Reflecting back over 2008 I've tried to think of the things that we real highlights among close friends and colleagues in the industry. I've come up with two highlights. Let me tell you what they are first, then I'll explain why they're highlights.

First from my friends Pat Phelan and Florian Seroussi, we saw TwitterFone. It's an interesting little integration between Twitter and the telephone network that let's you call a number and post a "tweet" from your phone. Speach to text in a nice little integration package.

From other friends Stuart Henshall and David Beckmeyer we saw Phweet. It's a different sort of integration between the telephone and Twitter that lets you set up a conference call via Twitter.

Side Note: Read Stuart's great story about Phweet and his year end wrap post My Year End Review and Thanks).

Why are these two apps important you ask. Let me explain.

I believe the interface to computerized resources is changing in the months ahead. I believe the old fashioned GUI is going to give way to a new VUI (Voice User Interface) as speech-to-text and text-to-speech conversion engines get faster, more efficient and cheaper. TwitterFone exemplifies the prototype of how the next generation of Communications Enhanced Business Processes will operate. While this app might seem silly to people who aren't Twitterholids, it demonstrates how users will be able to interact with voice to corporate systems for placing orders, supply chain management and any number of business activities in the future. As the work force becomes increasingly mobile and requires new tools to be productive, this technology shines a real light on that road to the future.

Phweet does something else that's new. For telephony geeks, we remember that before SS7 signaling was implemented to take phone network signals out of band to a separate network, signaling frequency (SF at 2600 Hz) was carried within the voice badn. SS7 took signaling out of band to a separate packet network. Phweet also moves signaling out of band, but to the Internet. And not just PSTN signaling. It's an example of using IP-based Internet technologies not just as a collaboration tool for ad hoc conference calling, but for using IP as a command and control channel for network resources in a new way.

These are two new solutions we saw in 2008 that excite me still because they demonstrate where we are headed in communications technologies rather than hang on to the past. They don't make any effort to prove VoIP is something new (it isn't). They don't cling to the past. They simply integrate pieces of the past and present in simple elegant ways that demonstrate how we'll be using communications systems and resources in the future.

That's a big deal. Kudos to Pat, Florian, Stuart and David for showing the gloabl communications community what can be built when you simply have a rock solid idea and a thought leadership mindset on how the future will evolve.

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

I've been seeing a lot about Truphone lately, but have been a bit reluctant to comment. Reluctant because the folks at Truphone are friends. But, I feel compelled to be honest, and my friends know me for speaking my mind.

First some links to the current conversation:

Truphone Looks Forward to an Exciting 2009
By Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial Director
Truphone (News - Alert) is a free application that's designed to allow users to inexpensively make international mobile calls from their own phone over the Internet. Earlier this year the company announced a native VoIP client for the iPhone developed with Apple's (News - Alert) own SDK, available via the online iPhone App Store. The solution routes calls over WiFi, so if the user finds themselves near a hotspot and needs to make a call, they can simply call up the Truphone application on theiriPhone ( News - Alert) and place the call.
[Read Greg's Full Post]

Greg's very up on Truphone, and his interview questions with Matt Rowntree reflect that. There wasn't anything but fat pitches in there - not one hard question.

Truphone is a finalist in the 2008 Crunchies.

And they've gotten lots of praise in the traditional press. Check the bottom of their home page.

So why am I not jumping up and down? I've been a Truphone user for a while - a long while, and yet I rarely find it useful or usable. I don't think I'm the anomaly either.

I used Truphone a bit on my N95, but I move my AT&T SIM from phone to phone. I've been haggling with the Truphone gang for ages to put up a Blackberry version. Recently they did. And if it worked, I might say good things about it. But it seized control of the BB without noting it would in the nonexistent documentation (FAQs and docs are very thin). Then, naturally, it wouldn't work. I could close my account and open a new one. It's tied to the SIM so moving it is impossible without support involvement that is interesting when we're across the pond.

