. My Griffin Tune Buds Mobile with integrated mic works great but if I forgot my headphones at home then I am stuck with only text chats capabilities. While Sony and Skype recommend you buy their official headset/mic kit, the iPhone OEM headset with mic should work as well. Sony should have integrated a mic solution, after all, this is their 3rd revision to the PSP franchise.
Lets hope Skype will be available for the DS or DSi someday. Overall, I still enjoy having the option of running Skype on my PSP. While its unlikely I’ll be traveling only the PSP, I can see myself using the PSP for Skype to conserve the battery life for my iPhone while traveling abroad. Due to the nature of not having any data connection, the entire operation is rendered useless if I am not nearby a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Pros: Fully integrated as part of PSP firmware, no application install required. PSP’s large display is great for Skype.
Cons: Lack of integrated Mic (and Camera for profile picture, etc…) Wi-Fi is required all the time for any communications (including text chat)
Winner: Skype for iPhone! With voice call quality being relatively the same, I have to go with iPhone because you just can’t beat the convenience of having your iPhone with Skype with you at all times. The integrated mic makes the entire package there and ready to go 24/7. The touchscreen plays well with the UI and it has instantly become one of those default applications I must have on my iPhone.
I’m in the New York Times coverage of Google Voice. Quoted correctly (yay!) but before my own column on the subject came out (d’oh!). Google has some truly delightful advantages in the race to become the world’s largest communications company.
Foresight Institute gets a new president. Skype me (evanwolf) if you want to come to Dr. Hall’s Sunday reception in Palo Alto. We’ll all be talking molecular manufacturing, nanotechnology and the singularity.
Nokia shares its vision. Smartphones rising. Death of patience. Rewarding engagement. Personal expression. New learning economy. Clickable world. Personal relevance. A good summary of forces driving the interplay between mobile technology, industry dynamics, and human behavior.
Benjamin Leviton seeks VoIP help: "I have a Brekeke SIP proxy server. I am looking for someone to remote on to my desktop, log into its interface and config my carriers with the proxy server. Also check the interface of Polycom phone and make sure it is working properly with the SIP proxy server." Contact: +1-917-273-5808, ben@capitalfinanceusa.com, yahoo IM gcc644@yahoo.com, or skype:levtop.
There’s nothing inevitable about Skype having success with other carriers, Nokia or not. Nokia sales are down about 25% from last year and Nokia has negligible share of US markets. That’s not a powerful position from which to bargain.
Skype had to sit down with 3 and negotiate terms, but Skype hasn’t done much if anything with the other mobile carriers. Unlike 3, Skype@Nokia is a fête accompli, a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. The deal is a smack in the face to carriers who thought they had time to make their own Skype-killers, to wield lobbying power with regulators, to get their iPhone on and sell data plans without cannibalizing voice revenue.
Do you really think a year of 3 making a little coin will be enough to convince ranks of mobile execs to abandon strategies they just spent years and career capital to put in place? Do you really think they are excited about the chance to partner with an auction company that’s been sucking the profit out of international calling and undercutting broadband voice pricing?
The opportunity for an upside and the threat if they don’t sign on had better be overwhelming for them to risk their jobs, their shareholders’ ire, and this quarter’s cashflow. Skype’s mobile bizdev team has a hard job ahead, and acceptance any time soon is far from certain.
Josh Silverman joined Skype as President early in the spring of 2008; since then he has been reviewing Skype’s opportunities and building a team of experienced executives who can bring to Skype the products, programs and team building expertise required to operate a business with a run rate of $600MM per year, 20% contribution margins to eBay and growing at 380,000 new account registrations per day (with “real user” growth also increasing significantly).
Summarizing the past executive appointment announcements we can clearly start to see the evolution of a business structure, along with each unit’s responsibilities:
Operations: Product, Marketing, Customer Care, Support
Technology: Engineering, Platform, Development Community
During our interview at CES 2009 with Skype COO Scott Durschlag, he outlined details of his restructuring of Skype’s Operations team along two axes: product and geography under the mantra of providing “Skype Everywhere”.
