Even though the Chicago Tribune says cellular phones and VoIP won't be allowed on the Aircell network on American Airlines, and singled out Skype, have no fear.
Skype Instant Messaging will still be allowed. It's just the voice traffic that will be "filtered" or "blocked."
This acquisition by SalesForce.com shows how far reaching their efforts to bring cloud computing to the epicenter of business really is.
For companies and developers in the Mashup and Voice XML space this will provide a lot of opportunities, and mean that SalesForce.com's AppExchange becomes a key driver and promotional vehicle for companies that can combine phone, databased information support and call completion.
A Robert Half sponsored survey's results shows that 16% of CIO's plan to adopt Video Conferencing in the next five years in the same survey that says 13% plan to adopt Collaborative workspaces.
This is huge boon to web cam companies and any of the firms in the video conferencing and web based collaboration space. It also underscore the decision of IBM to have purchased former client Web Dialogs (authors of Unyte) and have turned it into Lotus' Sametime.
TechCrunch reports that Aircell is launching WiFi in the Sky today.
As a person who used to choose his flights by which airlines had Airfone and later which airlines offered the ill fated Boeing Connexion service for International travel, I'm happy to hear this service is now a reality.
So, while there's no VoIP allowed, at least we can all chat and email.
It looks like the 640 x 480 video barrier for HD video over a web cam has been shattered as Tandberg just announced a new 720p30 business grade video conferencing platform that works on Intel's new Quad Core 2 processor based computers, code named Montevina.
The new service will be named Movi and will be TANDBERG's business-quality PC video conferencing solution.
3, my favorite carrier when I'm in the UK, has launched the SkypePhone Version 2 and does it look mighty tasty.
First their offering includes both post paid/contract as well as Pay as You Go. The fact that they make this available for Pay As You Go, and their data plans are are low as 2.50 pounds a week or 5 pounds a month makes this a real killer device.
When combined together, calls to your Skype buddies on the go, plus to anyone else with the 3 calling plans for international that were available last time I was in the UK, make it an unbeatable offer.
Now add in that they've opened up the phone to be tethered to a PC or Mac and you have the play of the year for the on the go, Working Anywhere type user.
I think I have to worry about trying to update my Comunicano web site. It seems Skype Journal has been frozen by the lack of engineering support at Yahoo where I also host my business web page. Note-the page is about to change, but I wasn't planning on changing my host.
Jim Courtney of Skype Journal tells me Phil Wolff has been waiting since the weekend of August 9th for help from Yahoo.
Given how important Skype Journal is to the the SKype and VoIP community, obviously their lack of activity is a concern to all of us.
Let's hope Phil and Jim can get the site back on its feet with Yahoo. One of the problems here is that moving a hosted RSS based blog isn't as simple as moving a web site. Posts, comments, trackbacks, files and links all need to be moved and edited.
From what I hear, no one wants to move Skype Journal, but at some point someone has to be yelling, YAHOO!!
A few years back, about the time I first got into blogging, circa 2003, I had a chat with a good friend at Business Wire where I forecasted the demise of them due to the use of RSS feeds in the blogosphere.
The recent SEC decision, in my mind, shows that my I wasn't far off, and over time, the use of services like BusinessWire, PR Newswire and MarketWatch will become less and less relevant as RSS and Personalization of feeds, as well as the alerting of those feeds takes over. I felt than, and still do now, that a whole new way of information dissemination was upon us, and that the new way would supplant the old way.
Here's why.
1. A feed reader replaces the need to scan the wires.
2. An RSS feed can be subscribed to and the notification to the people who need to know can be over a variety of means (email, RSS Reader, SMS, IM, microblogs like Twitter, Jaiku, etc.) that the recipient decides is there vehicle of receiving the news.
3. The RSS feeds are searchable
4. Commentary directly to the originator is simplified. No need for email. Simply comment or ask a question on the feed and the company spokesperson will be notified.
5. The question likely would have been asked by multiple outlets. Now the answer can be consistent and specific questions dealt with on a one on one basis online or offline
6. There's no need for an intermediary. Now a direct relationship can be established and more information can be available from one place.