So why is a service that's tied to my phone number on my SIM set up in a way that I can't actually use it when I move the SIM without closing the account, losing the credit, dealing with admin overhead of readding the credit. And if I move my SIM daily(and I do)? Ahh, so Truphone doesn't fit. And to my testing, the Blackberry version may work. I've heard a couple of reports that it does. Non glowing from people I know. I've seen a lot of "my friends at Truphone tell me..."

Then we got the iPod Touch release. Sheryl installed it and we managed to make one call successfully. One success to Gizmo SIP URL only, and that after two hours of putzing with it. So I installed it on my iPod, and my account can't work with it. I need yet another Truphone account apparently. Excuse me?

So in the interest of fairness, I went digging for info and found Sorry to our iPhone App users. We don't have an iPhone, but to be honest, two for two failure doesn't engender the kind of assurance that would send me rushing to install Truphone on one anyway at this point.

I want to own up to something. The gang at Truphone are friends. Yes, I could spend time on the phone working with them, helping them see the problems and rectify them. As a good friend, I should do that. As a consumer, if I have to do that, where does that leave all the people who are loading this stuff and having problems who don't actually have the Truphone gang as friends?

I'm disappointed in what I've seen from Truphone. And I'm disappointed to see a product at this level up for a Crunchie. It speaks ill of our industry, devalues awards and recognition, and doesn't serve the public well.

I'm very disappointed.

Technorati Tags: Truphone, Blackberry, iPod Touch, iPhone, Crunchies

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

As the holiday season ramps into full throttle, I've been seeing lots of iPhone stires and rumors. Here's an interesting story from friend and colleague Oliver Starr about a new issue. We don't have/use an iPhone, so I can't dig any further other than to watch the story unfold.

iPhone Phones Home, Tells Everything
Caveat: I am not a developer so what I am about to reveal may or may not be news to the developer community. Nevertheless, this is not something that I was aware of previously and I have not seen any mention of this in the media that I subscribe to (which is a fairly broad cross section of the online press).

Further, to my knowledge this is not something that has been specifically authorized by me in the course of my use of either my computer or the software on it or my iPhone and the software running there. I did not grant permission for this information to be transferred anywhere and I did not ever to my knowledge see any request to allow this information to be collected much less shared and shared without my knowledge.

Here’s the deal. Today I was going through the console on my Mac Book Pro trying to see if I can figure out why it suddenly won’t display anything on the screen (I was doing this using LogMeIn since I could not work on the computer locally since the display has apparently died.

During the process of digging through the console to see if there was any obvious cause for the completely unexpected display failure I came across something that I found as unexpected as the aforementioned problem and which I (and possibly other iPhone owners) will find very disturbing.
[Read Oliver's full post]

It appears that Oliver caught traces of his iPhone logging everything from usage to apps, then submitting that information when connceted to iTunes. His question is going to be the big question and the big story - SUBMITTED WHERE indeed.

Are we seeing the biggest Ready-Aim-Fire blunder in Apple history? If this plays out badly, the backlash could be huge.

I'm watching for more.

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

My good friend Andy, who represents Truphone posted this today. And many of us in the industry, writers, bloggers and analysts have been watching. I saw lots of favorable reviews, but all seemed to be based on the press release. More below.

Some Say My Touch is Tru (Truphone that is)
Yesterday Mike Butcher, TechCrunch UK broke the news about the new Truphone application that works on the Apple iPod Touch, giving the Touch users around the world the ability to call one another. It can be found in the Apple App Store.

What I see as the big deal here is what else the geniuses at Truphone are throwing into the mix. A complete set of calling capabilities that shows just how far they have thought this opportunity through.

For starters Truphone will soon be adding PSTN In and Out Calling to the platform along with calls to Skype pals and MSN Messenger buddies. This in essence means Truphone has made the Apple iPod Touch into a full blown WiFi phone, and truly a universal calling solution.

I'm also told by my friends inside client Truphone that you can make SIP calls too, thus rivaling Fring but offering far better call quality making it a True VoIP 2.0 phoning experience. Since it also "talks to Google Talk" the Truphone folks have practically covered all the calling bases they need to for a first release. I call that downright impressive.
[Read Andy's full post]

Even Andy says "I'm told by my friends at Truphone." I have friends at Trupohe too, but Sheryl and I don't represent them. And we installed the app and made efforts to run it on a two week old iPod Touch.

