Picked up the three Toronto newspapers Monday morning; each had the front page headline about the executive changes at Research in Motion that were made public late Sunday night, (I was caught up watching the 49’ers – Giants NFC Conference overtime final that ran rather late and had taken time off from the Internet.)

It’s been some time since I wrote a post about RIM and Blackberry. In fact, the last one was about the announcement of the appointment of long-time acquaintance Alec Saunders as Vice President, Developer Relations. Alec has certainly made an impression with developers as shown on Twitter; the comment on the right showed up yesterday morning.

Yes, I caught up with Alec at CES where I was not only able to check out the Playbook OS 2.0 but also got to have a look at the Porsche equipped with QNX firmware and three Playbooks. But more importantly was how attending CES – not at the booth but in discussions as I walked around the show – reinforced my conclusions after watching RIM’s quarterly report last fall, when they announced delays of the launch of the new OS 2.0 for Playbook. At the same time I was reading the Steve Jobs bio and how he made sure that product showed up on time. I also have had a chance to check out the current Playbook – great hardware but lacking in applications that make it a “must have” to carry around. And there’s my own experience over the years not only observing technology business restructurings but also participating at a senior management level in a NASDAQ-listed company restructuring with all the associated performance pressures. The technology may change but the business management issues don’t. The bottom line was that RIM had significant internal operations problems showing up publicly as an inability to execute. It only got further reinforced by the December announcement of delays in the launch of a QNX-based Blackberry.

Here’s my viewpoint:

1. As became really obvious after announcing the delays not only of OS 2.0 for Playbook but also Blackberry phones , the number one priority for RIM is to fix the internal processes for managing execution to deadlines. Reading the Steve Jobs bio at the time of this announcement (and having had my own experience working under a “driven” CEO) brought this point home. Steve simply would not let a deadline be changed; he may have been a bit off the deep end and erratic at times but he ensured that Apple had the execution leadership and team required to meet deadlines.  The first benchmark for the “new” RIM will be the launch of OS 2.0 for Playbook in February; certainly the demos at CES looked promising. And the recent price reduction on Playbook simply became a way to seed 800,000 units in preparation for the upgrade (aside from getting this hardware off the inventory line of RIM’s balance sheet). Those 800,000 users are now positioned to provide their own feedback.
2. The second benchmark was reinforced by the new CEO’s comment made in 2005 while at Siemens about the future of smartphones: “The end user is not concerned with the technology behind the service, they’re concerned with the applications they can get.”  About the same time over six years ago Alec Saunders wrote his “Voice 2.0 Manifesto” where he emphasized that “applications are the value creators”. And I have to say that my experience with the Playbook 1.0 was underwhelming. While it possesses great hardware and there have been some interesting applications, it lacks not only the number of applications but, even more importantly, some critical applications. So my second benchmark relates to application development:
   1. We need to see some critical common applications, starting with Skype which badly needs a mobile platform that supports true multitasking and battery management. Dropbox and Kindle for the Playbook are two others that should easily be able to take full advantage of QNX’s inherent multitasking and multiprocessor functionality. Yes, you can access some of these, such as Dropbox, via a web browser but it’s not the simplest user experience. Skype would make it possible to converse with any of their over 200 million active users on any platform. In today’s communications and social networking world Skype is critical to any communications platform.
   2. We need to see an evolving base of third party applications. As Alec pointed out in his presentation at RIM’s North America developer conference last fall, RIM’s developer program for Blackberry phones has been actually the second most successful smartphone in terms of revenue generated for developers. Other developer conferences in Singapore last fall and Amsterdam next month are indicators of developer enthusiasm; certainly attendance at Singapore demonstrated significant attention in the southeast Asia market – and the Amsterdam developer conference is sold out. But there are several issues that need to be addressed to facilitate developer interest including legal ones (make the agreement short and simple) and having a sufficient tool set in a decent time frame that encourages developers to participate in new product launches. (Alec did acknowledge some of these issues at his presentation last fall.)
   3. BlackBerry App World needs significant improvements. Yes new versions have been coming out but… Having to reboot the device when installing certain new programs or upgrades does not cut the mustard. It must also be able to handle multiple upgrades on a single action. iOS certainly sets the benchmark here in terms of the user experience.
3. Thirdly  there is the expectation that there is some “Messianic” Steve Jobs out there who can solve RIM’s problems as CEO. It ain’t goin’ to happen; there was only one Steve Jobs. Recently we have seen examples at, say, Yahoo and HP, where bringing in “experienced” CEO’s has been a failure. Appointing someone with internal experience also brings along an exposure to RIM’s processes and personnel that allows more rapid implementation of internally required changes (such as execution). Tony Bates at Skype has also demonstrated that it helps to bring along a combination of both technology expertise and running high tech business operations to make things happen; again his focus has been on execution. A priority on appointing the right Chief Marketing Officer will hopefully bring in significant outside experience beyond simply marketing to a key vacuum currently existing at RIM. At the same time, let’s hope the board can recruit a couple of significant “technology company” directors from, say, Silicon Valley to contribute to the experience spectrum and strategic executive networking.
4. Then there’s one other key role for a CEO: Establishing and rebuilding key business relationships is one additional benchmark for measuring the new CEO’s success. One responsibility for any CEO is to build and maintain credibility, especially when it comes to dealing with key business partners, not only major software vendors, carriers and suppliers but also with business customers – all at a CxO level.  While they certainly built a major player in the wireless industry, with all the recent turmoil it became apparent that Mike and Jim had burned themselves out. As shown at Microsoft with Bill Gates becoming Chief Software Architect (in the years prior to his retirement), it is necessary to keep on board the founding visionary in a consultative role for at least a couple of years. Mike Lazaradis can continue to bring technology experience and vision that can benefit the company as long as he remains a reference resource and not an impact on operations.
5. Finally on the issue of break-up. It’s not an option; a breakup would destroy the company. As mentioned when the Playbook was first launched, RIM has a significant portfolio of wireless and handheld device assets. It also has services such as its network operations centres that ensure both security and minimum wireless spectrum overhead. But history shows that one needs to control the entire ecosystem to have a successful product line – need I mention Apple? On the other hand RIM’s technology, especially with QNX and its user base, opens doors for unique applications (as shown with the Porsche demonstration). It’s the integrated options available that can create the true value. The challenge here is to find the “killer” apps or set of apps that can uniquely distinguish Playbook and BlackBerry as real time communications devices and not simply a content delivery device. Thorsten explains it quite well in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cQyZKukGQ8

Bottom LIne: RIM is turning out to be an interesting business case study. Here’s a company that has over $20B in annual sales, $1.5B in cash, 75,000,000 users, no debt and so far has remained profitable. It has a major patent portfolio and unparalled wireless expertise in areas such as security and efficient data delivery. Without QNX we would not even be having this discussion and RIM would really be struggling – their old OS had outgrown its viability. In  some ways RIM is in a position most “startups” would be envious to be in.

Yet there’s the declining market share in its major market where it can only offer its current product line for another six to nine months; however, it’s still a major market leader in many other markets (U.K., Indonesia, etc.) Yet, by its new CEO’s admission it’s still got “traces of a startup”. RIM is certainly in a reboot stage but … can it re-establish itself with the combination of new market positioning, internal restructuring and a culture change to more disciplined operations? The real focus needs to be on fixing the internal operations as much as on external marketing. Unfortunately this was only buried in one CEO video from RIM whereas the media and analysts wanted to feed on sound bites about “no need to change the overall strategy”.

The only way to really measure performance of a new CEO is to set benchmarks. Presented here are five major ones that must be addressed in the next six to nine months if RIM is to succeed. As mentioned in this interview with a local Kitchener-Waterloo radio station, Thorsten needs time to demonstrate he can provide the team leadership required to pull this off.

Here’s a Financial Post story about a change that’s been in play for the past few months: Ottawa taking centre stage in RIM’s future.

(The Tweet above appeared as i was writing this paragraph. “Porter terminal” is the downtown Toronto airport; Bay St. is the Canadian equivalent of Wall Street.)

Full disclosure: My first interest is in seeing over 8,000 Canadian jobs (not to overlook all those in other countries) preserved but while meeting a market need. But this video also demonstrates the impact of RIM on the Kitchener-Waterloo community.

I have an iPad (and had an iPhone until it was lost recently – yes, I’ll replace it), a BlackBerry Torch 9800 and a Playbook. Having them all is necessary to fully understand the dynamics of the market. (I’ve had some exposure to Android devices and many acquaintances with them.) Apple’s record quarterly performance results announced yesterday certainly reinforce the need for RIM to find a unique market niche; even Tim Cook at Apple recognized that the Amazon Fire is first and foremost an e-reader and not a tablet competitor to iPad.

While in the past I have held RIM shares (since 1998) at the moment my holding is minimal.  I have never worked at RIM nor had RIM as a client. I have frequently visited Waterloo and its university for over thirty years and have attended most of their annual meetings during that time.

My only other bias probably arises from the fact that I also hold advanced degrees in Physics and Business; the combination of a physicist and experienced technology business person can be brutal when it comes to seeking success. You learn to pay attention to details, delegate, set goals and yet understand where opportunities can arise. (And I once worked for 18 months in Germany as a physicist in a business environment.)

