Navoto fights roaming with Skype

Verizon's Skype mobile apps for Android and Blackberry, tied to Verizon's Wi-Fi, won't roam internationally. The new Navoto GSM Gateway for Skype offers a way around this. The gateway connects your hometown wireless carrier to your on-the-road mobile phone.

Omri Navot was one of the first to pioneer hardware that added value for Skype users. Skype Journal introduced his SkyQube from Singapore's Qool Labs in April 2006. Now his own company, UGI Telecom, an original design manufacturer in Rehovot, Israel, is releasing the gateway today.

Getting set up takes about ten minutes. Plug in the cables and install the software. Before your trip, take the SIM card from your mobile and put it into the gateway. When you arrive at your destination, get a local prepaid SIM and put it in your mobile phone. Then "pair" your new SIM by texting the gateway.

Once Navoto knows your new SIM, it starts to work. Calls to your mobile number at home are forwarded to you through a SkypeOut call.

You can make calls through Navoto's ringback feature. Ping the gateway, it calls you using SkypeOut, you hear dialtone and make your call. You can also setup speed dial contacts to make it easy to reach phone numbers or a few of your Skype contacts.

Let's look at the gear, in this case a prototype from a few months' ago.

The front of the box has a slot for your local SIM card. By putting your mobile phone's SIM card in the box, Navoto looks like your mobile phone to your wireless carrier.

You eject your SIM card poking a paper clip into a small hole.

The back of the box has (from left to right) a power jack, two RJ11 phone line jacks so you can keep your home phone connected, a USB port to connect to your home-town PC, and a connector for the GSM antenna. 

The GSM antenna lets the box talk with your home-town wireless carrier. 

The software running on your PC is a Skype plug-in, talking to your Skype desktop client. None of this works unless Skype for Windows is running.

The Navoto desktop software has many features.

Voice mail, call recording, voice messages, simple configurable IVR (phone menus), voicemails sent to your email account, SMS texting, and scheduled mode changes (home, work, offline, etc.).

Navoto Gateways are entering the distribution channel this week.

In my experience, the prototype gateway works as advertised.

However it is still very early for this product and I haven't worked with final production versions of the software or the gear. Both the hardware and software are improving quickly in response to known bugs and feature requests. I experienced installation bugs with the email feature, for example. My version of the box, one of a handful of production tests, didn't have final CE FCC certification, packaging, finish, labels,  or documentation. I look forward to giving the finished product another look.

International calling is the largest (only?) growing telecom sector. Skypers called for more than twelve percent of all international minutes in 2009. Demand for cross-border calling is proven. How much is due to travel? How many billions of dollars does the international roaming market collect? Omri Navot aims to find out.

tags: navoto, hardware, software, gsm, mobile, gateway, skype, skypeout, israel, is, emea

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Photo on wood table: Navoto. Other photos and chart: Phil Wolff.

Skype on Verizon Android requires you to turn off WiFi

I'm testing Skype mobile on a Motorola Droid with Verizon. I tried to launch Skype while other apps were busy with my WiFi downloading email, news, feeds, activity streams, apps, maps, music, podcasts, and television shows.

I get an error. Its text reads:

"Skype mobile does not currently work on WiFi and requires switching to a Verizon Wireless data network connection. This may affect other apps using a WiFi connection."

You have two options: "Turn off WiFi" or "Exit".

Doesn't the Droid let me have both Wi-Fi and the Verizon data connection running simultaneously? Apparently not.

Skype forces an either/or choice.

So it's not nearly as attractive to keep Skype running in the background. You must squeeze all of your other activity through Verizon's tiny wireless broadband channel, even if you have lots of available Wi-Fi connectivity at hand.

There's no engineering reason why you couldn't be connected to both networks at once (beyond battery consumption).

Where is this limit imposed? The Verizon Droid? Motorola Droids in general? All Android phones?

tags: skype, mobile, android, motorola, droid

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype is in Verizon Company Stores

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:

1. Preload the whole Skype client, not just a download link. Conversion rates are much higher with a full preload.
2. International positioning. "Call your family" in Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, Ethiopian and Portuguese (my neighborhood) on store-front posters.
3. Unbury Skype. Show Skype on the first page in the phone selector.
4. Enroll. "What Skype name would you like to use with your new phone?" in the check-out procedure.
5. Top up. Accept payments for Skype credits in the store.
6. 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.
7. Front of store posters showing video calling (whoops, not this year)

Great rollout to the company-owned stores. Now to check the reseller channel.

tags: skype, verizon, mobile, usa, smartphones, android, droid, blackberry, retail, news

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Video: Skype+Verizon at CTIA: We're living together

In which John Harrobin and Russ Shaw announce Verizon Wireless (the largest 3G company in the US) and Skype (the largest over-the-top Internet calling company) are moving in after announcing they were dating in February at the Mobile World Congress. Reactions to Skypizon (Veriskype?) are enthusiastic here at the  mobile industry's association and lobbying arm love fest.