I agree the potential is huge and revolutionary. Sheryl and I look forward to it working. But what we found was only a call to a SIP client (Gizmo) and the echo test worked. The welcome didn't. Voice mail didn't. Google Talk didn't. Skype wasn't an option, although every indication was that it was.

Beyond that, the help file was locked to a single less-than -helpful screen and the link to documentation pulled a 404 error.

All in all, not stellar for a release with so much splash and a big writeup on TechCrunch.

That said, we hold out hope and watch for things that really work. But this is, from my my view, a second stumble in a row for Truphone whose recent launch of a Blackberry client didn't do nearly as well as it might have.

I'm hopeful for the Truphone gang and I know they're jumping all over this. But I have to say, the Redmond approach of releasing incomplete products that don't function the way they're announced at launch isn't going to serve them quite the way it serves Microsoft.

Stay tuned. We're playing with it more this weekend on the road and may have more to say.

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Here's somethine new we just learned about that has Sheryl really excited. We're good friends with James Body at Truphone, and we've been a huge fan of their solution, which recently came to Blackberry. Now they've expanded it to the iPod Touch. Since Sheryl got one for her birthday a couple of weeks ago, she's been looking for a WiFi VoIP solution that will work on the touch.

Here's what we know about the Truphone solution for the Touch:

Types of free calls that can be made:

• iPod touch to iPod touch
• iPod touch to Truphone (some Nokia handsets)
• Truphone (same Nokia handsets plus iPhone) to iPod touch
• iPod touch to Google Talk PC user

Requirements

• A second generation iPod touch (i.e., current model)
• A free download of Truphone for iPod touch
• A headset and microphone like those for the iPhone. These may be bought at high street electronics retailers or from an Apple Store
• Friends also using Truphone!

Making a Truphone call on an iPod touch
This couldn't be simpler: The Truphone application provides you with a virtual keypad that enables you to make the call.

How it works
Truphone works by routing calls over the Internet through a Wi-Fi connection.

Sheryl is busy loading and configuring things. We'll post some more information once it's all up and working and we get to play with it a bit.

TRUPHONE TURNS iPOD touch INTO A PHONE
Make Free Calls to Other iPod touch Owners: No SIM, No Contract, No Money

LONDON-Dec. 4, 2008--Described by Apple itself as the "funnest" iPod ever, the iPod touch may now be the "useful-est," too, thanks to free software--Truphone for iPod Touch --that effectively turns one into a mobile phone*.

Not only is the software free, but calls made using Truphone's application for the iPod touch are also free--just in time to save precious cash when making those holiday calls to friends and family.

Once installed, and with the addition of a microphone adaptor (Truphone microphone adaptor available soon)*, iPod touch owners can make free calls--no matter where they are in the world--to other iPod touch owners, to customers of Truphone's Internet telephony service and to users of Google Talk™ instant messaging service.

Truphone for iPod Touch will become a one-stop-shop social hub with the following features coming soon:

Calling to landlines (PSTN) at low cost (simply set yourself up with a Truphone account);
Instant messaging to Skype and MSN (free);
Calling to Skype users (free);
Calling to MSN users (free);
Check and set facilities for Twitter (free);
Check and set facilities for Facebook (free).

Truphone for iPod touch is easily downloaded from Apple's App Store in exactly the same way as any other iPod touch application.

The software uses the iPod touch's Wi-Fi connection to carry calls over the Internet to its destination. There is no monthly line rental, no subscription or other hidden charges.

# # #

* Microphone adaptor accessory currently available at Apple Store.

Important information
Truphone is not a replacement for an ordinary telephone service and emergency calls cannot be made using Truphone. Truphone cannot advise on the legality of VoIP (voice over IP) services in specific territories or jurisdictions. It is the user's responsibility to confirm that use of the Truphone VoIP software and service is permitted in the location in which they use it.

