Recently Skype has participated in several technology sharing activities with Facebook: Facebook Video Calls, Facebook Chat sessions through the Skype client, a Facebook news feed on the Skype client home page and most recently video calls from the Skype client to your Facebook Friends.

However, until now Skype has been somewhat weak on using Facebook for social networking’s real power – user engagement. Even so over 5,000,000 Facebook users had “Liked” Skype’s Facebook site.

Three weeks ago Skype launched its new Facebook Fan Pages site with a focus on building user engagement. According to Jennifer Caulkin, Skype’s Social Networking Manager,

“We revamped the Skype page on Facebook because its about engagement with our fans.  We want to give them compelling content, access to product information, the latest Skype download, exclusive deals, unique promotions and fun stuff.”

One of Skype’s marketing challenges is to make users more aware of Skype’s broad feature set beyond basic voice and video calling. Skype’s Facebook page is one step in this direction with its focus on allowing users to more readily learn about these activities, experience some Skype features and provide feedback.

Several new tabs have been added (click on”More” to see all tabs). For instance, Skype  and Facebook provides a promotional video about using Facebook from the most recent versions of the Skype for Windows/Mac clients. “Stellar Deals” describes a few “bundle” packages involving hardware and Skype calling plan subscriptions. (However, would be more useful to have these specials offered beyond the U.S.)

Say It With Skype provides a way to experience Skype Group Video calling by using Skype Group Video to send a birthday greeting. More on this in a post to follow.

Much of Skype’s Facebook site is promotional, encouraging use of services, purchases and having fun. However, here’s where the reality hits the fan: the Facebook Support tab is one channel for entering issues with using Skype. When an entry is made onto the Support tab it is immediately also copied over to Skype’s new Community Forum for a response. Replies posted to the item in the Community Forum are then also copied back to the Facebook Support page. Click on the tabs below to see how one entry is mirrored on the two support venues.

Skype Support Channels - An Example Entry

• Facebook Support Page
• Skype Community Forum

Basically the Community Forum mirrors any entries on the Facebook Support page where Skype personnel and Community Forum members can respond to an issue.

Eventually it will also be possible to post Replies directly onto the Facebook Support page; however, due to a recent change in Facebook’s requirements for Fan Pages, Skype is working on the adjustment required to adhere to Facebook’s new policy re Fan Page security.

Bottom line: many businesses are feeling their way to determine how Facebook’s Fan Pages can be used for user engagement and as a marketing tool. While there is certainly going to be a lot of self-promotion, providing opportunities for customer participation or user feedback is critical to maintaining the integrity and credibility of Facebook Fan Pages and, most importantly, repeat visits. Only time will tell how successful Skype can be with their Facebook presence but at least there is now a concerted focus on engaging users through social networking activities.

Related articles

• Skype Now Using “@SkypeSupport” on Twitter (disruptivetelephony.com)

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.

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.

Not all PC’s were created equal! With its level of popularity and 170 million monthly active users, there are going to be almost 170 million different PC and device configurations on which Skype is installed. Supporting a software application on this many configurations across 27 languages can be a challenge, especially when working across many versions of Windows and Mac OS/X as well as the various hardware peripherals (headsets, webcams, phones, etc.) that can be incorporated into these configurations.

While Skype does a major effort at checking out its releases such that it installs easily and works “out-of-the box” there are always a few configurations that present a challenge. Add into this mix the variety or ways one can connect to the Internet and an additional series of challenges arise. (Full disclosure: the author at one time managed a support operation for a top-selling utility product that would disclose all the “sins” of PC’s configured with DOS and early versions of Windows. Been there; done that!)

Over the past eight years the Skype Forum has been a hotbed for users to air issues and get assistance from either other Skype users or Skype personnel. About a month ago Skype announced its intention to replace the Forum by launching a beta version of a new Skype Community Support Network with improved infrastructure and navigation for reporting issues and obtaining responses.

Offering support in eight languages, it is still supported by many of those, including Skype enthusiasts, often designated as Moderator or Super User, who have provided much of the support in the past. Since its launch as a beta over a month ago, it has once again evolved into an very active forum for reporting and resolving issues with using Skype.

Earlier this week Skype announced the availability of support via Skype’s Facebook account page:

We think there is a big appetite for information about Skype, and Skype Support Network was created in direct response to that. Having this information available within our Support Network and extended to various social media channels, such as Facebook, is part of our efforts to engage customers and help them access information they need. So, feel free to ask us a question or search our community for answers right from within Facebook or visit us at the Skype Support Network.

