I've written a bit about the new TalkPlus beta for Symbian that I'm testing on my N95 lately. And over time, I've written a lot about GrandCentral. These two present and interesting pair. They don't do the same thing at all, yet they do exactly the same things. They don't compete at all, yet they're on a path to head-to-head competition. And they don't work together.

Here's the situation. My primary published telephone number is my GrandCentral number. It's everywhere and the only number on my business card. I want to alias that number on my cell phone so that if I'm calling someone, the CallerID shows my GrandCentral number. It's the number I'd leave in voice mail to reach me. It's the number I prefer they call me back on. I like incoming calls going there because I have control. I like that control a lot. It's incredibly granular and powerful.

TalkPlus makes that easy. They also do all the right things. When you alias, or mirror, a phone number you already own, TalkPlus doesn't automatically activate it. There's a verification process.

On the TalkPlus web site, you set up the number and then tell it when to call you. The most common selection is probably call me now. TalkPlus gives you a random 5-digit PIN on the web page.

When the phone rings, you're asked to press 1 if you're expecting the call. Then you're asking to input the 5-digit pin to validate the phone. That's simple, secure enough, and it works great. I've validated a number of phones.

GrandCentral introduces a wrinkle that, according to their support folks, can't be overcome at this point in time. When a GrandCentral call comes in, you're prompted to press 1 to accept, 2 to send to voice mail, etc. Pressing 1 accepts the call from TalkPlus just fine. But when you press 1 to tell TalkPlus you're expecting the call, GrandCentral dialed digit feature access controls take over. In short, you can't input the PIN to validate the number.

I can see a a future of competition between GrandCentral and TalkPlus on some fronts, but I don't ever see them really hurting each other's business. They're similar, but different; complementary but comptetitive. But I do see a pretty universal need to give out my phone number, then verify that it's my number by either (a) placing a call from that CallerID, something only possible with TalkPlus, or (b) accepting a call and dialing some validation sequence on the dialpad.

In short, it's a bug. I'm not sure if it's a big one or not. I can't do what I'm trying to do, so it's a big one to me at the moment. In the grand scheme of things, it certainly isn't huge, but for people who need the functionality, it could be a show stopper. I know for me it's enough to step back and look at the two solutions and figure out which one best meets the broadest set of my needs. And if I can't mash the two together to do what I want, there's a gap (money on the table) for someone else to fill (and win me away).

UPDATE: I think it's only fair to note that within minutes of hearing
of my issue, Craig Walker was in touch to chat about this issue. I
think it's really important to note the incredible responsiveness to
issues that's always been shown by the GrandCentral team. Their
response has never been anything short of phenomenal. Problem isn't
solved yet, but I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject.

Technorati Tags: GrandCentral, TalkPlus, mobility, unified communications, mashup