Global product offerings will encompass three divisions: consumer, business and mobile, each responsible for developing products. Each of these groups will be interacting with members of CTO Daniel Berg’s technology teams to convert their technology developments into marketable global product offerings and to adapt the technology to meet product marketing needs.
Consumer will involve the current Skype client desktop offerings along with hardware, such as Skype phones.
Business starts with the current Skype Business Control Panel but intends to expand well beyond this starting point into a range of offerings, such as Skype for Asterisk and the recently announced IBM LotusLive developments, addressing the small-to-medium business market.
Mobile involves current products such as Skype for Windows Mobile, Skypephone (in conjunction with iSkoot), the recently launched Skype Lite (including Skype for Android) as well as any upcoming offerings for the iPhone and BlackBerry
In addition each of these divisions will be responsible for developing appropriate customer care and support programs appropriate to market demands. For instance, the business unit will come up with ongoing support programs relevant to supporting sustainable business operations of its products’ users. Ideally these programs would follow the model of Red Hat for Linux or Digium for Asterisk and build up a network of resellers and VARS who would provide relevant and timely end user support. While Dan Berg’s technology team will be responsible for third party developer partner support, an additional challenge for the Business products group will be to assist with marketing of business applications offered by these developer partners.
While Skype veteran Stefan Oberg is heading up the Business unit, announcements re appointments to head up Consumer and Mobile are pending.
Along the geography axis is a recognition that, while the Products divisions have a global mandate, there are different market needs within different regions of the world. For instance, in many Asian market wireless carriers do not subsidize mobile phones as is the North American practice. This requires a differentiated approach to these markets with respect to how easily innovations, especially around reduced calling costs, can be introduced to these markets.
The geographical market responsibilities are:
Americas: Don Albert becomes General Manager, Americas. Don has had North America responsibility for a couple of years and will now be responsible for both North and South America. With respect to the latter he is looking forward to building on all the Skype activity in Brazil, for instance. (And, yes, once again at CES Don was made aware we are awaiting SkypeIn and a Skype Store for Canada)
Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA): appointment pending
The U.S. cell phone industry is asking its customers to only text during the inauguration ceremonies tomorrow. From the New York Times:
The largest cellphone carriers, fearful that a communicative citizenry will overwhelm their networks, have taken the unusual step of asking people to limit their phone calls and to delay sending photos. The carriers are also spending millions of dollars to temporarily and substantially upgrade their networks in Washington.
And the article goes on to request that customers delay sending photographs; they warn of delayed text messages and difficulty getting onto the (mobile) Internet.
James Kendrick talks about his problems in San Francisco with AT&T; I experienced similar problems roaming on AT&T in Las Vegas at CES 2009 and in California back in September. At CES this was resolved only by setting my BlackBerry Bold to use just the “2G” network on the advice of an employee of a company who really would know; that tip resulted in a more stable and reliable operation. For those U.S. friends who want to experience a robust, reliable 3G GSM/HSDPA network, I invite you to move to Canada to be on Rogers. Rates may be a bit higher, but it’s always there, robust and reliable, in the advertised regions. Best proof: handling SlingPlayer for BlackBerry when driving along the 401 freeway at 100 km/hour.
During our conversations with Skype COO Scott Durschlag last week at CES, Scott outlined Skype’ criteria for its software development going forward.
First was the emphasis on “liquid communications” through statements such as “Skype Whenever, Wherever”. Just as today you can pick up any PC or mobile platform and find all the Google Tools (Search, Maps, News, Reader, etc.). Skype wants to be on virtually any platform or device.
Pick up a smartphone, find the Skype button. Turn on the TV, find a Skype button, have a conversation. Open a web browser; start a Skype session. All this to complement Skype on the desktop. Today, besides on the desktop, you can find Skype on over 200 mobile phone handsets, several (Sony) mobile devices, Skypephone and Apple TV. But Scott emphasized, this is only the beginning. It will only start to get real when we see Skype on higher profile devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry or when we start to see Skype seriously back into the hardware device business with vendors such as Philips and iPevo.
Then Scott outlined four benchmark criteria that every implementation of a Skype on any platform or device must meet:
A key reason for Skype’s rapid and widespread adoption has been associated with its ease-of-use. Yet Scott says the Skype conversation user experience needs to be even easier to encourage adoption by a broader user base. Developing a more effective user interface has certainly been a focus of the Skype for Windows 4 beta program. At the Skype CES press conference Scott reported that, in a recent survey of users, 88% preferred the new UI to the previous Skype for Windows 3.8. But I’m still wondering if the Skype for Windows team could take a look at Skype for Mac and implement a “drawer” type interface to manage and select the active conversation. For the longer term evolution of Skype clients hopefully Skype also has a look at Dan York’s post on Skype’s fragmented product strategy.
Security is an issue that I’ll leave to Dan York and others who are able to cover this issue more knowledgeably and effectively. Suffice it to say that we would expect security to continue to be a feature of all Skype products, including those that use the mobile voice channel for placing calls from mobile phones.
Two take-aways from these statements:
Fundamentally we should expect Skype, going forward, to be a provider of real time conversation-enabling software on desktop, web, TV and mobile platforms. To use an old telegraphy term: Full Stop! For instance, rather than developing their own social network, we should expect Skype to seek out agreements with other social network service providers, such as the MySpace agreement. Skype is an enabler of real time conversations; it is not in the community building or social networking business. Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, amongst others have already captured that space and done an excellent job at it.
These benchmarks also provide a basis not only for deciding what product offerings Skype will develop but also when they are in a position to release a product.
The new Skype executive team is finally starting to set some benchmarks and guidelines against which we can not only measure executed performance but also have a better understanding of where Skype wants to go.
There’s a “new sheriff in town” when it come to running Skype; CES 2009 was a “coming out” event for the new executive team.
CES 2009 provided an opportunity to catch up personally with many of the vendors we have covered in Skype Journal including Skype, Truphone, SlingMedia, Philips and Research in Motion (BlackBerry). I also had a chance to attend a most informative afternoon session of Jeff Pulver’s Social Meia Jungle event. Unfortunately Palm closed their suite after only two days of CES; thus, I missed an opportunity to learn more about the Palm Pre on Saturday. As Palm had just been awarded a CES “Best of Show” award, that was a “Huh?” moment when there was only a security guard at the suite’s door.. I also wanted to catch iPevo and Nokia but did not have time to get to their booths.
With respect to Skype we had three activities: the Skype press conference, an interview with new COO Scott Durschlag and Skype’s first reception event Friday evening. It was our first opportunity to observe the new Skype executive team in action. While I will be providing some more detailed posts, here are a few observations:
For the first time, a senior C-level Skype executive personally acknowledged Skype Journal’s participation as a playing a significant role in the Skype ecosystem. Scott thanked us for our loyalty to Skype through all the challenges of the past two years. (That does not mean we’ll always be cheerleaders; it’s important that we maintain a skeptical and critical viewpoint within the context of the overall IP-based communications space.)
While we have had co-operation in the past, usually via Skype’s public relations agency, from many Skype employees at an operating level, it’s important for the media to be able to communicate regularly and openly with those at the C-level who are providing overall direction and developing high level strategy. Josh has initiated such openness through his blogging and interviews; now we are seeing it on a person-to-person basis.
On the other hand many times, last week in both the press conference and our discussions, Scott acknowledged the existence of several previous controversial issues, such as technical support, platform development, the role of partners and internal management structure issues as requiring attention by the new management team. The newly recruited management team will be introducing a new level of experience and maturity to address these issues; execution over the next few months now becomes critical.
One future post will cover Skype’s new operating and management structure focused on products and geographical markets.
Another will cover Skype’s overall focus as a software platform developer and the standards being set for these developments. Within this context I’ll provide my perspective on what is meant by “liquid communications”.
We’ll soon have a follow up post about our discussion with Scott of what Skype’s new executive team learned from the TOM-Skype privacy breach last fall and how it became a bonding exercise within Skype as well as establishing some new operating parameters to avoid a repeat.
Most of all, Skype is not sitting back. The are pushing the envelope, but at the same time sending mixed messages externally to partners and developers. But that too will change. Some recent hires have brought maturity to the table.
Finally, for the first time since I have been writing about Skype, we can see some well-articulated high level vision for where Skype is heading, where they need to focus and how they want to play in the real time communications market space at a strategic level.
Looking forward to writing about the evolution of Skype as it grows from a $500MM per year operation with 500 employees into a business with a revenue level and valuation that finally justifies eBay’s initial investment in Skype.
Over the past few years we have seen the evolution of several conversation communities, some simply employing instant messaging; others employing both instant messaging and voice. Skype is the primary example with its support of IM, voice and video as well as auxiliary features such as file sharing (and, as announced tonight, basic screen sharing) but we are also seeing these services diffuse into Google, via GTalk’s voice and chat capability, MSN Live via Live Messenger, and, in spite of its trying to define who they are, Yahoo.
Truphone is a mobile voice calling service that I have used for a couple of years from a Nokia N95-1; it became critical in a situation I encountered in Germany two years ago. I have liked both the quality of the voice calls as well as the user interface, especially its use of the device’s native address book for initiating a call. While they have had some hiccups with their recent product launches, Truphone has become the leader in providing low cost calling from the iPhone while breaking the carrier barrier via Apple’s App Store. I will soon be reporting on Truphone Anywhere for BlackBerry. Now, under recently appointed CEO Geraldine Wilson, Truphone is making a move to grow their user base rapidly by leveraging the user bases of other services.
This evening at the MacWorld Showstoppers event Truphone announced an enhanced Truphone for iPhone providing connectivity to these four conversation communities. Supporting both instant messaging and voice conversations, voice calls to, say, Skype contacts are free provided they go over a WiFi connection. Calls to these communities can also be made over a carrier’s 3G network, usually at the cost of a local call. In addition Truphone is providing access to Twitter as one additional messaging service accessible via Truphone’s iPhone application.
In my interview this evening with new Truphone CEO Geraldine Wilson, she pointed out:
Using Skype as an example, Truphone’s enhancements set up an appropriate Skype client on a Truphone gateway and complete the call to the Skype contact, taking advantage of Skype’s peer-to-peer architecture such that there are no resulting termination charges.
By introducing instant messaging, Truphone is recognizing the key role IM is taking on in IP-based conversations where a conversation may start over a chat session and migrate to a voice session if deemed appropriate.
Truphone sees the introduction of these enhancements as a key to building the Truphone user community; Truphone generates revenue through offering low cost calling to/from the landline and mobile PSTN network.
Truphone is looking at adding BlackBerry and Android to their supported platforms for this service over the next few months. Key here are devices that support an application store in order to make user access to these services simple and trivial.
To avoid high roaming charges it is recommended that Truphone for iPhone be used either over a WiFi connection anywhere worldwide but only over a user’s home country 3G carrier.
These new features go live on next Monday, January 12.
Some outstanding questions:
Given that the Truphone application needs to be active for conversations, how will this work when other applications are open? Currently if I have Truphone as the open application on my iPhone, I can receive free Truphone calls and my presence will be indicated to other Truphone for iPhone users if I am in their “Favorites” tab. However, if I am in another iPhone application, I cannot receive “free” Truphone calls over WiFi; nor is my presence indicated to others. I look forward to seeing how the enhanced Truphone handles Instant Messaging when Truphone is not the “open” application on the iPhone. This is where BlackBerry’s full multi-tasking capability is a major advantage over the iPhone.
Calling Skype contacts involves providing your SkypeID and password. What security is in place to maintain the confidentiality of this information. What other security aspects are compromised as a result of placing the calls via a connection to a gateway that supports the caller’s Skype client.
What is Skype’s reaction to having Truphone siphon off what could otherwise potentially be SkypeOut revenues while leveraging the Skype user base and using the “free” aspect of Skype? We know Skype is working to launch mobile phone applications, probably this week at CES. With iSkoot and the Skypephone on 3′s networks, as we learned at last year’s eComm 2008 iSkoot presentation, a portion of carrier revenues are shared between Skype and iSkoot.
A major step forward in making low cost calls worldwide, Truphone’s moves once again emphasize that WiFi is becoming an ever growing alternative connection option to making wireless calls. At the same time it will be interesting to see how the business model plays out in a world where the cost of voice calling continues to move towards zero.
In my early 50′s youth when I was delivering afternoon newspapers in somewhat remote Saskatoon, Saskatchewan I always tried to be at one customer’s home at 4:30. Why? At that time the only television viewable came via high rooftop antennae from transmitters far away (~400 miles) near Minot, North Dakota. If atmospheric conditions were favorable my customer would let me watch half an hour of a kid’s program (probably Howdy Doody); most of the time we got to watch it masked by a snowy blizzard of faint reception. Getting any type of television reception at that time and location was, at best, a challenge and an adventure.
Fast forward 55 years to this past week’s 2009 New Years day afternoon. While riding as a passenger in our car, we sped along Ontario’s main 401 freeway as I watched the CBC Sports color telecast of the third period of the NHL Winter Hockey Classic (live from Wrigley Field) on my BlackBerry Bold. It was one more test to carry out during the public beta of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry.
I viewed all the action in full color; equally as impressive was the quality of the stereo sound (which “swells” out well beyond the device). The only frame freezing probably occurred as my BlackBerry switched between cell tower sites. Otherwise I was experiencing a crisp picture with sharp colors and clear sound coming from my home cable TV box. Talk about convergence – a Rogers cable TV signal being transmitted back out over Rogers High Speed Internet to a BlackBerry Bold via Rogers 3G wireless.
I have provided the detailed basic requirements for using SlingPlayer for BlackBerry Mobile on my recent Web Worker Daily post: “A New BlackBerry Experience Goes Beta: SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry” along with a history of SlingMedia’s hardware and software products. Note especially that it requires a version 4.5 firmware upgrade of any BlackBerry 8×20. While it works via a WiFi connection on all supported devices, over a 3G HSDPA network (Rogers, AT&T and T-Mobile in North America) it only works currently on the BlackBerry Bold.
Over the past 15 months I have been using SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian on a Nokia N95-1 over WiFi connections. It has been a consistently reliable experience over that period; it also provided me with some benchmarks for testing the BlackBerry version’s user interface and video/audio quality. Here are some of the experiences I have had with SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry on my BlackBerry Bold 9000 over the past few days of beta trials:
a rock concert on HDNet where percussion, guitar chords and voice cover a wide audio frequency range
a rebroadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas eve concert on PBS where over 200 voices, soloists and the orchestra provide an excellent source for testing the clarity of audio as well as the resolution of the video
several sports events, including fast moving football and hockey action as a test for shadowing and pixelation
Oprah Winfrey making Skype High Quality Video calls
In all cases the experience on the Bold took full advantage of the Bold’s processor power, network speed, native stereo audio and its widely acclaimed “stunning” color display. Simply stated, I became immersed in the programs I was watching to the point where the experience was transparent to the underlying technology. My only negative was more physiological than technical: I found full “playing surface” views of sports events could cause a bit of dizziness due to focusing on all the action within the Bold’s display size; holding the device further away from my eyes addressed this issue.
While I had some excellent viewing and listening experiences, a few comments:
instead of a full visual representation of the cable box remote control, the remote control buttons are represented on a menu bar across the bottom of the screen. Note that in addition to the icons on the menu bar, one can “fast-track” to an item using the keyboard (for instance, M=Menu, O=Power On/Off, etc.)
scrolling across any of the three menu bars is done via the BlackBerry’s trackball.
audio comes out by default over the Bold’s speakers without the need to click on the “speaker” button
the “Favorites” menu bar picks up your “Favorites” channels stored via SlingPlayer for Windows1
changing channels may cause a video freeze up for 10-20 seconds; this is an issue SlingMedia is trying to minimize.
no apparent viewing experience difference whether using either a WiFi or 3G connection
needs a bar to display volume level when using the BlackBerry’s volume +/- buttons
switches readily between a full screen video and a display that incorporates one of three menu bars
needs to “reconnect” if you switch to another BlackBerry application while viewing (SlingPlayer application remains open in background but disconnects from the source); the “reconnect” time is 5 to 15 seconds.
battery life on the Bold for continuous reception of a broadcast via WiFi is about 2-1/2 to 3 hours.; it’s probably shorter on other 8xx0 models.
I have also been able to get SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry beta working on a BlackBerry 8820 over WiFi where, once again, it provided an excellent true reproduction of the video signal within the limitations of the 8820′s video and audio hardware.
it can also be used to operate the PVR on my cable TV set-top box.
latency: at midnight New Year’s Eve, SlingPlayer for BlackBerry Mobile rang in the new year seven seconds after the broadcast version directly connected to a cable service.
you can almost read those real time scoreboard bars that appear across the top of the screen during football and hockey broadcasts.
And, for now for those not able to take advantage of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry due to its current specifications:
it works over a GSM/EDGE connection on unsupported BlackBerry 8xx0 devices; however, SlingMedia does not guarantee the resulting performance. This is really an application for 3G or faster wireless networks only; an attempt to connect my Bold in a rural area where there was only EDGE wireless failed.
once SlingMedia releases this HSDPA version of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry they will look at doing a version that runs over Verizon’s, Bell Mobility’s and Telus’s 3G EV-DO network
A suggestion for RIM: SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry demonstrates the full potential of the Bold’s and 8900 Curve’s 480×320/360 video display. Let’s hope that newer versions of their firmware can achieve the same level of high quality video on the YouTube player and other video applications supported by these devices.
If you have both a SlingBox and one of the supported BlackBerries, upgrade your firmware (where necessary) and give SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry a try (U.S., Canada, U.K.). Sling Media is now looking for feedback from its targeted user public.
With over 500 channels to choose from, at any location worldwide where I can find a WiFi or (unlimited data plan) 3G HSDPA connection, television broadcast viewing has come a long way from having, in a fixed location, a single channel available only when atmospheric conditions permit.
SlingPlayer for BlackBerry has significant potential for business road warriors; in addition to the entertainment aspect, it also provides immediate access to “breaking news” and business broadcasts from taxis, airports, coffee shops, restaurants (mind your etiquette, however). For those states considering legislation prohibiting texting while driving, they may also want to include viewing videos as a potential distraction.
(I would have put up a screen capture; however, the video does not make it to the BlackBerry screen capture programs I employ, including PC desktop programs.)
1SlingMedia’s remotely stored “Favorites” feature will be supported by a future version of SlingPlayer for Mac.
A six foot tall ice tower in the Bellagio hallway. 
This large ice statue overlooking the courtyard was filled little apples, symbolic of the iPhone. 
Skype
In this article, I will attempt to compare Skype for iPhone vs. Skype for Playstation Portable. I’ll update this entry when the BlackBerry version becomes available. 
The iPhone and iPod Touch needs very little introduction. With a large touch screen display and portrait layout, it makes a very good UI candidate for Skype (much like its desktop counterpart). 
I love the convenience of having my beloved PSP-3000 as a gaming device and knowing it can also surf the web with Flash while keeping up with the communications needs via Skype. 
The one part I have to gripe about is the need of an external microphone. My 
Josh Silverman joined Skype as President early in the spring of 2008; since then he has been reviewing Skype’s opportunities and building a team of experienced executives who can bring to Skype the products, programs and team building expertise required to operate a business with a run rate of $600MM per year, 20% contribution margins to eBay and growing at 380,000 new account registrations per day (with 
Over the past few years we have seen the evolution of several conversation communities, some simply employing instant messaging; others employing both instant messaging and voice. Skype is the primary example with its support of IM, voice and video as well as auxiliary features such as file sharing (and, as announced tonight, basic screen sharing) but we are also seeing these services diffuse into Google, via GTalk’s voice and chat capability, MSN Live via Live Messenger, and, in spite of its trying to define who they are, Yahoo.
Join the Skype 6.X Text Chat Room