I've been involved in VoIP technologies for a long time now. And I've been a mobile user for more years than I can count, dating back to a bag phone when mobile technology was quite young.

The past several months I've had the opportunity to explore mobile integration of VoIP up close and personal. When we say mobile VoIP, we're almost always talking about WiFi solutions in a mobile device, although there are some 3G or near-3G solutions I've toyed with.

Currently I have VoIP capability on my laptops, but from a mobility perspective, also the Nokia N80i, N95 and N800. Technically the Nokia N93 can also do VoIP, but not as smoothly as the others that I've found.

The N80i and N95 are mobile phones, and I use them on Cingular for the most part, with an unlimited GPRS data plan. Both run a very nice Gizmo client, integrating VoIP over WiFi. For those who use Gizmo regularly, it's a handy tool.

The N800 also supports a Gizmo client, but there's an added dimension with the N800 in that it can support video as well. I find that capability useful and interesting, but it still falls into a tiny niche.

I'd love to hear comments from business users on whether or not you really even care about mobile VoIP capability. It's a haven for geeks and bleeding edge early adopters; a playground of technological magic and wizardy. But what about business people. I'm curious whether you even really care at this stage of the game or are waiting for a fully integrated fixed mobile convergence solution that just seamlessly picks the optimum network for calls.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Technorati Tags: VoIP, mobility, mobile VoIP, fixed mobile convergence, unified communications