With an RSS based information center, the media, analysts, bloggers and investors can stay on top of what's happening, with all the information in one place. For public companies, the SEC decision now allows them to reduce their budgets for "wire services" and build better RSS based web sites, portals and information centers. It also means that content management takes on a new meaning, and for companies in that space gives them a big new leg to stand on.
Overall this is great news for bloggers too, as it now adds one more layer of respect, which means greater levels of protection in reporting, supports confidentiality of sources, and allows us all greater access to information as it happens to be reported, without the need to have to look in many places. It also reduces the need for Google Alerts as our feed readers and other notification engines pick up that piece of the puzzle.
So while BusinessWire, PR Newswire and MarketWatch, all offer RSS, with this decision by the SEC that means they now have alot more competition and have to seriously look at their costs, and start thinking about lowering them to match what is now virtually, a free market.
A quick read of a press release from Campbell, CA based research and analyst firm Infonetics shows that VoIP usage and uptake continues to grow the world over.
It also points out who the big players are. Comcast in the USA leads the pick up here in the States. Orange in France is selling VoIP like mad too.
Other stats show encouraging words for companies selling VoIP into the SMB and Enterprise space too.
Uber Analyst, Jon Arnold, is back from vacation and he has his game face on.
In a TMCNet post Jon drills down on the reasons why BT was so fast to pay what the did for Ribbit.
He then goes on to highlight Mobivox's moves with Jajah and the reasons why ifByPhone are both companies to watch. While both are agency clients, Jon's independent analysis is spot on, and resonates a belief I've had for some time about applications being the driving force in the 2.0 era of telephony. But, without platforms and infrastructure to support all of these newly created applications, none of this stuff works well outside the lab.
Alec has a post that is really more about his Calliflower Service doing what VC Rick Segel said he was looking for, but unaware of Calliflower.
Alec does a very polite job at pointing out what Calliflower does and why it doesn't do certain things. One of which is have an Outlook Plug-In. Alec's reasoning here is SPOT ON. I've seen many an Outlook Plug-In work the first time, but as Microsoft Updates arrive, for either Office or the OS, they seem to get flaky, or really Outlook gets flaky.
It likely has to do with how Windows apps and the OS registry work, or at least that's how I suspect the problem is caused. You see, when you mess with one, you're likely messing with the other, so unless the Plug-In developer is totally Plugged-In with the Microsoft developer programs, chances are something runs afoul and you have Windows Headache number 14, or is it 15...
With more people using their laptops for Voice over IP via softphones this new Wake Up technology from Intel has a lot of GREEN benefits.
Now we can turn off the laptop or desktop, but when a call comes in (Video or VoIP) the PC will wake up.
Wake up cable technology has been around, but by embedding the technology onto the motherboard, it means that software and services that can detect the "incoming" signaling will be able to wake up and you can answer the call.
This creates a whole market for services like the "virtual wake up call." I don't know how many times a hotel wake up service just failed, and then I'm into scramble mode to get out and on my way. Another is the daily local weather forcast, a third would be your flight status updates. What's more, those services could all call you and with some ingenuity you could likely capture the details in a call recording manner if you were in the shower or out of the room.
This new technology offers more than just "wake up" the PC and folks like pal and client Thomas Howe and another client IfByPhone are likely to be leading in the innovation with this in my opinion.
This is the kind of story I like to see, not only because it has direct benefit to clients (Truphone and Boingo) but also because one of the company's whose advisory board I sit on Agito, is smack in the middle of this whole Voice over WiFi game.
Voice over WiFi works. And it works very well. Just last week I had a series of VoWiFi calls via my AT&T 3G connection using client Truphone on both a Nokia N95 and an Apple iPhone that was tethered to Joiku Spot on my Nokia E71 from the 30th floor of the Intercontinental San Francisco.
Joiku, which recently announced a deal with FON, takes an incoming 3G signal, then sends it out the WiFi side of the handset, much the same way an Apple Mac Book can do with an incoming broadband connection via the Ethernet port and out via WiFi. What makes Joiku so useful is that it can be used virtually anywhere there's a 3G connection, and thus eliminates the need for other data cards, or things like Cradlepoint.