Again it’s shown as a “beta” but there is certainly no lack of queries in its first few days:

Bottom Line: one more resource for discussing any issues arising from using Skype. While Skype employees are tracking and responding, one must also recognize and appreciate those many Skype enthusiasts who voluntarily supply their support to these forums. Without them these forums would not be nearly as effective.

Related articles

• Skype 5.5 for Windows: Deeper Facebook, New Emoticons and More (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Skype Opens Its Walls A Bit? Lets You IM Facebook Users Just Like Skype Users (disruptivetelephony.com)

Yesterday Skype released the “Gold” or “user” version of Skype 5.5 for Windows. Many of the features, including the Facebook integration, were discussed in Skype for Windows 5.5 beta: First Impressions with Facebook Integration and Skype for Windows 5.5 beta: The Call Bar. In the final release these have been enhanced; at the same time Skype introduced some amusing new emoticons – some in the emoticon table for the chat message; others are “hidden”.

As for the complete new feature set, according to Raul Liive, Skype’s Beta Program Manager, it includes:

• Skype to Facebook instant messaging (enhanced from beta)
• New and updated emoticons (new)
• New login experience
• Improved call controls (modified from beta)
• Improved video calling reliability (yes!)
• Simplified installer flow (only three splash screens)
• Avatar selection improved
• Video snapshot capture improvements
• Changed group conversations profile area:
• 
• Plus several bug fixes

Facebook Enhancements: In the beta there was little to identify whether you were in a chat session with a Contact’s Skype chat or Facebook chat. With this release, the Facebook icon appears at the top of the conversation pane. However, confusion can still arise. In the Contacts pane “Recent” tab there is no way to identify whether one would be communicating with the Skype chat or Facebook chat. Product management is probably conflicted because they also want to show the contact’s presence information … maybe a blue icon for Facebook chat presence would help.

Notice also that if you are in the Contacts Facebook chat conversation, the call bar only allows you to call PSTN numbers (via SkypeOut) but not place a Skype-to-Skype call, as would be expected. You can still set up a conference call and monitor your hardware and network conditions via the call bar.

Finally the Facebook news feed content has been moved to the Skype client Home Page tab (no longer a separate tab) but still continues to show the profile pictures (avatars) for the most contacted Contacts (either through calls or chat sessions).

• When you enter a Mood Message on the Home Page tab, there is an option to share the message on your Facebook news feed.
• Running your cursor over any of the Skype profile pictures along the top row or a Facebook message will bring up a Call button which can launch either a Skype-to-Skype call or a SkypeOut call with the Contact.
• You can “Like” a Facebook message and/or add a Comment

It will be interesting to see how the various calling services evolve in both the Skype client and Facebook itself as Skype’s integration into Facebook deepens beyond the initial Facebook Video Calling introduced three weeks ago. Dan York adds his comments on the implications of the Facebook Chat integration in Skype Opens Its Walls A Bit? Lets You IM Facebook Users Just Like Skype Users.

Emoticons: not something I used a lot but I can see using them more often; when appropriate in the context of a chat session I might use only a few of the emoticons. However, today Skype introduced several new emoticons as shown on the right. Most amusing is the “wfh”, a hidden icon that I can see many users in today’s virtual commuting world having an association with (although more often in their Skype Mood Message).

Skype has several hidden icons, as shown on the left – sometimes called “Easter eggs”. I’ll not give the shortcodes but many of them can be implied from the name. “Working from Home” is very dynamic rotating between the two images shown in this graphic. For those who are totally puzzled and frustrated there is a hidden “wtf” button.

Suffice it to say that these icons have created much discussion and amusement today. Skype for Mac’s Chief Whining Officer, Dan York made himself heard arising out of our musings earlier today when the release was first announced. Let’s hope they appear in a forthcoming Skype for Mac release. Actually both sides of the conversation need to have Skype for Windows 5.5 “Gold” release in order to see these emoticons properly.

The Call Control Bar (or Call Navigation Bar) has been modified slightly. Most importantly it continues to offer the Call Quality Info feature – perhaps its most useful feature where you want to monitor and modify conditions during a call. Also very useful is the PopOut window during a video call which allows you to watch the video image while using other applications during a call.

And, talking about Video, over the past two weeks I have done a few Skype Group Video Calls with up to eight parties. Where this group had previously used a service where only the speaker’s video appeared (it was really a “push-to-talk” service) the dynamics of the group call change entirely when you have the many “ad hoc” features of a Skype Group Video call – chat window, identification of who is speaking, monitoring the network conditions .. even the network connection recovery feature has helped a few times. And, as it should, the technology stayed in the background relative to the conversation. (The call resulted in at least one Skype Premium subscription being picked up.)

Oh, and there’s lots of flexibility in sizing and placing the various participants’ images. As Raul noted in his post reference above:

In this version we have made numerous ‘under the hood’ updates to our video engine to improve its reliability. We have reduced the amount of graphic card resources needed for video calls and improved support for older cards, especially for users with SiS graphics cards.

Full disclosure: the Skype Group Chat is being hosted on a quad core PC with a 1.7 Mbps upload speed on the Internet connection.

Bottom line: Skype for Windows 5.5 “user release is a winner, most importantly because the client and technology is almost totally transparent to the conversation. The Facebook integration remains optional as to whether you use it (you simply can either not log into Facebook or log out of it if you find it not satisfactory). It still needs a bit of User Interface work to more readily identify whether you are chatting via Skype or Facebook. The emoticons can add some fun and excitement to the conversation (an picture is worth a thousand words sometimes) and have some amusing new additions. But experiencing the robustness of Skype Group Video Calling is perhaps it most innovative feature in terms of user benefit (even if Skype for Windows is still awaiting inclusion of the screen sharing feature recently introduced in Skype 5.2 for Mac).

Being the “Gold” or “ user” release, Skype for Windows will probably auto-update at some point. However, if it does not or you want to try it out now go to Help | Check for Updates or click here to access the download.

By the way notice that the Help Menu now includes a link to Skype’s Heartbeat page – not sure if this is new but worth drawing attention to, as one qick check on the service status. Don’t know if this arose out of the comments re Phil Wolff’s “Heartbeat” suggestion reference by Tony Bates in the Skype Journal interview at CES last January.

Release notes.

Related articles

• Skype for Windows version 5.5 update adds more Facebook features (digitaltrends.com)
• Facebook Video Chat – Powered by Skype: First Impressions (Voice On The Web)

Yesterday Skype launched Skype 5.5 beta for Windows whose main feature is deeper Facebook integration. But there were some other changes as well:

• changed Call Bar and the call control icons
• improved video calling reliability
• Changed group conversations profile area design
• New login window design
• Added a ability to start video calls via URI
• addressed several bug fixes

On the download page Skype does remind us:

Over the past few hours I have done some exploring and have noted:

Facebook integration:

The most obvious change is the new Facebook tab in the Contacts (left) pane. Only the selected tab shows the full name, such as “Facebook”; in this case the left icon represents “All Contacts” while the right icon represents “Recent” … showing recent contacts going backwards in time.

What changes is what occurs when you start to type a name into the Search bar; the Search bar finds all the Skype and Facebook contacts. In this case the top Contact shown is the Skype contact, while the second one is the Facebook contact. And the tabs themselves only show the three icons. But what happens when you go to the Facebook Contact?

Whereas from the Skype Contact you can call the Contact’s Skype account and any PSTN phone numbers on the Contact’s Skype Profile (or that you have manually entered locally into the Contact’s information), from the Facebook Contact you can only call any PSTN phone numbers in the Contacts Facebook profile. However, there is no way to add people or share files during a call even though the greyed-out buttons show up at the top of the Conversation pane. But the ability to call a Facebook contact on a mobile or landline number is one approach to encourage SkypeOut usage … using either a Skype Calling Plan or Skype Credit.

Here’s where it gets confusing: when you send a chat message to the Facebook contact (which goes to the other party’s Facebook chat and, if s/he is also a Skype contact, Skype chat) you set up one “Contact” in the Recent tabs. Then send a chat message directly to his/her Skype account, another “Contact” is set up in the Recent tab. But there is no way to differentiate the two; this is an issue that Skype is addressing in a future release (whether beta or final).

Messages sent from the Facebook Contact go to both the Contact’s Facebook chat window and the recipient’s Facebook chat pane in Skype. But not to the Contact’s Skype chat conversation, as expected. Bottom line is that Facebook Chat sessions and Skype chat sessions are independent. However, this feature is sufficient to eliminate the need for my Contact here to use Pidgeon to follow both Skype and Facebook chat sessions … one less client to take up desktop real estate (and CPU cycles).