Related articles

• Interview with Alec Saunders, VP of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development (blogs.blackberry.com)
• QNX: RIM’s last hope? (business.financialpost.com)
• RIM CEO: QNX to Be BlackBerry’s Foundation for a Decade (phonescoop.com)
• CES 2012: RIM Pins Hopes on PlayBook 2 Software (forbes.com)

Yesterday Skype announced the availability of Skype 3.6 for iOS (iPhone, iPad) with three key updates:

• Chat improvements: Copy and Paste & URL links now work
• UI improvements: Edit button reinstalled in Messages
• Stability improvements and various bug fixes

I installed the upgrade on my iPad (original version) and found the last item is the most important. The initial screen comes up much more quickly showing recent conversations in the left sidebar and “All Contacts” for your account. Go to “Online Contacts” and watch the Contact images “dance around” as Contacts come online or go offline.

Chat sessions with individuals now open up almost instantly when you select a Contact; new messages arrive immediately (at the same time I see them in Skype for Windows). The one remaining “laggard” is bringing up Group Chat sessions where Skype for iPad may take a while to initialize the session as it catches up with all the Contacts in the Group and brings in recent chat messages (in one case for my setup over 300).

I also checked out the Copy and Paste as well as URL links within a chat session; they both work fine. Touch on the message to get the “Copy” icon; touch within the message window to get the “Paste” icon.

Bottom line: Skype 3.6 for iOS is a “must do” upgrade due to these speed improvements. Normally I don’t get pushy about upgrades but this one makes such a performance improvement it is highly recommended. It makes Skype for iPad much more useful as an “always available” Skype platform; for that reason alone it’s worth the upgrade (done via the Apple App Store).

P.S. – When I find my “lost” iPhone I’ll do the upgrade there as well. (“Find my iPhone” did an update a few days after I lost it that would have helped immensely.)

When I received a “Mention” on a Tweet earlier this week:

my curiosity was piqued. Obviously Marcus had read one of my previous posts about CounterPath’s Bria on the iPad and iPhone and had encountered the CounterPath name in association with a new Rogers service. Over the years CounterPath has become associated with providing IP-based communications clients for enterprise, carrier and consumer use on PC’s, smartphones and tablets.

After some investigation it turns out that this past Monday Rogers sent an email to many of its consumer wireless customers asking them to take part in a beta program for a forthcoming service called Rogers One Number.

The concept basically is to provide a PC softphone that is associated with a wireless account such that conversations can be mirrored onto your PC through a web browser plugin on a Windows or Mac PC. Exchange SMS text messages, place and receive voice calls, there’s even a hint of a video call option in call management menu.

So what does this service deliver? From a web browser you can:

• synchronize contacts with your wireless device address book
• receive and place voice calls
• send and receive SMS messages

Going forward it appears Rogers One Number will also offer:

• links to Rogers Yahoo Mail and GMail
• receive and place video calls

All conversation activity, initiated or received on the softphone, is also reflected on the wireless phone(s)associated with the account. For instance, at this time, a call to my BlackBerry not only rings on my BlackBerry but also results in a call notification on my desktop PC. If I have missed a call a small “missed call” notification appears near the system tray on Windows PC’s. Text messages sent from the softphone also show up under text messages on the BlackBerry. And the service also applies for iPhone or Android phones.

So how does CounterPath come into the picture? When setting up the service there is a CounterPath End User License agreement to be accepted; also Norton Utilities identifies the plugin software as coming from CounterPath. CounterPath’s business model, in their OEM activities, involves providing the chat messaging along with voice and video calling infrastructure behind a user interface designed to an enterprise or carrier  customer’s specifications. In this case Rogers Wireless is the CounterPath customer who is responsible for the final user interface.

From a start-up page a wireless customer can register for the service; once confirmed via SMS messaging of a PIN number you are taken to a setup wizard where you need to enter key information, including a physical location for associating with e911 services. At that point you are asked to download a browser plugin for either Windows or Mac. Once you relaunch the browser you can open up the portal at the user interface and start using the service.

Once set up I made a few test calls with good quality voice. On placing a voice call (green phone icon in the Header bar above) a small call management client appears with options to escalate to video, place a call on hold and end a call. The upper icon bar includes a call log, a dial pad and a settings menu associated with the audio and video hardware. The lower icon bar covers mic mute,switch between multiple calls, switch between “headphones” and “speakerphone” and add a third party for a conference call. The program automatically had designated my FREETALK Everyman Headset as the headphone and Yamaha SoundGadget speakerphone as the speakerphone.

The main question re the video is who can you have a video conversation with? At the moment it would appear to only work with calls where both parties were using the Rogers One Number portal where you can set up video. On a voice call to my Skype client (calling my Skype Online number), the client appears to support the G729 codec; however, given that CounterPath is now incorporating Skype’s SILK into other products, there may be a future opportunity to wider audio bandwidth calling – at least between Rogers One Number web portals, if not to the wireless device itself.

Also of interest is the line “My web phone Emergency Address”. This is the initial setting that one enters when working through the setup wizard addressing a CRTC requirement for support of emergency services.

The images below show the dial pad and audio/video settings. Of significant interest is the potential for support of HD video should a webcam support it. However, until I can find a party who can receive a video call, we won’t know the full answer.

Bottom line: The Rogers One Number client is a recognition that many users have only a wireless phone and a PC; landlines are losing customers, especially with the “under 35” demographic. It’s a convenience that allows their consumer customers to make and receive calls on a PC in parallel with calling activity on the wireless phone. As analyst Jon Arnold mentions in his post, Rogers Wireless “One Number” Launch – Upping the Stakes:

The twist with One Number is that it’s built around the mobile phone, which is pretty much where consumers live, breath and sleep these days….

Anyhow, it’s very much a Web 2.0-meets mobility-meets VoIP mashup, and I think consumers will love it. Most people under 30 have long moved on from a landline, and with One Number, their PC simply becomes an extension of their smartphone – you just don’t need anything else.

To go back to the original Tweet that triggered this post, is it flaky? No, but it’s still in beta. There are a few issues that need to be addressed; however, it certainly addresses the basic requirements of providing PC access to conversation activity associated with a wireless device. Its feature set is not at the level of Skype for both functionality and ease of navigation but it will certainly provide the basic text messaging along with voice and video calling features. (And text messaging will generate SMS revenues for Rogers.)

If there is one major disappointment, it’s that Rogers elected to use a web browser plugin instead of an independent client; that makes it somewhat clumsy to access along with the requirement for always having a browser open. And the browser plugin needs a fair bit of desktop real estate in order to be fully seen; not a client you can put to one side such as Skype or Trillian.

One other question: will this service also incorporate some aspect of social networking where it can follow Facebook and Twitter activity? Given it was subtitled, by default, “My Social Hub” I would expect it to include these features also.

With respect to that most important feature called price – other than to realize there can be associated SMS revenues, we still have not heard what the pricing model is for using Rogers One Number voice and video calls. Most likely it will follow the Rogers Home Phone long distance model where calls from a Rogers Home Phone customer to other Rogers Home Phone customers or Rogers Wireless customers within Canada have no associated long distance charges.

From a wireless carrier business perspective Rogers One Number is a feature that introduces unique competitive positioning into a Canadian market where six carriers are now looking for customers. For that reason I cannot see any other charges beyond what is currently charged for wireless services.

Check out Jon Arnold’s complete post for another perspective.

CounterPath, publishers of the Bria carrier grade softphone, has recently taken measures both to build their enterprise user base and to enhance the user experience when using Bria. Not only is Bria supported on Windows and Mac PC’s but also on the iPhone, iPad and Android. In other words, Bria provides a business desktop phone replacement with PC and  mobile softphones that you can take with you when out of the office. And it’s targeted as a solution for enterprises upgrading to fully IP-based communications platforms. But these enterprises still rely, in many cases, on the carriers to recommend and install products and services.

Building the enterprise user base: Two weeks ago Counterpath announced an agreement with GENBAND, a major carrier supplier of IP infrastructure and application solutions, to provide unified communications solutions for GENBAND’s Communications Application Server on mobile and tablet devices. Andy Abramson, at VoIP Watch, has given an outline of what this means to Counterpath’s participation in the “new” telecom technology market in his post CounterPath Gets Distribution.

Today, the companies changing the game in getting new telecom technology to the market include Broadsoft, MetaSwitch and GENBAND. They each control the lion’s share of what gets to the telcos so eventually in a transparent way the technology gets to consumers, and to the business markets too. Understanding the channel is key to success of any telecom products or services company, for one reason. It’s called Go To Market (GTM) but really could mean Get to (the) Market, and without channel partners there are just too many carriers, mobile operators and service providers out there today to effectively get to and sell to all of them directly.

Having acquired a bundle of Nortel carrier voice and applications assets with an $870 million revenue stream in early 2010, CounterPath has the potential to see its Bria clients on over 120 million ports and 10 million SIP connections. From the Nortel press release:

Nortel’s CVAS business is the recognized leader in the Carrier VoIP space, having shipped more than 121 million Carrier VoIP and Multimedia ports, including over 10 million SIP lines to leading carriers globally. Nortel has  consistently been ranked as the #1 Global Carrier VoIP and Softswitch leader since 2002. Nortel’s CVAS business has customer deployments in all continents with leading carriers and provides VoIP solutions to 80 percent of IDC’s worldwide listing of top 20 carriers (by revenue).

The bottom line is that Counterpath is providing a window into how the tier 1 to tier 3 telcos are absorbing and implementing IP-based communications technology in a mobile platform world.