Want proof that this voice over WiFi is happening? Look at all the companies creating new devices and services that do exactly that in one form or another. Comcast, Sprint, T-Mobile.
As someone who has used both Truphone and T-Mobile's Hotspot @ Home services, I can safely say, they both work as promised, with the edge to Truphone in quality and ability to get around hotel NAT/Firewall issues.
Over on DSL Reports is a note that AT&T has stopped putting new customers on their VoIP platform called CallVanatge.
While current customers are not affected, it looks like any new additions are a thing of the past for the foreseeable future.
As a CallVantage customer, I have yet to have any major issues other than a burned out Linksys ATA in the four years or so I've used it. The service remains in my mind the benchmark that all other service have to follow.
That said, this clearly opens the door for ailing Vonage to make some network related moves to shore up things and they could quickly step into the primary non cable supplier of VoIP. Additionally, this likely means that we'll see more VoIP related uVerse marketing and a stepped up "take-a-way" program by the cable MSO's to get those customers (and their phone numbers) away from the former Ma Bell.
This also opens the door for companies like clients PhoneFusion, PhoneGnome, Jazinga, Junctions Networks, non-client Earthlink and others to start adding new customers who want a Vonage alternative.
Update-> Tom Keating weighs in as well on what he thinks this means.
The Logic House has a post about collaboration and team working over the Internet.
As someone who is regularly distance working and making sure things stay on track, the tools are there for us to really work from anywhere.
That said, bandwidth remains a key to the whole game. It's not just download and upload, it's also backhaul, meaning what gets the traffic from your network back onto the main Internet.
There seems to be a common trend in VoIP research. Every report says growth, growth, growth.
That's good news for companies in the space, especially those who get what the SOHO, SMB and Enterprise customers want. And, since this growth is all around SIP based platforms, not others, the developer marketplace is hot also.
Companies like Junction Networks, PhoneFusion, Jazinga are clients, so to be transparent, all fit into this growth curve nicely. This is also good news for cBeyond, CallTower and M5. On the carrier side this is also good news for Covad, which is also a client, as well as Level3 and their resellers like NGT and Dash Carrier Services.
With all the penetration cable has today, it's nice to see that the analyst community is still predicting growth of broadband adoption.
A report in America's Network cites the Dell'Orro group saying that voice will be the driver through 2012 of expanded numbers of subscribers to broadband.
Before getting into the technology world, I was in the sports world.
One of the most prestigious marks in sports is the Olympic rings. The International Olympic Committee holds their mark in the highest regard, and is very specific about how it can be used and who can use it.
Today I spied this post on InfoMobile relating to what Fring is doing around the Summer Olympics.
While I'm not an Intellectual Property lawyer, this will likely draw some attention from the IOC's licensing body as Fring has taken the Olympic rings and created a parody of sorts. Now, while the rings are protected, the parody look is not, and that may be their out. However, given the similarity that would cause even a casual fan to think the Fring Olympics are sanctioned by the IOC, my guess is that someone at the IOC may be ringing up Fring with a cease and desist letter or worse.
This NullRiver fiasco is another lame decision by AT&T that shows how much Apple understands the market, and they don't.
Tethering, as I've previously pointed out, already works on Nokia and Windows Mobile phones very easily and has driven the sales of data plans before.
Now along comes a device that requires a data plan and Ma Bell plays the Grinch that stole Christmas, making it a contractual term between they and Apple to not enable or permit any software that would make the iPhone a Wireless Modem.
Since AT&T already has price plans for this kind of thing, called Laptop Connect, all they need to do is charge $15.00 more and let the people who want it, pay for it. I know I would.
Network World reports that GENERAL DYNAMICS has been awarded a contract from the NSA to produce and deliver a three mode secure VoIP phone.
At Cluecon this week, on a panel led by pal Dan York, we actually discussed the need for secure VoIP so this story is very timely.
Basically this handset will include SIP plus the SCIP and Cisco's SCCP making the phone highly useful and eliminating the need for multiple endpoints to talk to different protocol based networks.
Jajah and client Mobivox have rolled out a voice driven concierge service that is perfectly timed for the "look ma, no hands" cell phone mobile market that is sweeping the USA and other western nations.