About Truphone
The first true mobile internet network operator, Truphone allows users of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones to make and receive regular telephone calls, and to send and receive SMS (text) messages, using only a Wi-Fi connection and the internet. It has users in 149 countries.

Truphone is the trading name of Software Cellular Network (SCN). SCN is privately owned, funded by both venture capital investment and angel investors.

Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc. Google Talk is a trademark of Google Inc. Google Talk is not a telephony service and cannot be used for emergency dialling. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Ltd. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Technorati Tags: Truphone, iPod Touch, VoIP, WiFi

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Things happen very quickly in unified communications, and social media is a huge reason why. Here's an industry-related story that includes a special offer to readers. I think this is a prefect example of why social media tools are so important to our industry and to us individually as workers in the information age.

Pat Phelan, CEO at MaxRoam is a personal friend of ours. We're often in light conversation over Twitter or Facebook. This is an example of how things happen at Internet speed. Here's Sheryl's first post earlier -

Maxroam gets a nod on Crunch Gear!



I followed a link this morning posted by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. The story is mostly about roaming and how expensive it is with AT&T. In this article it mentions maxroam, our friend Pat Phelan's roaming sim card company.

By John Biggs

I'm not a vindictive man. I believe in sweetness and light. But I would encourage anyone with a brain who travels, especially in these trying economic times, to buy an unlocked GSM phone and purchase pay as you go SIM cards or a MaxRoam SIM and a Rebel SIMCard for the iPhone 3G.

The rest of the story is here.

That's great! A Personal friend with a real cool product got some recognition. Sheryl posted that as soon as she saw the story. And here's her second post -

Special offer from Maxroam for Stardust readers!
This morning I wrote a post about maxroam and our good friend Pat Phelan getting a mention on CrunchGear.

Since that post, Pat replied with a fantastic offer to anyone who visits Stardust Global Ventures. In his words:

Hi Sheryl/ken
so good to hear from the "first couple of voice"
Thanks for your post
As thanks to your readers I would like to offer them a 10% discount on maxroam
go to maxroam.com
buy a sim
enter "stardust" in the discount box and get 10% off

How generous and wonderful! As I stated in an article yesterday, I really do know some marvelous people in this industry.

Thanks again, Pat. You're awesome!

Pat truly is an awesome friend, a fantastic man, and a pro at adding value. He immediately saw Sheryl's post and made that generous offer. Since so many readers here at the Realtime Unified Communications Community also read Stardust (and we both write many of the eJournal pieces here), we're inviting you to take advantage of this offer as well. For anyone who travels internationally, you simply don't dare get caught abroad without a MaxRoam SIM in your bag!

Technorati Tags: Pat Phelan, maxroam, John Biggs

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

This post caught my eye on TechCrunch and jsut rubs me the wrong way

Fring Lays Off 20%, Says Business Is Surging

Israel-based mobile VoIP startup Fring joins the layoff parade by letting 10 people, or around 20% of total staff, go. Company CEO Avi Shechter says the company is doing well, though, and the layoffs were to ensure that the company had enough capital to get them past 2009.

Shechter also says Fring has recently raised a third round of financing, but declines to specify the amount or investors yet. Fring had raised $13 million over two previous rounds of financing.

Talk about a mixed message. We're cutting back and putting people on the street at the hoidays, bvut we got more money for those of us who survived the cuts. And we're doing great.

Excuse me?

Maybe it's jhust me and my bad reaction to Fring in general. I've tried it on mumerous devices and found it either crashed them forcing a compelte flas of the device or just worked badly and was a compelte pain to use. It's non-intuitive, lacks online help that's of any value unless you're at a computer, and downright clumsy in every test I've run. And I'm not alone in that reaction.

Good luck to the folks who got cut. Fortunately the mobile service market is plenty busy and these folks will find a safe place to land quickly.

Technorati Tags: Fring, layoffs, mixed message, mobility

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (1) |

My good friend Alec Saunders poste and it set me to thinking. I disagree pretty strongly, but I understand Alec's situation partly. More below.