On the actual product front Counterpath had two recent announcements that contribute to ensuring that Bria remains feature competitive when it comes to the end user experience:

• Incorporation of Skype’s royalty-free SILK codec into Bria mobile products, allowing Bria mobile product users to take full advantage of SILK’s crystal clear voice quality for calls between Bria endpoints within an enterprise communications platform. According to CounterPath’s blog post linked above:

The SILK codec is free and also performs very well compared to other similar codecs that are royalty bearing. I should point out that because Bria supports SILK does not mean Bria can interoperate with the Skype service directly. Of course Bria users can call Skype users via the PSTN.

• Incorporation of social networking into the Bria client allowing Bria users to follow their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Counterpath calls it “social blurring” of the unified communications interface. From an example provided by CounterPath’s Todd Carrothers, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Products:

Basically Facebook (on the left) and Twitter (on the right) are setup as additional “accounts’ on Bria, connecting via an XMPP feed as a peer to SIP accounts supporting voice, instant messaging and video. Bria becomes one more user interface option for accessing the user’s Facebook news feed and Twitter stream.

Bottom line: CounterPath is making extensive progress as a vendor to the enterprise market through their partnerships with, and support of, market leading carrier vendors in the IP-communications solutions space. And they represent a market leading proxy for following the enterprise market adoption of IP-based communication solutions.

Applicable to both Skype for iPhone and Skype for iPad, a Skype for iOS5 3.5 hotfix released to the Apple App Store earlier this week restores Skype chat sessions on the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad to pre-version 3.5 performance.

While Skype on my iPhone or my iPad is not my primary platform for using Skype, it has become an important backup for monitoring Skype chat threads when I don’t have access to a PC. I could at least follow a thread and make a short response, if appropriate in context. (Full disclosure: I have over 500 Skype contacts which challenges the performance of Skype on these devices due to presence and other ongoing “tracking” issues.)

While the iPhone’s processor speed limits performance relative to responsiveness on a PC, chat sessions with individuals had usually been fairly quick in responses while a little bit of patience was required to follow group chat sessions, especially with more than 50 participants.

However, the release of Skype 3.5 for iOS5 in late September, while introducing some new features and modifying the user interface, also degraded the performance of chat activity. Going to a group chat session would totally freeze the application on either device; even one-to-one chat sessions were unforgivingly slow to follow and respond to. Launching Skype for iPad had long durations bringing up the most recent conversations. I had reported these issues (and I’m sure amongst many others) through Skype’s bug reporting channels; this issue is also raised in several reviews at the iTunes App Store.

Earlier this week I found a new hotfix version 3.5.454 of Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch and Skype for iPad available on the Apple App Store. I have downloaded it and tested it. On a couple of occasions when away from the home office the past few days I found that Skype chat activity on both devices has returned to its pre-version 3.5 performance levels and can once again be a resource for monitoring Skype chat activity while away from a PC. As for group chats, they still take a one to three minutes to catch up but once the content is there, it is fairly responsive.

I have tested Skype-to-Skype calls and SkypeOut calls; for the few times I use this feature, it seems to be working fine.

One caveat: I notice some reviews of this upgrade report that Bluetooth functionality, initially available with Skype for iOS5 3.5, is broken. Update: on my own testing with my car audio by calling Skype Test Call, the Bluetooth connection always attempted to connect but only held the connection to the actual call on one out of three calls.

Bottom line: if you have not done so already, go to the Apple App Store and upgrade your Skype for iPhone and Skype for iPad (it should automatically be offered as an upgrade). It’s not yet at the point where it can take over for Skype on your PC but at least it’s workable for those times when you’re away from a PC. Skype still has some work to do to get to a PC-level of performance at least in terms of chat operation.

For further performance improvement I would still like to see an option to create a subset of my Skype account’s Contacts via the “Category” feature of Skype for Windows or “Tags” feature of Skype for Mac¹. These can then become the Contacts followed on an mobile device. (At least until we see dual core 2.0 GHz processors on these devices.) This would also assist in addressing the ongoing battery drain issue, especially on the iPhone/iPod Touch. (I will continue to monitor this upgrade to see if there is any improvement in the battery drain.)

¹Note that “Categories” in Skype for Windows become assigned as “Tags” in Skype for Mac.

Yesterday long time acquaintance Andy Abramson put up a post Skype on Three-Me Too, Me Also, No Longer Me Different where he states “Now 3 no longer has the same Skype service in the UK…” and concludes with “…. now Skype is back to being just a IM based calling service online with a few hooks to the PSTN”. I beg to differ.

Andy is talking about 3’s Skype service that was launched in late 2007 using a hybrid solution that allowed IM and call signalling data to be handled over the data channel while the actual voice call went over the carrier’s GSM voice channel. It provided a way to make free calls to Skype contacts worldwide while using SkypeOut for calls to the PSTN outside the home country. In fact I was on a 40 minute call with a 3 user on the INQ phone earlier today; however it’s lifetime as a service appears to be coming to an end.

Skype on 3 also was significant in building a customer base for 3 who was a fledgling 3G service trying to enter a U.K. market dominated by somewhat larger players. At the time all the reviews were positive; it was well received by a younger demographic keen to expand their social networking circles. Initially the service was offered on “brew”-based 3 Skypephones; later it also became available on the “brew”-based INQ phone with its social networking features. However, for infrastructure It did require “gateway” servers using iSkoot’s software that had developed this protocol. And, as pointed out in an iSkoot presentation at the initial eComm 2008 there were royalties paid to both Skype and iSkoot associated with the monthly subscriptions involved. From the carrier perspective, the economic key to providing this unlimited calling service was that Skype-to-Skype calls had no termination charges as they go direct to the end user contact without any requirement for termination by another carrier.

In the spring of 2010, Verizon launched its Skype mobile service using a similar protocol to much fanfare. Skype’s carrier-specific arrangement with Telus was very different with respect to the services offered, especially the Skype client and the associated Android phone.

But times are changing; the key for addressing these changes is how 3, working with Skype, can make a transition that keeps their customer base while offering Skype calling through alternative arrangements:

• Brew-based phones have been outsmarted by smartphones from Apple, Android and RIM. I would imagine today’s demand for an INQ or 3 Skypephone has diminished to a level that does not encourage further manufacturing.
• Skype has since launched full Skype clients on iPhone and Android phones, offering not only chat and voice but also video calling.
• Not only do these clients  use the data channel of wireless carriers for voice and video but they also support Skype’s SILK codec for optimum voice quality.
• Data plan rates have come down by orders of magnitude from charges four years ago; the launch of iPhone helped drive these down.
• There is carrier and Skype overhead in running the iSkoot servers at 3.
• I would imagine, partly based on some anecdotal information, that many of 3’s customers who had 3 Skypephone and INQ phones have migrated to other phones. While both iPhone and Android phones are market players in the U.K. that same youth demographic actually has been strongly attracted to BlackBerry and its BlackBerry Messenger feature.

The bottom line is that the entire mobile market has evolved and 3’s initial Skype calling service has been left in the dust. Skype says these services are still operating in U.K., Australia and Ireland, probably due to the current size of the user base yet they will go away in the near future.  However, at some point I would imagine 3 would have to be working on a strategy to phase out its initial Skype service and transition their customers to newer platforms.

As for “No Longer Me Different” it is too simplistic to say Skype only offers IM and voice services duplicated by others. From both Tony Bates’ post, Tony Bates Weighs in on Microsoft’s Acquisition of Skype, and the accompanying infographic, expect to see a heavy emphasis on Skype’s video calling where there has been no duplication that combines the available resolutions (VGA, HD), frame rates (30 fps, 22 fps) and minimum network upload speed requirements by any other service provider. Of course there is also the other strength of having over 170 million active users that remains a key differentiator.

While 3 has definitely demonstrated the demand for Skype services on mobile platforms, both the market players and underlying wireless carrier infrastructure have changed over the past four years. The questions that arise include:

• How long will Verizon continue with its Skype mobile offering? We have already seen Verizon’s plans for offering Skype over its LTE network using Android phones where the focus was on video calling.
• While Verizon’s service could be replaced with Skype for Android on its Android phones, what would happen to its BlackBerry customers who would not have a native Skype for BlackBerry client?
• Can Skype address the battery drain issue on both Skype for iPhone and Skype for Android to provide users with the same user experience as Skype mobile in terms of recharging frequency?

It’s easy to want to position a perception that other players can be competitors of Skype; however, the real challenge for MicroSkype is how to build a business that justifies a $8.5B purchase price, not how to skirmish over services whose usefulness and viability has been overtaken by the evolution of the market participants and carrier infrastructure.

Full disclosure: the author has made the only 3 Skypephone call on the Rogers network back in early 2008. Ten minutes cost me about $100 as Rogers did not have an iSkoot server available.

Overnight Microsoft announced they had closed their acquisition of Skype, following the final EU Commission regulatory approval last week. Key points:

• Skype will remain as an independent business unit within Microsoft under the leadership of former Skype CEO Tony Bates who becomes President of Microsoft’s Skype Division. It’s a new tact for a Microsoft acquisition.
• Microsoft anticipates the integration of Skype into many of its current products – the most obvious being Skype for Windows Mobile and Outlook integration (as well as other Office products). But there are opportunities foreseen for Windows Live offerings as well as its Microsoft Lync enterprise offering.
• Whereas Skype had little enterprise presence other than small businesses and employees who would use it at work, it will be an interesting challenge to see how Skype becomes integrated into Microsoft Lync. There are challenges on the Microsoft side not simply from a technology perspective but also from a business perspective, for example, the costs and burdensome licensing associated with their server-based products.

Tony Bates has put out his vision statement, including a video and an supporting infographic, for Skype’s direction within Microsoft:

Microsoft is committed to the ubiquity of the Skype experience – communication across every device and every platform will remain a primary focus. And we’ve only scratched the surface. We’re at the starting line of integrating world-class talent, innovative technologies and products. By bringing together the best of Microsoft and the best of Skype, we’ll deliver amazing new experiences for consumers and business around the world.

Leading up to the closing we have seen some subtle activity on the Skype side:

• Most notably new releases of most Skype client software that incorporates advertising. Skype intends to place ads in a discrete manner during Skype-to-Skype calls made by users who are not generating revenue through Skype credit, a Skype Calling Plan subscription or a Skype Premium subscription. As mentioned by Skype CEO Tony Bates at a recent forum event, one of Skype’s goals is to generate major revenue through this advertising initiative.
• Skype has continued to offer upgrades for all its supported platforms over the past two months, not only supporting the claim that Skype’s brand would be damaged should they stop supporting platforms other than Windows but also supporting Skype’s initiative to provide more incremental upgrades every two to three months.
• A strong emphasis on Skype’s unique ability to drive video communications in a way that encourages easy adoption (more in a future post).
• Last night Skype released hotfix upgrades to Skype 5.6 for Windows that removed a Google Product Bundle offering, comprising the Google Toolbar and the Chrome browser, during installation. (Will we be seeing a Bing product bundle soon?)
• While Skype has made some top level management changes over the past few months, they appear, with a few minor exceptions, to have kept their operating staff, whether on the developer side or marketing side.This brings an experience base that is critical to meeting Tony’s goals in a timely manner.

And some questions:

• Will we see a Skype for BlackBerry? Can Microsoft leverage its relationship with RIM to resolve this issue? (This has been a most requested feature on one LinkedIn forum discussing what users want to see on the Playbook.)
• How will Skype now encourage third party application development? Will there be support for using web-based tools meeting the IETF’s RTCWeb initiative? What is the road map for SkypeKit?
• Will we see Skype Online numbers for Canada?
• And, in the longer term, will Skype pass the “AmberMac Test”?
• Can Microsoft become as ubiquitously associated with leadership in real time communications as they have been in the evolution of desktop operating systems?

About thirty years ago I worked for a company that had developed Magnetic Resonance technology that was evolving from chemical analysis applications into the medical imaging field. This company initially attempted a partnership with GE who were the leading medical imaging company of the day, especially with CT scanners but were just dipping their toes into learning magnetic resonance technology. However, my employer of the day did not have the financial or other resources required to jump from a business selling $100K to $500K systems to a research market into a business selling $3 million systems into a medical market (with all its regulatory implications). In the end GE simply acquired the company’s magnetic resonance division and has now become a leader in the MRI market. I see a similar opportunity here for the combination of Skype’s technology resources with Microsoft’s financial and business resources along with their market reach.

One final comment: over the past five and a half years I personally have come to meet many Skype employees. Their common thread and over riding motivation was their participation in an initiative that was revolutionizing real time communications on a world class scale. It has been a pleasure to work with them across several projects. Let’s hope they can continue to thrive under the Microsoft umbrella; they are a key resource to the success Tony envisions. Congratulations are due to all the members of the Skype team that made this transaction possible.

It will be an interesting ride. Can they execute? What will happen with the user experience? Will it drive a significant return on a $8.5 billion investment?

What’s your take? What are the opportunities and what are additional questions beyond the list above? Look forward to your comments.

Just as I finished writing this post, Dan York put up his views over at Disruptive Telephony:

My interest was not only in the “across all devices”, which has been a large part of Skype’s goal for some time… but also in the use of “real-time communications”. For a while that was a phrase that only the more technical-minded folks used, but now increasingly “real-time communications” seems to be the phrase of choice for many. I, for one, applaud the usage.

Read Dan’s post for another perspective on the acquisition.

Update: Phil Wolff at Skype Journal: Skype: New owners, new customers, new channels.

Full disclosure: The author is an involuntary participant in the Canada Pension Plan – a beneficiary of this acquisition. Now CPPIB is looking at investing in a retail chain called “99 cents” stores.

According to a report this evening out of Brussels at Financial Times’ FT.com, reporter Alex Barker states that Microsoft is to win approval of its acquisition of Skype with no conditions. No timing for an official announcement was given.

Basically the approval ignored “legacy” bundling complaints and Microsoft won its argument that the market has changed sufficiently where those old arguments no longer apply especially in consideration of Skype’s support for multiple platforms. (Maybe they also earned something by the market failure of their browserless Windows ruling a few years ago.)

The report goes on to state what Microsoft had promised, in terms of ongoing availability on other platforms, and deals with interoperability issues. Read the full Financial Times article linked above for details (a pay wall may apply).

Now we can look forward to seeing how Skype gets integrated with Office, especially Outlook and Lync as well as relevant Windows Live offerings.

Paul Korzeniowski at Redmond Channel Partner has offered his view on What the Acquisition Means for Microsoft’s UC Future and its potential impact on Windows Phone as well as the challenges that lay ahead for integration into Microsoft UC products. He outlines how Microsoft has failed to succeed in the real time communications space in spite of three different offerings over time and puts the issue as the complexity of working with these offerings: “The products involve a variety of components that need to be integrated, but often the IT staff only understands small pieces rather than the complete puzzle.”

In comparison he lauds Skype’s ease of deployment but also outlines that it will take some time to integrate what has been essentially a consumer product into Microsoft’s product lines. While he raises the security flag again, I guess he has not heard that security companies such as Check Point are using Skype heavily. Maybe Microsoft needs to recommend installation of CheckPoint products to totally clear the air.

He goes on to discuss the role Skype can bring to Microsoft through its participation across the mobile space and closes by mentioning the biggest asset Microsoft receives is Skype’s user base of over 170 million users monthly averaging out at 65 million users daily.

The bottom line challenge for Steve Ballmer and his team is to ensure Microsoft justifies through execution its $8.5B investment which will rely heavily on leveraging Skype into its product lines. We are seeing some sense of direction with respect to revenue generation with the inclusion of advertising in recent Skype client releases – it’s becoming either pay for some level of service or watch our ads.

The most interesting questions beyond integration into Microsoft offerings will be:

• the level to which Skype can encourage innovation through its developer partner programs and
• how Skype, under Microsoft with its huge enterprise customer base, leverages its way into the business market.

The next year will be interesting to observe Skype’s evolution as Microsoft’s first independent business unit and whether it can deliver on its claims in its application to the EU Competition Commission.

Final question: In a year’s time will Skype pass the “AmberMac” test?

Today Skype announced the release of Skype for Android 2.5 with support for 14 additional phones, taking the total of supported phones to 41. Notably, Skype for Android is now supporting five Motorola phones, the popular Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and LG Optimus models, including the LG Optimus Black that has a Skype edition for TELUS customers. A complete list of supported phones can be found on the Android Market (click on the “more” button).

Update Dec. 16, 2011: Skype released Skype for Android 2.6 which provides hotfixes for several issues reported by users.

Other notable features include:

• Enhanced video on several models: including switching between landscape and portrait mode and zooming in through a simple double tap on the screen; video calling enabled by default on more devices
• Improved support for Bluetooth headsets
• Revised user interface for message history
• Support for joining a (multi-party?) call
• Support for editing and deleting messages
• Advertising for non-paying subscribers, continuing a program previously announced for Skype for Mac 5.4, and Skype for iPhone/iPad 3.5.

In the direction towards a more common user interface across all Skype clients Skype’s Garage Blog elaborates on the “Revised user interface for message history”:

The main notable changes to the message history views are that we are now grouping the instant messages, calls, etc. all together. Skype 2.5 for Android works now exactly the same as your Skype on Windows or Mac already.

The Skype Garage Blog post also provides more details on the new features as well as a list of known issues. The one issue not mentioned is whether Skype is taking any initiative to improve the impact on battery life.

One caveat: for several of the models make sure you have the latest version of Android (2.2 or 2.3, as appropriate).

This release continues the recent stream of Skype upgrades where we are seeing enhanced video calling support and a move towards more consistency in the user interface across platforms, such as support for editing and removing messages.  But one cannot overlook the move towards more revenue generation through either advertising or encouraging purchase of Skype credit or a Skype calling plan subscription. Certainly the latter is helping to build value for the post-Microsoft acquisition days.

(Note there is a hotfilx upgrade for this version; more information here.)

Yesterday afternoon, for the first time, I was able to make a Skype-to-Skype call from my car using Skype for iPhone over a 3G/HSPA+ wireless service and the Bluetooth connection to my car audio system. I held a (legal) hands-free conversation with a contact in the U.K.; in fact at one point, while waiting to make a turn, I was able to use the rear-facing video camera for a few seconds where he saw, referring to the video quality, a “very fit” lady running down the sidewalk and across the intersection.

Yesterday Skype released new versions of Skype for iOS devices, namely Skype for iPhone and Skype for iPad. The main features promoted by Skype include anti-shake technology and the Bluetooth connectivity mentioned above. However, I also found a couple of additional changes:

• restoration of the ability to access the dial pad during a Skype-to-Skype call; this is necessary to work with PBX’s that can be called via a Skype for business SkypeID using Skype Connect.
• a new call management bar on Skype for iPhone that is more consistent with the call management bar on Skype for iPad and Skype for Mac.

While most of these are self-explanatory, the anti-shake technology probably is best explained through this video; basically it compensates for small movements of your hand while showing a video via the rear camera on the device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLKE58eA-S8

As mentioned above I made a Skype-to-Skype call from my car to a U.K.-based contact where:

• the Bluetooth connection using my car’s audio system for the speaker/mic worked quite well
• there was crystal clear audio due to the use of Skype’s SILK codec technology
• the other party confirmed that the anti-shake technology appeared to be working for the ~30 seconds when I could use the rear webcam while managing hands-free driving (that’s the law in Ontario)
• one could access the dial pad

Three screen shots to show how the new call management bar works:

• Clicking on the blue “+” icon, second from the right, provides access to the dialpad and chat session
• Selecting the dial pad brings up the dial pad shown
• Clicking on the video camera icon allows selection of the front- or rear-facing camera on the device.
• Clicking on the center icon, initial image above, allows selection of the device’s internal speaker/mic or an external earpiece/mic connected via the 3.5mm audio jack

Four other points to note:

• The new version delivers advertising if you don’t have Skype credit or a Skype Calling Plan subscription; this expands a policy launched with the release of Skype for Mac 5.4 two weeks ago.
• A security issue on Skype for iPhone has been addressed; probably the one reported last week.
• This upgrade supports iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, 2nd and 3rd Generation iPod Touch, and both iPad and iPad 2, running iOS 4.
• During an earlier call to the same Contact between his iPhone and my Skype for Windows, the video transmitted from my PC started out at VGA resolution but dropped down to 160 x 120 resolution, probably to match more closely the 192 x 144 resolution that the iPhone delivers for video calling.

Bottom line: Skype for iPhone 3.5 addresses some user feedback issues, especially when it comes to the Bluetooth connectivity as well as a couple of housekeeping issues that had arisen with previous versions. The new Call Management bar also provides more consistency although it would also be useful if one could see call connection quality information, such as has appeared in previous versions.

It’s not quite at the point where I could say “Call James B. on Skype” whereas, using my BlackBerry, I can say “Call James B. mobile” in a totally hands free way. I had to park the car to launch the call via the
Skype client; for most of the call the front-facing camera showed the retracted windshield shades. It would also certainly be useful to have a mounting bracket above the dashboard to hold the iPhone such that the rear camera can show where you are going during a video call; otherwise one needs a passenger to hold the phone safely.

Note: A few hours after the release was announced Skype came out with a notification that there were a couple of issues with respect to loading Skype contacts – which I’ve noticed – and showing Skype credit. While Skype has provided a work around involving uninstalling and reinstalling the application, we should be expecting a hotfix release in the next couple of days to address these issues. Update – 28/9 evening – the hotfix update that resolves the contact sync issue is now available.

Three months ago Skype and TELUS announced an agreement whereby TELUS Mobility, a Canadian carrier, would become proactive in supporting Skype through several initiatives:

• Providing full platform and customer support for the use of Skype on iPhones and Android phones
• Offering a Skype edition LG Optimus Black phone powered by Android with a pre-installed Skype client, support for Bluetooth connectivity and 60 minutes of SkypeOut calling
• Purchase of Skype credit in $5, $10 and $20 amounts charged to the customer’s TELUS account
• Offering Skype with TELUS’ Data Flex Plan whereby data charges are automatically incremented with increased usage. For instance, using <500MB in one month will cost $35 but using 1MB to 2MB in the subsequent month would cost $55.

Late last week I received promotional emails from Skype (in fact, one email for every Skype account registered in my name) that would appear to be going to Skype’s Canadian users. This is the first indication that TELUS is now executing on their agreement with Skype.

On scanning the TELUS Mobility website:

• Skype is proactively being promoted on any iPhone with iOS 4.0 and any Android phone with at least Android 2.1
• Skype credit can be purchased either from a telusmobility.com web page or via a text message that delivers the link for purchase.
• Skype effectively becomes the recommended international long distance service for any of the supported phones
• TELUS is deploying Skype on their 4G network with 21Mbps speeds, being upgraded in many locations to 42Mbps and LTE over the next few months. However, they expect users to see download speeds of 4-6 Mbps in practice.
• Skype is also being heavily promoted on their recently released Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate 4G running under Android 2.3. A $29.99 purchase price requires a minimum $50/month voice and data plan.

The one cautionary note is battery life. As mentioned in a previous post covering Skype for Android,  when running Skype, battery life can be shortened to as little as 3 to 4 hours. This is reinforced on some otherwise very favourable TELUS user comments on the Samsung Galaxy S phone (click on the Reviews tab):

It does have a good battery life, as long as you are closing your apps and other programs properly. Leave stuff open, watch too much video, use the camera, and other battery-draining apps, and yes you will run your battery dry in 1/2 a day. Use it in moderation, along with your casual texting and communication tasks and you will be fine for a day’s worth.

The combination of a 4G Samsung Galaxy S Android phone with Android 2.3 should be sufficient for making Skype video calls on the Fascinate 4G. However, as TELUS is effectively pre-installing a Skype client on these phones, they need to complete some testing and Android software upgrades before confirming that video calling works. In the meantime, if you are able to have a video call experience with either of these phones, please enter a Comment below. TELUS did inform me that video calling will work with the forthcoming 4G Samsung Galaxy S II X .

Skype’s support by TELUS is different from its previous offerings with Verizon in that TELUS is supporting a full Skype for Android peer-to-peer Skype client delivering Instant Messaging, participation in Skype multi-party calls and mood message – and it works over an LTE network. Based on other Skype for Android features it should include native address book integration; as discussed above it certainly has the potential to work with Skype video calling.

The initial Verizon service is a voice and Instant messaging service over a 3G network with no potential for video calling due to its underlying calling architecture which also requires gateway server overhead. On the other hand Verizon did announce plans, at CES, for offering new Android phones that would run Skype, including video calling, on their forthcoming LTE network. (But Andy Abramson seems to be having difficulty with video calling of any kind specifically on Verizon.)

Bottom line: TELUS is now offering full support of Skype on iOS devices and designated Android phones, where the latter is providing customers with a seamless path to both acquiring and sustaining Skype services. Provided they have an appropriate data plan users can make free voice (and video?) calls worldwide to their Skype contacts and low cost international calls to landlines and mobile phones worldwide.

For Skype it becomes another contribution to SkypeOut revenues; there is no mention of any royalty arrangements when it comes to revenues generated associated with the purchase of Skype-enabled Android phones. TELUS, as Canada’s third wireless carrier in subscriber base, demonstrates its aggressiveness once again through a unique offering in the Canadian market. While making it available to their existing customer base, time will tell if Skype support becomes a primary reason for adopting Skype; I have yet to see any TELUS advertising promoting  Skype.

Related articles

• Skype joins forces with TELUS to bring affordable international calling rates to customers in Canada (blogs.skype.com)
• Skype 2.1 for Android enables video on majority of Android devices (blogs.skype.com)

Today I came across a post by Tom Keating at TMCnet advising of a security vulnerability in Skype for iPhone 3.0.1 and possibly Skype for iPad if it is a full iOS issue. Dan York has subsequently written about it, including a statement from Skype:

We are working hard to fix this reported issue in our next planned release which we hope to roll out imminently. In the meantime, we always recommend people exercise caution in only accepting friend requests from people they know and practice common sense Internet security as always. [Author’s bold]

Both posts include a video demonstrating the vulnerability posted by the initial reporter of the vulnerability at the SUPEREVR Security Blog .

Bottom line is “know your contacts”. As Dan states:

Skype’s mitigation recommendation is a good one as the default privacy setting is typically that you can only receive chat messages from people on your Contact list. Therefore, the attacker would have to be someone who you have authorized and added to your contact list.

Hopefully we will see a new release of Skype for iPhone any day now and, if also affected, Skype for iPad. In the meantime “practice safe Skype” by knowing your contacts.

Over the past couple of years I have attended quarterly briefings given by CheckPoint Canada that give me some perspective on Internet security issues from a third party (relative to Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Skype, etc.) who understands not only the issues that challenge a business’s Internet security but also how they are changing over time. I’m more interested in the security issues overview and what business issues need to be considered and addressed, not the technology details. (I’ll trust CheckPoint’s sales results to be the guide as to their credibility.) CheckPoint Canada’s presentations are quite educational in this respect, in part due to the knowledge and passion of their lead technical resource for Canada.

At the most recent presentation two weeks ago I learned (i) about the evolution of CheckPoint’s new approach to addressing security at the enterprise level and (ii) about an experience that demonstrated one simple example of CheckPoint’s thoroughness at identifying and addressing Internet security issues at a personal engagement level.

In taking a new approach there are several changes in the business environment that challenge the ability of simple solutions such as firewalls and IP address identification to manage security, including intrusions such as malware and business data loss.

• Users have more than one device: a PC, a smartphone, maybe even a tablet.
• Employees need to be able to carry on personal activities, such as banking, from their place of employment
• this creates data privacy issues
• IP address-based policies no longer work – users no longer belong to one network.
• The emerging IPv6 standard means that it will become very difficult to track activity via a “single” IP address; also the IPv6 protocol is not a simple extension of IPv4’s nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn format.
• Security policies need to synchronize with a customer’s internal business processes as the priority.
• Use of collaboration tools and services is on the rise; not everyone is at one “secure” location.
• Security needs to address permission issues involving both websites and applications
• 189 new websites were created every minute in 2010
• The rise of video use for, say, marketing and support create bandwidth issues

Yet businesses obviously continue to seek protection against security breaches and data loss at minimal overhead and costs to the operation.

CheckPoint addresses these issues with a focus on the business’s policies, people (employees and contractors who need access) and enforcement as opposed to the underlying technology infrastructure. This is reflected in their unique ability to configure their installations to meet a business’s needs. In its infrastructure CheckPoint maintains a dynamically updated database of critical data.

In part CheckPoint addresses these issues through engagement of users as they attempt to visit a website or use an application:

• For instance, when accessing Facebook, a notification comes to the user advising of company policy and a warning about the information that cannot be shared on Facebook.
• Exceptions can be established to permit access to, say, an online banking site without inspecting data.
• All traffic is inspected to ensure SSL certification where appropriate.

One issue CheckPoint addresses is data loss prevention, both internally and externally. Here is one example of how CheckPoint has a significantly complete offering that provides a warning to the individual employee’s activity.

CheckPoint Canada’s Regional Security Engineering Manager was recently checking out one of Checkpoint’s new data loss prevention (“DLP”) tools on his home network (no, they do not have a home product, yet). He attempted to check into an Air Canada flight via the Air Canada application on his iPhone. But the DLP software identified an issue:

His personal information data – including his Aeroplan number – was going across the Internet to Air Canada as unencrypted clear text. Apparently doing an Air Canada check-in via their website is encrypted; however, until Air Canada addresses this issue for their iPhone application (they have been notified), Kellman will not be doing check-ins via his iPhone (and probably the same applies to their BlackBerry application).

Bottom Line: What I can say from the presentation is that CheckPoint has developed not only the technology expertise but also the business experience that addresses they dynamic nature of the Internet, its growth, its usage and its security threats while ensuring that individual users can be comfortable with their work and personal activities. As with business use of social media, engagement of the individual user is a key to their ongoing success. (And their recent sales growth is the best indicator of that success.)

One final comment: CheckPoint employees are heavy users of Skype and, in fact, CheckPoint has no qualms about allowing usage; in the case below, the CheckPoint customer is giving permission for its sales department to use Skype. I’ll have more to say in another post about Kellman’s use of Skype to keep in touch with his young family while having a heavy travel schedule across Canada and to CheckPoint’s headquarters in Israel.

In previous posts I have mentioned how the iPad is an ideal form factor for a “Desktop phone” experience, whether using CounterPath’s Bria, as a business phone extension, or Skype for iPad, targeted largely to the consumer and small business market. This is especially true for video calling where the 10” screen combined with the iPad’s portability is an ideal format.

Today at DEMO Fall 2011, a new player, but with lots of veteran IP-communications experience, announced their forthcoming entry into the fray with an offering targeted at the small-to-medium business and enterprise market. Hookflash has been designed from scratch to take full advantage of the iPad’s display format and touch screen features to provide a unique business class video calling experience.

According to Trent Johnsen, Hookflash’s CEO and co-Founder, in a press release today:

“With Hookflash, millions of iPad users will immediately have access to the powerful communication capabilities previously limited to expensive corporate telephone and video conferencing systems.  Leveraging the iPad’s size, touch-based controls and connectivity allowed us to create an integrated experience that will dramatically improve how people work.”

In addition, Hookflash will offer a docking station which hold the iPad but also provide a familiar phone handset for picking up the voice channel of a call. When away from the office, the iPad (say, with a mounting case) remains a convenient form factor for handling video calls.

Hookflash does not simply provide voice, video and chat support with a heavy focus on collaboration, including group video calling, but also leverages social networking tools to provide unique “participant profiles automatically created from information extracted from business and social networks — all seamlessly integrated within an intuitive interface.”

The touch screen user interface allows swipes to be use for activities such as exiting and entering a group video call without killing the conversation. There is also a feature where two video calls can be brought together.

Other features include:

• One-on-one and group video, voice and chat;
• View all active conversations in one place;
• Merge together or divide active group text, voice and video conversations, with a simple swipe of the finger;
• View real-time social and business profiles right inside Hookflash;
• Transfer calls at the click of a button;
• Record and share previously captured conversations–voice, video and chat.

In effect Hookflash proposes to offer a social media-enhanced business video calling experience where participant background, through social networking services and contact information, is available by simply by touching on a participant’s picture. Hookflash’s key value-add appears to be the comprehensive user interface and its ability to quickly show participant information, merge calls, make call transfers, peer into the cloud for background information, and manage other aspects of the call, including recording for later recall.

But what are its chances for market adoption?

• Do business users want the level of information being offered? Can it become distracting to the call’s primary agenda?
• How will it build up a user base? Being targeted to the business and enterprise market requires management endorsement and support.
• What is the level of interoperability? Can multi-party call participants be brought in from, say, the PSTN or other platforms such as PC’s and smartphones?
• How quickly can it become available on other platforms? While certainly the iPad has had huge adoption, how soon will it be supported on other platforms that may be more convenient to some users?
• What are the demands on the network connection? Especially when it comes to considering 3G/LTE data plans and roaming charge issues?

While Hookflash looks to be an alternative to Skype here are some issues they need to address:

• the network effect. How will Hookflash build a user base or will it be restricted to participants within an individual business’s ecosystem?
• platforms: at the moment it requires all participants to have an iPad. While expansion to support iPhone is fairly obvious, what about PC’s, Android devices, TV’s?
• what will the Microsoft acquisition of Skype bring to the table in terms of offerings for the small-to-medium business and enterprise market? Not to mention that Microsoft has already built up a significant business and enterprise customer base.

And finally, where is the revenue model? According to their Home Page “Hookflash for iPad is a free communications app that makes working together easy.” In the long term “free” does not pay the bills.

From reviewing their website, which appears to be incomplete at this point (the video and trial “sign up” is not available for instance), Hookflash overlays social networking for contextual information about participants, end-to-end call management (set up –> call with management –> archiving) and integration with other key services (Outlook Calendar, YouTube, Plancast) onto an open source peer-to-peer voice, video and text chat communications platform. It really remains to see it in action to determine its ease of use, level of market adoption and potential for revenue generation.

Bottom line: based on the limited information available Hookflash layers significant user interface features onto voice, video and text conversations. However, given Skype’s network effect and broad platform support, I can see Hookflash being considered as an acquisition by a post-Microsoft acquisition Skype business unit to provide a richer video calling experience.

Related articles

• Demo: Hookflash aims to make phone calls at work more productive (venturebeat.com)

On Friday PamConsult released PamFax for iPad, providing access to PamFax services from the most natural platform format for replacing a fax machine (or the fax feature of an All-in-One Printer).

In practice PamConsult, publisher of PamFax, actually released a new version of PamFax for iOS 4 with sensitivity to whether on an iPhone or iPad when displaying the user interface. The iPad version, which displays most completely in landscape mode, takes advantage of the iPad display size to present extra user guidance information on launching the application:

PamFax for iPad follows the usual five or six steps inherent to the PamFax sending process:

• selecting files (from the iPad – including photos, Dropbox, Google Docs or Box.net),
• entering a destination fax number (manual entry or from iPad Contacts),
• optionally selecting a cover page
• selecting fax progress and delivery notifications (via email, Skype Chat and/or SMS)
• checking for PamFax credits and
• submitting a fax for delivery.

In lieu of accessing the PamFax user portal, the Folders, Buy PamFax Credit and Settings buttons shown above take over the primary functions of the PamFax portal. For instance the Folders tab offers a menu for access to an Inbox, Outbox, Sent and Trash-bin folders.

Each of the folders provides almost instantaneous access to individual faxes and the ability to easily view them. In fact, I find this process easier than accessing them via the web-based PamFax user portal (although they are also available there).

It’s fast on delivery: On my test fax – with all steps handled on the iPad — (selected a file from a Dropbox folder, added a cover page, sent the file to my PamFax Inbound number and viewed the resulting file in PamFax Inbox – another Dropbox folder), the time between Sending the fax and Receiving it in the Inbox was somewhat less than a minute. This reflects recent “Summer Release 2011” to the PamFax “Back office” infrastructure that has significantly improved fax delivery speed. As is normal with any PamFax transmission, notifications can be sent via email, Skype chat and/or SMS messages.

Bottom Line: at this point I am cancelling my Bell Canada fax line and using my iPad as my primary fax “machine”. The only feature for which I need a PC are the scanner on my All-in-One multifunction scanner/printer for importing original document scans; in that case I can use PamFax on my PC or MacBook Pro for sending these faxes.

I am replacing a $15/month phone line with an all-inclusive $8.70 per month Professional Plan service, including 20 free faxes per month and ongoing archival fax storage, and low “per page” charges for sending additional fax pages (in lieu of using Bell Canada long distance for sending faxes internationally). A Basic Plan and Pay-As-You-Go On Demand service are also available.

Now if PamFax could just add a SkypeOut link to the “Remove this number from our Fax list” number at the bottom of every “spam” fax.

Voice On The Web’s Skype Reference Guide, under Hosted Services, provides a complete overview of PamFax: Obligation-Free Fax Worldwide On Demand.

Full disclosure: while the author has purchased a PamFax subscription (and cancelled a phone line for fax use), some links on this page lead to participation in the PamFax affiliate program.

Related articles

• Whither Skype Extras Today? Withered? (voiceontheweb.biz)

Since the launch of Skype for iPhone over WiFi connections more than two years ago, Skype has evolved its mobile offerings to add support for calling over 3G and video calling. They have added to the mobile platforms with Skype for Android and Skype for iPad. However, Skype is also recognizing that, while the basic Skype algorithm for text, voice and video conversations certainly has a significant role in mobile communications, users also want to go beyond that basic algorithm with supporting and managing persistent video messaging and group communications.

Skype’s acquisition of Qik and the subsequent offerings on iPhone and Android was the first step in this direction offering not simply live communications but also video messaging and archiving for later recall. Yesterday Skype recognized the potential role of persistent group communications with its acquisition of GroupMe, providing managed and hosted group messaging services on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 7 platforms. According to Skype CEO Tony Bates:

The GroupMe team has created an incredibly sticky group messaging experience that works across mobile devices and platforms, making it a perfect addition to our voice, video and text products. We’re excited about introducing their disruptive product to our global user base.

There has been a plethora of text messaging services emerging over the past year or so. Kik Messenger, Beluga and TextMe are three platforms where I installed the application, signed up but have never used it. Why? While initially they are widely praised for their algorithms, the bottom line is the number of users who are actually using it. RIM continues to build a lot of its appeal around BlackBerry Messenger; they have over 40 million accounts.

With Skype’s acquisition, GroupMe will soon have access to over 170 million users (they need to transition from their Twilio backend). Only then will we see if this has become a significant acquisition for Skype.

Other questions:

• Can and, if yes, how will Skype monetize the service?
• How will GroupMe be positioned with respect to any Microsoft offerings such as Live Messenger?

As with Qik, Skype intends to continue GroupMe as a separate branded service with integration into other products and services as appropriate.

The challenges for GroupMe now becomes one of integrating the Skype technology into its backend and then building user experiences that encourage viral adoption and sustained usage across Skype’s 170 million users. The challenge for Skype is one of positioning and promoting GroupMe such that it contributes to Microsoft’s justification for its pending $8.5B acquisition of Skype.

Other posts:

• Skype Journal: Skype to buy GroupMe texting service.
• GigaOm: Why Skype bought GroupMe and why it isn’t enough
• TechCrunch: Skype To Acquire Year-old Group Messaging Service GroupMe
• VoIP Watch: Skype Buys GroupMe

Recently a couple of acquaintances who were leaving for Europe asked me whether they could use Skype for iPhone for “free” calling. The bad news: with high data roaming charges when outside the country on “foreign” 3G/LTE carriers, using Skype for iPhone  has the potential to double the cost of their trip and create “bill shock” on returning home. The good news: put the iPhone (or iPad) in Airplane mode and take advantage of the rapid and pervasive growth of WiFi access points worldwide.

Skype for iPhone (and Skype for iPad) over 3G/LTE uses the carrier’s data, not voice, channel. At a minimum of $3.00/MB (if on a roaming data plan), one needs to make use of the stealth carrier, WiFi. And, if free WiFi is not available, use a service with a per minute connection charge without any data limit.

But how to find a WiFi access point?

Hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, airports, train stations and offices will tend to have WiFi access points. Some will be free, some will require a subscription service such as Boingo and some hotels may charge daily fees for WiFi access. Some airports will provide access via wireless services, such as T-Mobile WiFi at Frankfurt and Munich airports, at an hourly or daily rate.

One alternative, if you are a Skype user and have bought Skype credit, is to check out the availability of a Skype WiFi access point (formerly called Skype Access).

The bad news – yes it has a charge starting at US$0.06/4p/€0,05 per minute (may vary by WiFi operator) but you are only charged for connected minutes with no limits on the amount of data transmitted. Instead of being charged for 20MB of data for a 10 to 15 minute Skype call at, say, Rogers’ @$5.00/MB data roaming charge (total $100), you can pay as little as under $1.00 for the same call.

And Skype WiFi can also be used to check out Twitter, Facebook or some web browsing activity.

But where does Skype for iPhone/iPad come into play? Skype has announced the launch of an iPhone/IPad application, Skype WiFi, which will provide access to Skype WiFi access points at the same rate. Skype WiFi, the application, is available via the Apple App Store. Simply login and Skype WiFi is active; you will see a notification if you are near a supported access point – along with the charge for using the access point.

As stated by Skype WiFi Product Manager, Shadi Mahassel:

With the new Skype WiFi app, you can go online on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (running iOS 4.1 or above with multitasking) at over 1 million WiFi hotspots around the world, including hotels, airports, train stations, convention centres, bars and restaurants. And with Skype Credit you only pay for the minutes you use. So, there’s no need to buy an hour or day WiFi voucher if you’re only looking to check your email or make a quick Skype call.

One caution: be careful to only open Skype for iPhone when you really need it; otherwise, especially if you have a large number of Skype contacts, you could drain your battery in 3 to 4 hours. (With experience to date, battery drain has not been an issue when using Skype for iPad.)

Bottom line: The service now called Skype WiFi (formerly  Skype Access) provides not only a “last resort” WiFi access service but also can significantly reduce the cost of making “otherwise free” Skype-to-Skype calls while bypassing wireless carrier roaming charges. The iOS application called Skype WiFi extends this access service to use on iPhone and iPad.

Note that from 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, August 19 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, August 21 you can try out Skype WiFi for 60 minutes at no charge. Otherwise you will need Skype credit to use the service.

When will we be seeing a similar application for Android phones?

And with a 6GB per month data plan, I’ll continue to use Skype for iPhone or Skype for iPad on my “home” Rogers 3G/HSPA+/LTE service.

Great video quality on trial call; however, battery life issues continue to dog Skype on mobile smartphones.

Yesterday Skype announced the release of Skype for Android 2.0 introducing two-way video calling and SMS messaging into the Skype for Android feature set. It also introduces a new user interface running on phones with Android 2.3 or later and a front-facing camera,  including HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S.

Most importantly it allows video calling with Skype users on the iPhone (3.0 or later), Mac (5.0 or later), Windows PCs (4.2 or later), other Android phones and Skype-enabled TV’s and BluRay players. Calls can be made over WiFi or 3G connections. More details are in the Skype Garage Blog post here.

Not having an appropriate phone I went to two acquaintances with access to the Google Nexus 5 for their feedback. First I made a contact with an acquaintance at his office in London, UK from my MacBook using Skype for Mac 5.1 – over WiFi connections at both ends. Rather than a production quality interview it’s more of an exercise in testing out various features of the new version as he wanders about his office, especially when it comes to making a video call. Here’s an edited version of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zXsWZf9hos

Note that, aside from excellent video quality, the image, as observed from the Technical Call Info detail, was 320 x 240 running up to 17 fps, the camera was able to adapt to both focal range and ambient lighting conditions. Overall it was a more than acceptable quality call. While the demonstration includes switching between the front-facing and rear camera, it was not accelerometer sensitive, in that one could not invert the phone with an inversion of the image. While I did not check during the call, one would assume it uses Skype’s superwideband SILK codec; certainly the crisp audio was there.

Initially there was a question of whether Skype for Android 2.0 could support multi-party Group Chat. “Eventually” is the answer in that once you sign in, it can take 15 to 30 minutes to catch up with all the recent messages in a fairly active group chat. But this is the same experience as with Skype for iPhone.

Another acquaintance, the developer of this website, is a big fan of the Google Nexus S and ran a battery test with this result:

Greatly improved UI but battery issues persist. I started it at 2:00pm with a full charge, by 8:00pm the phone was dead. It was pretty much sitting idle the whole time. Android reports it taking up 16% of the battery usage when running in the background (second only to the display). Disappointing… I wish I could use it.

No great surprise, given the battery experience when running Skype for iPhone. Once again, Skype provides a Skype client on a mobile device where you need to open and close Skype only when you really need it. Certainly, if one could have a Contact group (Mac) or category (Windows) comprising only those contacts whom the user deems critical for mobile Skype calling, it may help to reduced battery draining presence activity for users with over 50 contacts.

Here’s the Skype video demonstration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o6TBezfSpU

Bottom line; While delivering a more than acceptable qualityvideo calling experience with higher resolution than Skype for iPhone (320 x 240 vs 160 x 120) along with the voice calling, chat, presence and mood message features of Skype, battery drain continues to be an issue. The solution: only have Skype for Android open when necessary, keep it near a charger or find an extended battery accessory for the phone (similar to what FastMac has for iPhone).

Yesterday came the first firm indications of the imminent arrival of Skype for iPad. It’s been hotly sought out in Google searches and Skype users have long regarded Skype for iPhone as somewhat pathetic when running on an iPad, especially in 2x mode.  With the iPad’s much larger display and, with iPad 2, its video features a dedicated Skype for iPad offers interesting possibilities, especially for turning an iPad into a unique video phone. The first indication of its appearance was this video on MacRumors where someone had captured a temporary YouTube placement by Skype:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5G_CkPfDOU

Then came the review on CNET; this post on TUAW provides comments from an interview with Rick Osterloh, Skype Head of Consumer Product Management. But I had my first interview about Skype for iPad with Neil Stevens, Skype’s Vice President and General Manager for Consumer at CES last January. The main takeaway from that interview: Skype has hired a user interface expert to design the UI for Skype for iPad. Skype wanted to get a fresh approach to the user experience.

Some comments re Skype for iPad:

• Initial response to the video have been positive about the user experience; however, we all need to try it out ourselves.
• With Skype Everywhere – on PC’s, iPhone, Android, TV sets and BluRay players – and the ability to call the PSTN worlwide – it’s not really competition for FaceTime but rather establishes the standards benchmark for cross platform video and voice calling.
• Having had an iPad for six months, it has become, as predicted at the time of the initial iPad announcement, my electronic briefcase. I rarely take a briefcase or even my Macbook when out of my home office, just the iPad. Applications such as Skype for iPad (and even Facetime) are an extension of the iPad’s functionality “beyond the briefcase” into user engagement. (Although I do seem to recall often carrying my mobile phone in my briefcase.)
• The tablet provides an ideal form factor and display size for a video call on a mobile device; easily carried about; no squinting to see the video (unless in direct sunlight). With its much larger battery, it will be interesting to see Skype for iPad’s impact on battery life. Once experienced by consumers Skype for iPad could help accelerate iPad 2’s sales growth.
• The cnet review, linked above, covered Skype for iPad’s performance over WiFi (excellent) and 3G (good enough). However, recently I dropped my iPad 3G subscription with Rogers when iOS4 became available on my iPhone. When I want to connect my iPad over a 3G connection, I simply turn on the iPhone’s Personal Hotspot and use the iPad’s WiFi via the Personal Hotspot as my only Internet connection. It will be interesting to test reception of a video call on my “original” iPad over this connection.
• While obviously the audio can be handled over the iPad’s 3.5mm audio jack, it should also work with USB headsets via the iPad’s Camera Connection kit as the USB adapter.
• One key assumption: given the support on Skype for iPhone, Skype for iPad should be expected to supports Skype’s SILK codec on Skype-to-Skype calls.

Finally, if I had an iPad 2 I could see making the iPad as my primary Skype device. It won’t be hindered by having multiple applications running as on a PC and it’s a very convenient overall form factor. And it’s easily portable with no cables attached. In fact it becomes closer to a large desktop phone (for the same reasons Bria for iPad can become a business desktop phone replacement). Let’s come to that decision once we’ve had actual experience with Skype for iPad.

Hopefully, as rumored, we’ll see Skype for iPad become available about the same time as Skype’s Jonathan Christensen speaks on Tuesday at eComm America 2011.

Final question: is there a hint there of having the same call bar as Skype 5.5 beta for Windows? That would be a contributor to consistency in the user interface.

Related articles

• Skype for iPad coming next week? (intomobile.com)
• Bria for iPad: Putting an IP Phone on the iPad (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Using Skype on iPad – Helping Navigate Canada’s Newest Air Travel Service (voiceontheweb.pmlo.org)
• Skype is coming to the iPad (gigaom.com)

Last week Skype and TELUS Mobility announced an agreement, where Canada’s third largest national wireless carrier will be closely working with Skype for free Skype-to-Skype and low cost SkypeOut international calling. While Canadians can use Skype for iPhone and Skype for Android on any Canadian carrier offering iPhone and Android phones, this agreement represents the first formal agreement between Skype and a Canadian wireless carrier with value-added services.

To give some background, both TELUS Mobility and Bell Mobility were spinoffs of legacy landline carriers where TELUS covers British Columbia and Alberta while Bell covers Ontario and Quebec. Since their respective cellular networks commenced operations back in the mid-1980’s , both have expanded to cover the entire county for wireless services; in TELUS’ case they acquired a major Bell/Rogers competitor who covered Ontario and Quebec.

However, whereas Rogers, the leading national carrier has always supported GSM protocols, TELUS and Bell both launched their services using the CDMA protocols (a la Verizon and Sprint in the U.S.). The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where Bell Canada was the “official carrier”, was the stimulus for Bell Canada to upgrade their network to GSM-compatible HSPA+ service in November 2009.

But this is a large country, 90% of the Canadian population lives within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of the 6,000 km (4,000 mile) U.S.-Canada border. So the capital cost for a new network infrastructure, so long yet so narrow, runs up quickly. As a result Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility partnered to build one 4G/HSPA+ network infrastructure to support the two retail operations. One ironic twist is that, at the time of the network’s launch in the fall of 2009, Bell and TELUS both launched an offering for the iPhone 3G S (and later iPhone 4) which already had support for HSPA+.

Launch of this network broke not only the Rogers Canadian monopoly on the Canadian iPhone franchise but also its monopoly on international roaming for visitors to Canada (since most of the world’s carriers supported GSM). There also occurred some legal and regulatory battles (Bell/TELUS vs Rogers) over the promotion of each network’s speed ; effectively they ended up in a draw. (Note also that Canada’s two legacy CDMA carriers were offering iPhone a year before Verizon could launch a CDMA-compliant iPhone in the U.S. market.)

From its launch in late 2009, TELUS has called their network a 4G 21Mbps network, with a speed increase to 42Mbps this year and plans to go to 4G/LTE “coming soon”. So they certainly have the data speeds required to support Skype calls over a data network using a native carrier-agnostic Skype client.

Under the leadership of CEO Darren Entwistle TELUS has been noted for aggressive, “outside-the-box” marketing initiatives that appeal especially to a younger demographic . The most recent example occurred earlier this week when, following release of a OECD report pointing out that Canadian carriers had some of the highest international roaming charges anywhere, TELUS came back immediately announcing they would be reviewing their roaming plans with a view to lowering roaming costs.

Upon reviewing the Skype/TELUS press release, along with responses to some questions I posed to Skype’s PR agency, here is how I see the positioning of the service:

• TELUS customers will be using Skype for iPhone and Skype for Android installed on the relevant devices via downloads from the respective application stores or via the web at skype.com/m.
• TELUS will be reinforcing the customer experience by providing enhanced customer support for TELUS customers using Skype on their smartphones
• Skype Credit can be purchased directly from the TELUS customer’s mobile phone with the transaction billed to his/her TELUS account
• A Skype edition LG Optimus Black phone will be launched in July by TELUS to give customers easy access to Skype through a pre-installed icon on the home screen, a detailed “getting started” guide, and Skype Credit to begin making calls to landline and mobile phones immediately
• TELUS customers will be able to make free Skype-to-Skype calls worldwide as well as use Skype’s Instant Messaging presence and chat features.
• TELUS  customers will be able to make calls to landlines outside Canada (and mobile phones in countries where phone owner pays for inbound calls) using either Skype Calling Plan subscriptions or Skype Credit on a pay-as-you-go basis.
• Carrier data charges will apply when used over the 4 G network. TELUS recommends a Data Flex plan or Wi-Fi connection when making Skype calls (according to the TELUS website)
• The Android-based LG phone will support Bluetooth connectivity (not available with Skype for iPhone currently)

Here’s my take on the announcement:

• This is Skype’s first carrier arrangement involving carrier-endorsed support of the native Skype client on a mobile smartphone as compared to the carrier-specific “Skype mobile” arrangements with Verizon and 3.
• It’s a major marketing move by TELUS to associate itself with leading edge services without the need for any major capital equipment costs (such as “Skype mobile” gateway servers) other than those already planned for their 4G evolution.
  • There are ongoing operations costs for TELUS involving marketing and customer support.
  • Skype does not have to develop a carrier-specific application for these services
• Skype’s significant data requirements will drive demand for TELUS data plan subscriptions and ARPU when the customer is making calls, including Skype-to-Skype calls, from within Canada.
• For the supported smartphones Skype basically takes over TELUS’s responsibility for managing TELUS Mobility’s international calling with Skype revenues coming from Skype Calling Plan subscriptions and Skype Credits required to make international calls to the PSTN.
• One would have to assume the above two revenue drivers would incorporate revenue sharing between TELUS and Skype.
  • Question: are there any Skype software royalties involved based on customer revenues?
• Will the LG Skypephone support Skype mobile Video that was announced for Verizon at CES 2011 or an equivalent service?
• When roaming internationally, it would be wise to turn off 3G/4G and only make Skype calls from WiFi connections in hotels, airports, restaurants, offices and other WiFi hotspots – which are quite prevalent in Europe from my own experience over the past two years.
  • Is WiFi growing as a Stealth Carrier? Can it be a viable alternative to roaming charges?
• Skype-to-Skype messaging will certainly impact TELUS revenues for SMS text messaging services but Apple’s recent iMessage announcement will probably have an even larger impact on carrier SMS messaging revenues
• With no native Skype for BlackBerry application, TELUS’s Skype service will not be available to their BlackBerry customers.

One final but very important concern: will the supported phones have enough battery life to support this initiative? I have covered this issue previously with some suggestions.

And one irony: While there are no Canadian Skype Online numbers available due to a conflict between a regulatory issue and Skype’s past policies re e911 services, TELUS Mobility customers can now set up as many as ten Skype Online numbers in any of the 26 countries (U.S., U.K. included) where Skype Online numbers are available. Calling a “local” Skype Online number in those countries, an “expat” relative or overseas customer can reach a TELUS Mobility customer via Skype on a call that would have no termination charge revenue for TELUS.

Bottom line: Skype is once again being endorsed for its ability to be a marketing tool that attracts a younger “always-on” demographic seeking lower cost communications and new communications services. Skype is a service that has a low implementation cost for TELUS while taking advantage of their higher speed network, yet expands TELUS’s appeal to a country where international communications plays a significant role not only for business but also for the various ethnic communities that want to keep in touch with relatives and friends in their country of ethnic origin.

We look forward to following its actual implementation, especially the launch of the LG Skypephone and its feature set, over the next couple of months.