The news release:

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™.

For more information about Verizon Wireless, visit www.verizonwireless.com or follow the company on Twitter at http://twitter.com/verizonwireless. Learn more about Skype at www.skype.com or follow the company at http://twitter.com/skypemobile.

# # #

tags: skype, verizon, blackberry, android, storm, storm2, curve, tour, droid, motorola, devour, htc, eris, rim

Using Skype mobile for Verizon Wireless

Here's the Say It Visually! whiteboard guide to Skype mobile on Verizon Wireless phones. Positioned as freeing you from your PC (the way, um, mobile phones do). Bonus points for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calling from your phone with your flat rate Verizon data plan. On YouTube.

tags: explanation, communications, verizon, wireless, mobile, sayitvisually

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Listen to Skype+Verizon Press Conference at Noon Pacific

Skype into the event: 877-883-4690 (United States and Canada) or +1 706-758-5386 (international). Conference ID: 64218465

Verizon Wireless And Skype To Unveil Skype mobile At CTIA WIRELESS 2010 In Las Vegas

03/22/2010

WHO:
Verizon Wireless, the leading wireless provider in the United States, and Skype, the company with the software that enables the world’s conversations

WHAT:
Verizon Wireless and Skype will hold a news conference during CTIA WIRELESS 2010® to unveil Skype mobile™. Speakers will include:

• John Harrobin, senior vice president of digital media and marketing, Verizon Wireless
• Russ Shaw, general manager of Mobile, Skype

WHERE:
CTIA Press Conference Room: Room N241 – North Hall
Las Vegas Convention Center
3150 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

WHEN:
12:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, March 23, 2010

To listen to a teleconference of the news conference, participants may call:
877-883-4690 (United States and Canada)
+1 706-758-5386 (international)
Conference ID: 64218465

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 91 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 83,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Skype
Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Every day, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles. Download Skype to your computer or mobile phone at skype.com.

####

Orphaning Skype for Windows Mobile users shows Leadership

UPDATE: Added explanation of cow photo.

When is Windows Phone 7 Series coming to market? September 2010? Seven months from now? That's a long time to be making WinMobile users hate your brand. Or to keep investing in code that only runs on 6.5 with a short shelf life. In that spirit, Adobe announced it's suspending engineering for 6.5 flash products.

The cow to the left is being immobilized for humane slaughter. Photo: Dr. Temple Grandin. Do you love your product? Product portfolio managers set those feelings aside so they can end-of-life them at the right time.

Similarly Russ Shaw yesterday killed the Skype Lite for Windows Mobile thin client and the Skype for Windows Mobile app. Shaw is Skype's new VP/GM for its mobile business unit. Customer dissatisfaction with those products hurt Skype's reputation as easy, reliable and sensual. It took fresh eyes and a clear mandate to kill Skype's current offerings without a replacement ready. The user experience -– complaints of abysmal audio quality and improper hardware setup -- hurt Skype's business more than it helped.

Skype pulled these releases from distribution; if you have Skype installed on your Windows Mobile phone then you can Skype away all year.

Practicing product management sometimes feels like raising livestock. We have great hopes, spend time nurturing them, and get the most out of them during their productive life. When that productive life is over? Take them to the slaughterhouse and kill them. Make room for the next generation.

Skype's mobile services are available on most handsets yet Skype is still just starting to partner deeply with mobile operators. While the product portfolio is diversified, Hutchison Whampoa's 3 has been the only large carrier to seriously partner with Skype. Skype's partnership with Verizon is a great start at diversifying mobile revenue partners and expanding United States distribution. 

Hat tip to WMPoweruser for breaking this.

• Jim Courtney: Skype for Mobile – Now Focusing on a True Skype User Experience.
• Jim Courtney: Skype for Mobile: An Interview with Skype’s Russ Shaw.
• Russ Shaw: 2009 in Mobile, December 2009

tags: skype, windowsphone, mobile

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype's All Business

Guest post by Dave Michels, Verge1 CEO, @DaveMichels

Want to know where enterprise UC is headed, take a look at Skype now. It seems counter-intuitive at first, but Skype is consistently ahead of the enterprise pack. Skype discovered IM before the enterprise, as well as softphones, presence, and desktop video. Skype has been a consumer service, but its impact on business is significant and growing.

Almost a year ago, when eBay declared its intention to host an IPO for Skype, I wrote the Case to Buy Skype. My logic was based on the fact that every voice communication equipment maker was working hard on desktop clients, presence, and telephony and what a great boost to absorb Skype's experience and user base. Skype is an usual solution, part carrier, part software, and increasingly (via partnerships) part hardware. EBay never got to an IPO with Skype, instead it spun it out and Silver Lake is now the majority owner. Silver Lake is also the majority owner of Avaya (and Nortel). My initial thought was Skype would be absorbed into Avaya, but I don't think so any more. Skype is becoming a very valuable brand in this Internet area of communications – and the company appears to be focused on rapid growth. Rumors of Avaya and Skype working closer together are strong, and such a partnership will likely result in strengthening both brands. It is unlikely the brands will be merged, but if they were it would be more likely Avaya (and Nortel) would be absorbed into Skype.

Skype is an amazing (free) service, amazing in its breadth, scope, and ability to monetize. The company is highly innovative and capturing a fair amount of attention at events such as last week's Mobile World Congress and the huge Consumer Electronics Show in January. Skype's service reach includes desktops around the globe, living rooms, mobile phones, and the board room. Skype-ready hardware devices include simple phones, televisions, cell phones, webcams, headsets, speaker saucers, and more (the PBX?). The service can be used for presence, audio calls, visual calls, and collaboration.

Skype's deal with Verizon last week at the Mobile World Congress shows how powerful Skype has become. Verizon and Skype made an exclusive agreement (sorry iPhone) to allow Verizon's smartphone users to access Skype over Verizon's 3G network with a new service called Skype Mobile. This is the first 3G calling plan with a mobile carrier's blessing to bypass calling plan minutes and Verizon's international calling rates. It serves as an admission by Verizon that VoIP is coming to wireless users (a voice plan is still required). But more telling is Verizon is using this as a way to differentiate and compete against AT&T and the iPhone. Andy Abramson describes the deal as a 'If you Can't Beat Them, Join Them' strategy by Verizon. Skype now represents 12% of international long distance traffic, and getting a slice of it is better than losing it all together.

As a consumer service, Skype has raised the expectations of corporate communications. Consumer services are supposed to be simple and limited when compared to enterprise class solutions. But at home with Skype, users connect with friends and relatives around the globe - visually and inexpensively. Incorporating Skype directly into the living room TV is a brilliant way to connect Grandma to her grandchildren. Not only is usage free, but it need only occur when both parties are at home (presence) and without overly complicated desktop computers. Can you do that with your customers and suppliers at the office? Possibly – but those ensuing conversations include words like "federation" and "H.323". Or just use Skype on the corporate PC (unless IT blocked it).

But Skype is not content with being labeled a consumer service. "Skype for Business" still sounds a bit out of place, but it's not. In fact, it is an established division of Skype recently headed by David Gurle. David reports directly to Skype President Josh Silverman and comes from Thomson Reuters where he migrated a messaging service into a collaboration service. Prior to that he headed (and created) Microsoft's Real Time Collaboration Group (NetMeeting, Windows Messenger, Exchange IM, Exchange Conferencing Server, Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server, as well as Microsoft’s acquisition of PlaceWare). In his first public UC appearance since hire, David will be a keynote speaker at the UC Expo in London on March 11.

It has been interesting to watch Skype's attempts to penetrate business mature. There was a solution with ActionTec called VoSKY which used a gateway to convert communications from Skype's packets to analog. This was a fairly simple solution, but it had issues with scalability and basic features. Scalability was a problem because it required PC type resources for just a few lines. Basic issues were a challenge because Skype does not support features like hunt groups, so it was best suited for outgoing calls. Then came a more comprehensive solution for Asterisk known as Skype For Asterisk. This Skype-to-SIP gateway offered the benefits of low-cost calling with Skype presence. It enabled users to make concurrent calls over one Skype account (from a desktop phone), transfer calls, and set/view status. Administration is done through a portal called the Skype BCP (Business Control Panel) where individual rights and prepaid balances are maintained. This solution was promising, but the Asterisk market isn't sufficient for Skype's appetite. Then came Skype For SIP. This solution requires much less custom integration and will be available to a large number of brands (initially certified for ShoreTel and Cisco). So far, it's just SIP trunking - no real integration to Skype's advanced features. The feature disparity between Skype for Asterisk and Skype for SIP is confusing. Matt Jordan, of Skype for Business, told me the disparities will be minimized and both will be rebranded as Skype Connect. Presumably, Skype Connect will be a SIP-based solution with various add-on modules for presence and potentially video.

Skype's influence over business communications is just beginning to be felt. It is increasingly used as a tool for direct communication and collaboration, and many enterprise communications vendors are beginning to see Skype (as Verizon did) more attractive as a partner than a competitor. Skype isn't just a communications network. It is a network of users that are pushing the capabilities of communication and collaboration. Skype is utilized around the world at the desktop (computer and phone), the living room, and the car – for audio, visual, and textual communications. Something few enterprise communications vendors can claim.

Reposted with permission from Unified Communication Strategies, an industry resource for enterprises, vendors, and system integrators

The Skype Empire: Disintermediation Vehicle

A guest post by Todd Carothers, VP, Product Management at CounterPath Corporation.

When we started BridgePort Networks (acquired by my current employer CounterPath), we knew the fixed-line voice services was starting to undergo a decline and mobile services would grow rapidly (over 4.6B users today).  We also knew that pricing pressure would start to decrease margins for mobile operators.  What we really did not understand fully at the time was what Skype’s role would be in the dismantling of the Telecommunications value chain and ecosystem.  How could we?  Skype was just starting and the impact was marginally at first.  We did believe Skype would be a catalyst for Operators to take notice-but we were incorrect.   In fact many of the executive leadership of Fixed Line and Mobile Operators that I met with back in 2004 saw Skype as a “Gnat” buzzing around the Telecommunications sector.  They disregarded the threat at large.  Well, we all know that Skype become much more than that.  According the the latest figures from TeleGeography Research, Skype now represents approximately 12% of International Long Distance.

The article also points out that Skype-to-Skype calling has grown dramatically: 51% (2008) and 63% (2009).  Couple this with the steady growth of the concurrent number of Skype users online and it would seem that Skype is methodically and systematically eroding (Fixed Line) Operator revenues.  Check out this chart from Skype Journal on concurrent online users:

So what does this mean from a revenue perspective?  The Skype Journal also posted some incredible stats on the arbitrage impact:

The net impact is approximately $13B (yes with a big “B”) of revenue up in smoke in 2009 for Fixed Line Operators worldwide.  Given Skype’s momentum, it looks like that number will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

Given that quantitative data above, let’s consider the qualitative + my speculation of the future impact of Skype:

First, it is clear that Skype had set its crosshairs on the ailing Fixed Line Operators first.  The numbers above prove this.  Skype will continue this route since the Fixed Line Operators really have no choice given that they are also being attacked by the Mobile Operators via Fixed Mobile Substitution (Source: SD&P Internal Analysis):

In addition note the only saving growth service for fixed operators is Broadband-a key enabler for Skype.  So the net-net is Skype will retain the upper hand against the fixed line operators.

Second, we are in the midst of Skype attacking the mobile operators.  Leveraging MobileVoIP, Skype is working across multiple mobile OSs and devices.  Even more Mobile Operators are opening up their networks to allow MobileVoIP applications to work over mobile data channels.  This is a big shift for Mobile Operators.  This puts ~80% (Voice) revenue at risk.  This week it is expected at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain it is expected that Verizon Wireless and Skype will announce a formal relationship to enable Skype over the Verizon Wireless network as well.  Look to FT/Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica to do the same.  This is good news for users, but fast forward 4-5 years and I see the Mobile Operators going through similar pains as the Fixed Line Operators: losing voice revenue to data pipe enabled VoIP apps.  This is one of the reasons I believe Mobile Operators are ditching the all-you-can-eat mobile data plans.

Third, look for Skype to move into the Enterprise in a big way.  There is Skype for Business today (i.e., Skype trunking service), but I envision a Skype PBX Client on the desktop removing the need for a premise based PBX.  This will help give Skype its leadership position across consumer and Enterprise.

Fourth, Skype as the total Communications Portal.  Skype will knit together their consumer and Enterprise offers to create a single network, single platform experience mashing up different communications users with multimedia and collaboration services.  Think about a Skype user context switching their personal and work personas. 

Since its inception Skype’s theme has been world domination (i.e., via steps outlined above).  Here is the good news for traditional Fixed Line and Mobile Operators:  CounterPath sells the products and technology to fight the Skype threat.  CounterPath’s FMC and Softphone products are flexible, feature rich and customizable to any Operator environment.

One thing is for sure, 2010 will be an exciting year for the Telecommunications sector!  Look forward to the battle.

tags: skype, Orange, Vodafone, Telefónica, MWC10

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Phil Wolff's 67 Reckless Predictions for 2010

In 2010...