The service was demonstrated at the recent Jajah Labs event.
I read Jeff Pulver's post this morning. Last night I read the same email from GIPS PR agency. I thought about doing the same thing, but it's my birthday and I figured other would have the same idea and let it sit.
Here's the situation. There's nothing wrong in requesting an embargo. What was wrong was giving the details of the embargoed information in the request and not realizing that without agreement there's no embargo.
Point to Jeff and everyone else whose pointed this out.
Pat Phelan, the mind behind MaxRoam let me know that Twitterfone became more social and are on a roll to expand in the near future with a bunch of new features and options. In case you're not Twitterfied, Twitterfone is the service that allows users to call/phone in your message to twitter has announced new add-ons to their popular service.
Pat explained that if you're a Twitterholic that the new additions to Twitterfone enable people to listen to the last 10 messages from their friends all over their "phone and directly respond to these messages or send a private message their followers."
"The main feature request from users was the ability to not just speak to Twitter but also to listen to their friends' Twitter messages via their phone. So I'm very pleased that Twitterfone now enables two and multi-way conversations on Twitter using any phone while you're on the move," Phelan said in a prepared release.
Phelan also let me know that since launch a few months ago over 20,000 people have signed up for TF....
If you haven't seen the news lately, client Fonolo, started by pal Shai Berger, is on a roll.
Originally called FonCloud, they changed their name last spring, and debuted at eComm, showcasing their deep dialing end to customer service frustration for consumers. At eComm everyone from eTel founder Surj Patel to organizer Lee Dryburgh told me how this was the hit and the company to watch. Patel, now with GigaOm, and organizer of their conferences recently added Fonolo to the upcoming Mobilize conference slated for September, while Berger presents today at ClueCon.
But the real validator that there is a need for the service is coming from the public. Recent posts by ZDNet, Read, Write, Web, Boy Genius Report and The Consumerist are all showing an overwhelming demand, and heavy consumer desire, for this.
In an era where many ideas are being presented to VC's that have no audience, it's great to see how audience ready and market ready Fonolo is.
In the words of Hannibal T. Smith of the legendary "A Team", I have to say, "I love when a plan comes together."
Update-Shannon Proudfoot has a story that ran in multiple Canadian newspapers as well from Toronto to Victoria.
If you're really into developing software for the telephony market or adding the best of what's new to your IP based phone system, the ClueCon conference here in Chicago was the place to be.
Brian West has grown this ultra-geek-tech event and broadened the appeal to the point of where without VON this year the summer heat event in Chicago is really a must for anyone who has something new to show off.
Part dev camp, semi-uncoference like, but full of really nifty new ideas, this is the tech/geek side of VON that Carl Ford used to make so important in the mother of all VoIP events. Now with VON history, the market for the innovation lie here and at eComm, while IT Expo take the reigns of the trade show to not miss for showing off what's "new and shiny" while for the biz dev crowd Virgo Publishing has that pretty well wrapped up at their upcoming Channel Partners event in Boston.
My only critical comment is that many of the presenters need presentation training. Many of the slides were on dimensional, Powerpoint and the some speakers were had to hear, not because of the Public Address system, but simply they're not used to presenting. But that said, the content each and every speaker is presenting that I audited is off the charts and solid.
Special thanks to Dan York. He's picked up the ball on my moderating some of the sessions, as some critical calls related to some new launch activities have arisen.
It looks like the concept of peering is being taken seriously in the cable industry, or at least in the Netherlands it is.
Yesterday SIPX, the world's first cable telephony peering federation project was announced and XConnect along with others are driving this.
I've long been saying privately that one of the issues many of the VoIP companies have is their lack of proper peering relationships, and how important to things like call quality, call set up and tear-down, as well as other things that are important and remain in the signaling path to make the call complete and sound right.
By taking this first step, the Dutch cable industry is acknowledging the importance of making sure there's a neutral hub that allows the telephone calls made over one cable MSO to pass to another with all that's necessary to sound good, be completed quickly and to maintain all the functionality (like DTMF, Caller ID, etc.) that the regular telcos have and more.
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