Why I dumped the other IM networks for Skype

Yesterday morning I twittered that I was abandoning all my previous IM systems and standardizing on Skype. It generated some interesting responses in the blogosphere, which I didn't really expect. To me, it was a bit of a non-event. I just wanted people to know how to reach me.

In any case, I've now shut down both GTalk and MSN Messenger on all my PCs, leaving them with a status message which simply says "Contact me on Skype". This after shutting down my Yahoo! Messenger and AIM accounts over a year ago.

[Read Alec's full post]

Since I know Alec uses an iPhone (I teased him and called it his inferiorPhone), I'm curious about Skype on the iPhone. We don't have an iPhone, but are highly mobile. Sheryl and I use Skype a lot, but I can't imagine settling on it as a single client. It's a closed system and pretty deplorable in mobile mode. Skype has always been dismal at mobile support.

Gtalk works easily from our iPod Touch and Blackberries, and with Jabber client compatibility, remains in my view, the most open aned extensible IM client. Sure there are add-ons for mobiles. We use iSkoot on the Blackberry, but it's quirky and not overly reliable in our experience (a year of usage).

If I were always at a PC, I might agree with Alec. Then again, if I were at a PC all the time, I've got plenty of resources and running multiple clients isn't that big a deal.

So to Alec - it was bad enough losing you on Blackberry Messenger when you fell from grace and went to the iPhone, but I'm really sorry to see you gone from my primary IM tool. Sure I have Skype, but the odds of talking online while we're mobile just went from very high to very low becaise I rarely run iSkoot and am mostly mobile. It's too quirky. Next time I see you in person, I'll give you a hard time.

So readers, do you use only a single IM client? What's your IM tool of choice? Comment please.Technorati Tags: Skype, Gtalk, Alec Saunders, IM, chat, mobility, iPhone, Blackberry

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Sheryl and I have long been supporters of the superb Calliflower conferencing solution from our friends at iotum. We recently had the opportunity to get a peek at some new features just announced last week.

The other night we had dinner with Alec Saunders and Howard Thaw and Alec showed us their latest Calliflower app on the iPhone. While I razz Alec about his iPhone, this is one of the coolest implementations of a useful program for business I've ever seen.

For more details, see Alec's post Calliflower goes Mobile on iPhone and check out this video.

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Here's a new release that came in while I was in San Francisco and couldn't post it. WHile I think Windows Mobile is one of the weakest and worst places to attack the mobile VoIP sector, anything that expands the penetration of mobile VoIP is a good thing for the enterprise and unified communications space.

I'll be watching what Vyke does with Blackberry and iPhone. That's where mobile VoIP is really going to count.

Vyke makes headway in enterprise market with Mobile VoIP for Windows smartphones

13 November 2008
Vyke Communications (www.vyke.com) today announces the launch of a beta version of its mobile VoIP software and service for all Windows Mobile 6.0 and higher based smartphones which is being rolled out across Vyke's enterprise channels. This move demonstrates Vyke's commitment to the enterprise sector in which a significant proportion of the market is Windows Mobile based, and where demand for VoIP services are rapidly increasing as business sees the real benefits of mobile VoIP in the workplace.

This solution is based on Vyke's stand-alone proprietary mobile VoIP technology, allowing it to provide high quality voice service while circumventing any operator handset tampering issues that may prevent users of Windows Mobile based smartphones from benefiting from mobile VoIP services.

Jan Berger, Chief Marketing Officer, Vyke Communications commented:

"The launch of this new solution addresses the significant portion of the enterprise market that is Windows Mobile based. As this stand alone software is compatible with a wide cross section of business orientated mobile handsets, it adds significantly to our potential customer base and will be an important tool in helping our enterprise sales team reach its goals."

Although this solution is intended for the enterprise sector, high consumer interest for this solution means that this beta software will also be available via www.vyke.com to download before the end of November.

Technorati Tags: Vyke, Windows Mobile, mobile VoIP, mobility, VoIP

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |