VoIPWatch

Skype Helps eBay's Numbers

The quarterly earnings call for eBay yesterday wasn't a pretty picture but at least on the surface Skype's numbers were positive.

Chalk the revenues up to the Skype Unlimited plans. They look good on the balance sheet and provide a more consistent pattern of revenue.

Telco 2.0 News Summary-A Must Read

Over in the UK the powerhouse team at STL included Martin Geddes and a few other excellent analysts who know what is news. Their latest news summary is a must read for those wondering what's bubbling and about to burst into the mainstream business news cycles of telco and telecom.

Report Says VoIP Adoption Rising, But Vonage Won't Be

I have to credit TMC's Greg Galitzine with finding this story yesterday about the growth of residential VoIP.

What's becoming obvious and what has been for some time is that the baby Bells are really chasing the cable guys in moving their customers to VoIP. And the reason is they didn't need to as their copper based business was yielding them one heck of a profit margin as the infrastructure costs were already bought and paid for. Now with new services like uVerse and FIOS being introduced they have to begin to show some uptake.

It's that simple.

A Friend Moves Onward and Upward

Long time IDC VoIP Analyst, Will Stofega won't be on the VoIP beat any more there. He's moved up to lead the Mobile Device Technology and Trends Research at IDC.

Rebecca Swenson, who has been on Will's team at IDC, takes over on VoIP,

Congrats to both!

Developers-GIPS Has Something For You

Windows Mobile devices are one of the more popular platforms here in the USA so the new Global IP Solutions (GIPS) Video Engine announcement is a call for video and VoIP developers to get outside the box and begin thinking how they can bring real video to the mobile phone. CNET's Crave blog also jumped on the story today, coinciding with the announcement.

Long known as the company behind the industry standard voice codec iLBC, and the true developers of the engine that made Skype possible, GIPS is putting its years of experience at developing rock solid compression technology to the forefront in video. By rolling out first with the Windows Mobile platform this opens GIPS up to not only Microsoft and their entire eco-system and Windows Mobile developer network, but to some of the biggest names in the handset business who market mobile smartphones, including HP, Samsung, HTC and Motorola. Those companies all have massive distribution which translates to massive royalty opportunity sooner and faster than working with some others, who suffers from a massive case of Not Invented Here syndrome.

For transparency Global IP Solutions recently became an agency client.

Jon Arnold Reviews Jazinga

Jazinga is a client of my agency's and we've been steadily putting their innovative one box does all device into the hands of the more informed and patient bloggers while the product goes through a series of beta trials.

One of the bloggers/analyst 2.0 types was Jon Arnold who has just written a review that rocks the house and summarizes the multitude of benefits of Jazinga.

How much do I like it? Well for starters my wife's office is getting on installed today along with some Linksys IP phones we bought from VoIPSupply. I have one in my office that next week gets reconnected as the renovation is finally done.

Jazinga NO IT GUY REQUIRED mantra is what makes it meaningful and valuable to the SOHO market business person. Jon's review pretty much supports that in spades.

What HSUPA Means to VoIP

Dean Bubley has some insightful commentary about HSUPA and what it means to VoIP over 3G in his latest posting.

I've used HSUPA on my Novatel Data Card via AT&T's 3G network and clearly see the difference, especially with mobile video conferencing. There's a major quality advantage with HSUPA over HSDPA as the upload seems to be more consistent and delivers what I'll call "fatter" bandwidth. Not only is is faster, its more stable and seems to show less jitter or packet loss.

Michael Robertson Chides Ebay

In his weekly Michael's Minute, my down the beach neighbor and friend Michael Robertson chides Skype for being implicit in the China snooping matter caused by Skype partner TOM.

The concept Michael points out as being so wrong is called "implied consent" and it basically means that by not taking steps to prevent something from occurring, by such inaction you're granting permission to someone to do something. By pointing out that access to source code was needed, Michael basically says that Skype (and by its acquisition, eBay) is guilty of sharing the encryption key with TOM that reportedly resides in a safety deposit box in Luxembourg.

Voice Apps Made Simple

Over the past few months my agency has had the good fortune of working with Irv Shapiro and his team at ifByPhone. Based in the northern suburbs of Chicago the company has customers, lots of customers, and is quietly rolling out app after app that solves real world problems.

They have a whopper of an application coming out on Monday, but when I was preparing some thoughts about what's next I had to sit back and reflect on what they have already done in a very short time.

Impressive. And, unlike so many apps that don't work, the ones from ifByPhone really do. One of my favorites is the iPhone Voice Broadcast App. This is great for the hockey coach, cheerleading squad leader or the sorority/fraternity social director who needs to actually leave a message for a group, but wants to say more than a text message allows and in a more personal manner than an email.

But what's coming next on Monday will really mean something to marketers, advertisers and companies with something to sell, and need to see just how well the phone is doing for them.....here's a hint.

WiFi on Trains (and Buses)

I've had the good fortune to use WiFi on the Heathrow Express when I'm in London. The experience, which is made possible by T-Mobile connects train mounted access points to 3G radios that are mounted in each car on the train. The experience has been good enough to hold video calls using SightSpeed and Skype without any difficulty, as well as to make VOIP calls using Truphone.

This makes this news report from WiFi Net News rather exciting, as the state of Massachusetts train authority is rolling out WiFi on all their trains for the princely sum of $300,000.

As gas prices remains high, more people will begin to look at transportation alternatives to get to where they're going. Based on experiences in London, WiFi on the train sure makes the ride go faster and more productive.

Update--Pal Joe Brancatelli of Portfolio 2.0's Seat 2B points out a service called LimoLiner that runs between New York City and Boston. It's a high end motor coach with WiFi....nice.