1. A hot stranger will IM something inappropriate to you.
2. Skype's SilverLakeification will be complete, with a very short leash on strategy and operations at first.
3. Skype will serve 125 billion minutes of calls.
4. Second Life will serve 20 billion minutes of calls.
5. Oprah's television show will end as scheduled in 2011; lots of Skype calls in 2010 leading to the finale as former guests make cameo appearances, holding out for a spot on Oprah's last (highest-rated-ever) episode.
6. "The Tyra Banks Show" will end as scheduled in 2010. Nobody will Skype in.
7. UK police will allege terrorists use Skype (like everyone else). Parliament will demand the PM bring Skype under control.
8. Skype 5.x will offer multiparty video.
9. Skype 5.x will offer team features.
10. Someone will attend a family funeral via Skype video. And forget they are on camera.
11. Skype will release a "naked Skype" public beta. This Skype engine, no user interface, will be free/cheap. Hardware developers will like it; web developers won't.
12. Skypecasts will still be offline.
13. Facebook will add voice to chat.
14. Skype for Business will account for ten percent of Skype sales.
15. Nortel changes its name to Avaya. Or avice aversa.
16. The world economy will continue to suck. An American commercial real estate crisis will reinvigorate the Great Recession. Good news for Skype as more people work from home.
17. 24's eighth season will feature Cisco's new midrange video conferencing.
18. Skype won't offer a "Login with Skype" service.
19. Vampires still won't Skype.
20. Tencent will buy ICQ for its non-China userbase. Skype won't.
21. Google Talk will add multiparty video with On2 inside, and become a standard part of the Google office suite.
22. Skypers post thousands of videos of Skype calls on YouTube, thanks to recording software. Jeremy Hague's Vodburner outpaces Pamela as the bestselling Skype add in.
23. The US student loan crisis ($700 billion outstanding) strains consumer lending.
24. Skype starts a post-SIP standards discussion about communications protocols for the 21st century.
25. Avaya will make Skype for SIP the default setting for new switches they sell.
26. Skype manages to get a television commercial on the air.
27. China's troubled economy will boost Skype usage when families can't afford to travel home for the Lunar New Year.
28. A team will talk for 200 hours in an uninterrupted Skype-to-Skype call.
29. Wi-Fi phones will ship with Skype SILK inside.
30. Six former Skype employees will become CxOs.
31. Someone dies, unable to Skype for emergency help.
32. You'll be able to make iSkype voice calls on Verizon 3G before AT&T 3G.
33. 100 handsets will run on Google's Android.
34. Skype will release their homemade COTTON video codec, so they don't have to use the ones from Google's On2. Higher quality. Easy, free license. Independence.
35. Skype.com still won't let you log in with OpenID.
36. Windows Live Messenger gets a huge boost in new user signups from Bing, Office2010, Office Live, and Windows 7. Microsoft will rock in 2010.
37. LG ships a television with Skype inside.
38. Mobiletelco 3 ships its third generation Skypephone.
39. An angry entertainer tweets to a million followers her PC crashed and lost all her Skype history. So she's switching to...
40. Skype opens a mobile research lab in India.
41. Gizmo5 features migrate to Google's plumbing and Google Voice.
42. A Harvard Business Review case will feature a Skype-related issue.
43. A Fortune 500 company (not eBay) will provide Skype for Windows for their employees.
44. Volunteers phonebank using Skype on behalf of a national EU political candidate's campaign's.
45. A lobbyist slips a Skype-hostile measure into a US law on behalf of incumbent telcos before Skype can muster opposition.
46. The Skype store will sell a netbook with Skype preinstalled.
47. The BigTelco industry pressures Nokia, so it never preinstalls Skype on its Series 60 line for the US market.
48. Skype relaunches its software platform developer program mid-year.
49. Skype's unreasonable Broadcast Terms of Service keeps it off new dramatic television programs and out of movies all year.
50. A court will find Skype guilty in a class action suit related to collecting small sums of money from customers but not offering service or prompt refunds.
51. Skype will offer to buy Tokbox for its browser-based video.
52. Skype revenue per minute called will continue rising from $0.06 as Skype trunking starts to contribute.
53. Skype will top $900 million in revenue.
54. Skype will sell small businesses pricing plans making it easy to budget and buy.
55. An IETF working group publishes avatar portability protocols.
56. 23 million people will log in to Skype at the same time.
57. 180 million new Skype accounts, about 500k daily.
58. Someone Skypes from a Virgin Galactic space flight.
59. Skype loses juicy US government contracts over the TOM-Skype security compromises. You don't know when someone you're talking with is using a TOM-Skype client with monitoring software from Chinese security agencies. An audit will show Skype on 500K federal employee computers anyway.
60. Skype relaunches Skype for Android. Android Skypers have more dialtone per user than the iPhone or Skype Lite.
61. Zombies become the new Vampires.
62. Tom Green Show's corps of Skyping fans will continue to Skype into the show while he is on the road with his new Standup Comedy Tour.
63. Skype-like features become generic, included in every communications and collaboration product shown at Demo, TechCrunch50, Telephony Startup Camp and similar product launchpads.
64. BT/Ribbit adds video support to its platform for programmers.
65. Voicemail to email transcription becomes a standard feature in most markets for mobile and home phone service.
66. United Nations rescue and recovery teams standardize on Skype.
67. Skype sponsors a Festivus site for the public "airing of grievances" and videos of your "Feats of Strength."

Hudson Barton predicts a 2010 peak of 27,695,335 Skype users online, Total "real users" will be 67,596,505.

What are your predictions? Can you do better? Prior years' predictions: Phil Wolff's 26 incriminating 2009 Skype Predictions, Phil Wolff's 37 Sketchy 2008 Skype Predictions, Predictions? Wish List? What's In Store for 2008 (Jim Courtney).

tags: skype, future, predictions

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Indian spies ask to block Skype; Skype denies sharing code with China, US governments

A Times of India report claims Skype shared its encryption with the U.S. and Chinese governments. A Skype spokesperson denies this:

"Reports that Skype has shared its code with the US, China and other governments are groundless.”

The story leads with the Indian Intelligence Bureau asking the Department of Telecommunications for permission to block Skype to deter terrorists. Skype says:

"Skype is aware of reports that certain Intelligence agencies in India have asked the government there to block the use of Skype.  While we do not have confirmation of these reports or any directive by the authorities to block Skype, we don’t believe any country or operator should impede consumers’ choice to use Skype or other Internet applications to improve their communications."

Skype won't say if Indian intelligence agencies have asked Skype for help with interception or tracking criminals, if Skype has helped them, or if Skype is talking with Indian officials about broader policy issues.

The Times says agile criminals are shifting from easy to intercept to harder to intercept technologies. Authority for Indian government interception lies in the definition of telephony. At the moment phones don't include "over the top" apps like Skype. Ability to intercept rests in domestic control over PSTN termination gateways and the theoretical ability to discover, reassemble, and decrypt Skype packets travelling within India.

"The Cabinet Committee on Security has accepted the recommendation in principle but has not set a date for initiating action" says the story.

There appear to be two forces at work.

One is a law enforcement and intelligence community drive to forbid the ability for citizens to keep secrets. In their values, good people don't have secrets and bad people's secrets should be exposed so government can protect the country. This is a generalization but their advocacy to politicians is consistent with that philosophy.

The other force is the telecom industry defending itself. Lobbying has a high return on investment and is more effective at protecting incumbents than changing business models or innovating aggressively. Skype, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Google's IM/VoIM teams have more designers/engineers innovating in this space than AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. So they lobby governments to raise barriers to entry (emergency calling, for example).

These two forces produce politicians in Russia lip syncing to Russian telecoms that Skype is unpatriotic, a threat to national security, a threat to the economy, a foreign intrusion. You get politicians in England, Italy, and Germany enlarging police surveillance powers proffering the critical need to bypass Skype encryption to undermine terrorists. Banning or constricting Skype adds to candidates' "law and order", "strong leader", and "national security" credibility, and pays off their obligations to the communications industry.

India is the world's second largest mobile market (after China, ahead of the USA), according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Trai has defended VoIP from barriers to entry to India's markets. More than 300 million Indians have phones. Customers of India's telephone and cable ISPs use home grown internet telephony at the rate of 130 million minutes for the year ending 31 March 2009. Skype served 25,500 million Skype-to-Skype minutes in 2009Q2.

Skype has no operations or personnel or portal partners in India.

See also:

• Spooks want govt to block Skype, Mohua Chatterjee, The Times of India
• Indian government pondering blocking Skype, Sean P. Aune, Tech.Blorge
• IB asks govt to block Skype, VoIP services, Dhirendra Singh, Jai Bihar
• Skype: People want total control over mobile phone apps, Matthew Lasar , Ars Technica
• Indian Intelligence asks government to block VoIP calls, siliconindia news bureau
• Indian govt plans to block all Internet telephony for security purposes, Mihir Patkar, Think Digit.
• IB calls for block of VoIP services citing security concerns, TeleGeography

tags: skype, intelligence, security, police, wiretap, intercept, encryption, decryption, india, voip, dot, ib

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Josh Silverman v. Verizon at Brookings

Guest post by Mark Poole, member of the Skype 5.X Discussion

Skype CEO Josh Silverman joined FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Free Press's Ben Scott and Verizon government affairs VP David Young for two hours at the Brookings Institute today. These are Mark Poole's notes from that panel.

This webcast spotlighted the issue of access. When the discussion turned to open access via the cell network, someone used the description dumb pipe. It's not the copper line, fiber optic line or the wireless signal flowing between cell towers that is dumb. The leadership of companies that provide these pipes is dumb.

"The exact expectations you have of your PC, you're going to have of your mobile phone." — Josh Silverman

The guy from Verizon really gave a glimpse into the thinking of wireless providers. He wanted on one hand to say they applaud openness to the Internet but then offer excuses why a program like Skype might not work over his network.

Rather than plan for a robust system that will handle demand today and five years from today and at the same time charge a fair price for use of their pipe, they want to try to compete with companies that offer web stores to sell applications. He described Verizon Widgets and the FiOS cable offering. He spoke of value add services Verizon can provide developers who sell through the Verizon store. Verizon's greed may be their undoing.

Silverman did a good job of diplomatically pushing Verizon to move to more open access. The potential problem with open access and Verizon along with other cell providers will be if they continue strong arm tactics when it comes to plans they offer. Charging ten to twenty bucks for monthly unlimited texting and forcing customers into high monthly minute plans, so they can get promotions like Friends and Family from Verizon, run contrary to where we should be today. It's all about access without regard what we do with that access. This is another example of dumb company leaders not dumb pipes.

Silverman presented the notion that open access for all will allow rapid innovation to continued. He pointed out how the cycle time for new technologies, disruptive technologies was getting shorter and shorter. He tried to stroke the ego of the cell providers by telling the Verizon rep that what they were doing by providing access was not really providing a dumb pipe but instead a complex job.

From my perspective the public interest won out completely. One of the other participants said the speech by the FCC chairman (.pdf) today was a paradigm shift. He looked back to two other shifts and differentiated today's by saying that the previous shifts were more about the rights and ultimate profits of a few instead of policies that favored an individual's rights and use of the Internet. Today's speech was clearly aimed at keeping access to the Internet open and with as few speed bumps as possible when it comes to high speed access.

See also:

• Skype CEO Lobbies for Skype on 3G, Om Malik
• FCC Backs Net Neutrality — And Then Some, Ryan Singel
• Genachowski's 'open Internet' guidelines offer few specifics for wireless, Mike Dano
• The new EU Telecoms laws must be finalized so as to protect Internet users' basic right to an open Internet, Jean-Jacques Sahe, Skype EU Government Relations
• FCC Chairman wants network neutrality, wired and wireless, Nate Anderson. "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski waded directly into the network neutrality fight today, launching a new proceeding designed to turn the FCC's existing "principles" into "rules"—and to add two more. The rules would apply equally to wired and wireless connections."
• Yup, the FCC supports Net Neutrality all right, Nicholas Deleon. (Great metaphors

Julius Genachowski speech at Brookings on Two New Rules

tags: skype, brookings, freepress, verizon, joshsilverman, events

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Weekend Reading

Nokia and Verizon set up JoinStarfleetAcademy.com. Nokia bought some nice product placement in the first 15 minutes of the film.

Skyping doctors on Good Morning America television show. Return of the house call?

Wiley publishing Skype's authors into bookstores for video readings. From home in New Jersey to an in-store audience in Cincinnati. via Nettie Hartsock.

China: One more reason why Skype needs to separate personas from Skype names: What's up with Chinese people having English names? - By Huan Hsu - Slate Magazine.

WSJ: eBay's Donohoe says US$2 billion "is low" to buy Skype.

Globetrotting investor Joi Ito describes his VoIP setup.

CNET: US Congress hearings may make use of Skype IM, Skype file sharing, Skype p2p criminal.

Hudson Barton points out Skype isn't reporting everything it should to create a clear picture of its business. I agree: Skype doesn't reveal active users or users becoming inactive (so we understand churn), revenue/cost/activity by line of business (so we understand the product portfolio), revenue/cost/activity by market (so we understand regional sources of growth and opportunity), headcount by role (so we understand efficiencies and returns on human/intellectual capital), and risks (although the annual SEC filing does an OK job of listing potential threats).

 

Interview with BT/Ribbit's Ray Lee on their platforming strategy.

Chinese are jumping on the Internet faster than Skype's growth. 162 million in 2009Q1. Are they choosing Skype over QQ?

The Equal Access Principal. "The principal, simply put, asks protocol designers not to be snobs."

The new Kantara Initiative tries to bring some consumer juice to bigco digital identity.

Kantara Initiative from nethawk interactive on Vimeo.

We caught up with Brett McDowell at the RSA Conference to talk about the Kantara Initiative, the new identity organization that seeks to to create interoperability between identity efforts: SAML, OpenId and information cards. A key driver is fast adoption of consumer technologies and how that intersects with the enterprise. What is the Kantara Initiative and why is it needed? Brett gives us some answers.

Jim Courtney digs into the new, webbier Tungle. I tried the first version, which Jim also reviewed last year. It was useful then; much more so now.

Belize's BTL is still blocking Skype. You might want to try a personal VPN like E-Tunnels which claims to get around blocking if you use Skype on PCs or mobiles. Or not.

16 Skype Mobile @ CTIA fantasies

1. iPhone gets a Skype Lite client.
• [Hat tip to Om Malik's creative? sources.]
2. Apple buys Skype.
• Skype is what iChat could have become with funding and management support. Although we're still waiting on multiparty video.
3. Skype Lite For iPhone OS 3, later this year.
• The best Skype experiences need push and sync services you'll find in 3.
4. Verizon buys Skype.
• Or another US mobile carrier. 0% growth in wireless minutes, 20% growth in data; time to sell services that drive data growth.
5. Three US carriers will sell low end Skypephones this year.
• Maybe if carriers won't spend a few billion to buy Skype, they'll partner to build data plan sales and consumption.
6. Skype asks the new FCC to force mobile Carterfone rules on US carriers.
• A new administration could be very interested in the political appeal of consumer-friendly rules.
7. Google buys Skype.
• Would complement Google Voice, Goog411, Google Talk, Android and all the other realtime conversation projects, filling in gaps and serving non-Google customers. Skype's new evidence-based management culture might fit too.
8. Cisco buys Skype.
• Telepresence at the high end, WebEx in the bigco, Skype everywhere else.
9. Skype Lite now supports video.
• I wish. Completely depends on the handset, on features turned off/on by carriers, on the quality/capacity of 3G.
10. Rupert Murdoch buys Skype.
• Skype already partners with MySpace, a NewsCorp company. Could Skype branded mobile and desktop tools help sell other NewsCorp television, sports, business, and games content?
11. Skype launches DENIM, a new video codec for mobiles.
• Skype depends on On2 for video codecs. How long before Skype decides it's better to own than to rent? Skype's SILK codec proves they've decided that before.
12. Microsoft buys Skype.
• MSN and Windows Live Messenger are both insanely popular IM products, but neither of the ad-supported products convinced people to use voice, video, or PSTN features. After Microsoft buys Yahoo!, they may have enough loose cash to pick up Skype. Skype has a newly upgraded client for Windows Mobile.
13. Skype mobile clients support video calls.
• An oft requested feature.  
14. Nokia buys Skype.
• Just a long ferry ride from Tallinn. It would explain Nokia's Barcelona announcement to ship smartphones with Skype later this year. Skype has mobile products all three Nokia OS's: Symbian, Maemo/Linux, and java.
15. Skype becomes location-aware.
• Sort those contact lists by proximity. Update mood messages automatically by zone ("leaving the office"). Filter directory search results. 
16. Oprah buys Skype.

We'll see what really happens.

tags: skype, ctia, ctia09

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry: Pragmatic Cable, Internet and Wireless Convergence onto a Smartphone

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 8x20. 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 480x320/360 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.

Update: SlingMedia announced at MacWorld that they are targeting to release a SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone this calendar quarter.

(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.

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Truphone Breaks the Carrier Barrier

Truphone's announcements last week overcame a significant carrier resistance barrier to using VoIP-enabled services to reduce international calling costs. The key secret here was that it required the combination of Truphone's iPhone and iPod Touch applications along with the Apple Application program that leverages Apple's established carrier relationships to break this barrier.On Friday I was finally able to complete provisioning of Truphone on my iPhone. It happened at this time for three reasons:

• The association of my original Truphone number and account with a Nokia N95 handset and the "416" number I eventually transferred to my iPhone whose acquisition as an upgrade on my carrier account minimize my iPhone costs over the term of the three year contract.
• The original iPhone application only supported outbound calling; I would have lost the Truphone inbound calling feature I had on the N95.
• For this reason I left Truphone on my N95 (using a deactivated SIM and my home office WiFi access point) pending the arrival of a Truphone for iPhone application and service that supported both inbound and outbound calling.

Recall also that the original Truphone for iPhone only allowed calls over WiFi access points with no ability to pass them through the underlying 3G wireless carrier. Truphone's two announcements last week addressed three issues:

• Truphone for iPhone now supports both inbound and outbound calling
• Truphone added the Truphone Anywhere service such that Truphone for iPhone calls could be made over the underlying 3G carrier as well as over WiFi.
• Truphone for iPod Touch (2nd generation) invoked the Truphone Anywhere service allowing calls to be made from iPod Touch to any PSTN number.

Over the course of the past week it has become possible to make low cost international calls from any iPhone or iPod Touch mobile device worldwide. Truphone has demonstrated how the underlying service provider can can eliminate the need to have a multitude of individual "carrier-service provider agreements" with the 79 carriers currently offering the iPhone worldwide. Yet carriers still benefit through increased local minutes used to provide the connection to/from Truphone calls. To quote from Ted Wallingford's "Heartburn Chuckle: The telecom industry can blame itself":

The Carriers

The carriers are firms like AT&T, Windstream, Verizon, BT, and so on. Their obsession with the billing unit (the almighty minute) has made them helpless to see the possibilities of a software-rich, application-based global ecosystem. Consequently, the most successful apps to arrive on the carriers’ networks, the ones most embraced by the public, overwhelmingly have one purpose: to steal billable minutes from the carriers. The innovation disappeared and the scrappy new players in the market, the ones with the power to transform the public’s thinking about telecom, instead got stuck doing the same old thing the big telecoms do to put bread on the table: bill minutes. [Author's italics]

For instance, Canadians can now use Truphone for iPhone as their international calling service over Rogers without the need to subscribe to one of Rogers international calling plans but perhaps with an increase in their monthly "local" voice plan minutes. In this case, there is no cost for the actual application and you establish international call credits through a Truphone account. When Rogers' iPhone customers travel to Europe, calling back to North America can be handled at a much lower cost through hotel, cafe and airport WiFi services, such as Boingo or iPass. (True roaming calls from outside the "home country" over a 3G carrier will still be expensive; Andy's post linked here suggests RebelSIM provides a solution.)

It was the second part of this announcement that is most significant. Previously VoIP-enabled services, such as 3's Skypephone, required working with individual carriers to establish the appropriate business and operating agreements. However, in one move, Truphone was able to leverage Apple's relationships with 79 carriers worldwide to bring about commitment free international calling. Apple, through its Application Program has become a disintermediator, facilitating a business model disruption, once again.

As for the iPhone for iPod Touch application; this is why the most successful carriers need to offer both wireless and broadband Internet services. Calls via WiFi access points, including one's broadband Internet service, go over the broadband connection and reduce carriers' needs to build out the capital-intensive wireless network infrastructure, including backhaul.

In a future post, once I've had some more Truphone for iPhone experience, I'll do a comparison of services available over Skype and over Truphone. But one obvious difference: Truphone is about voice conversations only; Skype is about voice and text conversations.

Related Post: Race to Provide Low Cost International Calling Heats Up

Tags: Truphone, iPhone, carriers, voip, Skypephone, iSkoot, international calling, service providers, WiFi

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