There is an option to disable the Facebook Contacts tab; simply go to “Contacts | Hide Facebook Contacts.

The Facebook Wall Tab

The other major Facebook feature is the Facebook Wall tab:

Skype for Windows 5.5 - The Facebook Wall

Highlighted are:

• Enter a message to post to both your Skype Mood Message and, optionally, your Facebook wall
• Select whether you wish to view only the News feed from All your Facebook friends or simply those who are also Skype Contacts. (Alerts brings up Skype alerts such as subscription confirmations)
• Scroll over a Contact’s name to bring up the Call button from which you can launch either a Skype call or a SkypeOut call to the Contact.
• The small heart and cartoon bubble icons allow Facebook “Like” and Facebook “Comment” activity.

It’s optional as to whether you want to use the Facebook features; you need to log in to Facebook and do the usual “Facebook Connect” approval to get started; it’s not a default setting in Skype. If you want to log out of the Facebook connection, hit that little blue gear at the extreme middle right on the Facebook Wall.

Skype for Windows 5.5 - The Facebook Login

As I have over 250 Facebook “Friends” and over 500 Skype Contacts it took several minutes after logging into Facebook for the information to be synchronized and the Facebook News feed to appear.

Hide Facebook Contacts in the Contact Pane

Bottom line: Will I continue to use this? That will depend on how critical it becomes to my overall core Skype activity.

• For those who may be using a multi-IM service for chatting with both Facebook and Skype contacts, it is probably a benefit as they need to only chat through their Skype client.
• If I can contact my Skype contacts through Skype, do I really need another set of “the same” contacts to make voice calls via their Facebook information? Only if they have not entered PSTN numbers available in their Facebook profile but not in their Skype profile.
• Does the Facebook activity slow down my Skype activity? Only some experience will tell.
• The option is there to Hide Facebook links or even log out of your Facebook account authentication, should you find the feature of minimal use.

Remember, it’s beta; the good news about Skype for Windows betas is that they usually continues to offer the standard Skype voice, video and chat features reliably. It’s really the new features for which Skype wants feedback on the user experience.

In the next post I’ll talk about the changes to the call bar and its “control” icons.

And meanwhile we wait to see if Skype for Mac 5.thenext can bring some consistency with the Skype for Windows User Interface.

Related articles

• New improved Facebook view in Skype for Windows (blogs.skype.com)
• Skype delivers deeper Facebook integration (news.cnet.com)
• Your Skype is now a Facebook Chat Client (labnol.org)
• Why Skype just added deeper Facebook integration (gigaom.com)

While attending CES 2011 back in January, I spent an afternoon visiting the main television vendor floor where 3D TV was definitely the number one topic of interest; however, I found, and reported on, several vendors with display kiosks demonstrating Skype for TV.

Michael Wolf, at GigaOm’s NewTeeVee, recently brought renewed visibility to the Skype for TV initiative in his post: Could Skype Be Microsoft’s Smart TV Trojan Horse?.   Frankly, from my learnings that afternoon,  his view about a role for a Windows OS on TV’s is baseless; it pays to look at the hierarchy for enabling Internet services on the TV’s.

One common trend I observed in visiting these booths is that all the vendors have embedded as firmware a complete Internet-enabling smart platform that provides access to various “cloud” applications. Social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter are the most obvious. Amongst other applications are several involving movies, such as Netflix, and sports offerings, such as NHL and ESPN Sports Center.

Skype, of course, was on at least six vendor offerings, using its SkypeKit platform, initially available for the Linux OS. In fact, Panasonic includes a dedicated Skype button on the remote controller for their Skype-enabled TV’s and BluRay players.

Behind all this I learned how the TV vendors are embedding these platforms. It’s a case of having the platform software embedded into the TV’s firmware and hardware, then layering the applications on top of the platform. Given that SkypeKit is behind Skype for TV it appears that they are using a Linux-based operating system. Certainly there is no room, given the current state of these offerings and time frames involved, for an embedded Windows.

On the other hand Skype for TV will bring to Microsoft exposure to experience with integrating applications onto these platforms. Windows Live services would be an obvious candidate for integration into these TV platforms. After all we do have Windows Live Messenger access on various smartphone platforms such as BlackBerry and iOS4.

And one should never lose sight of the network effect. Skype for TV video calls can be made to over 170 million active users who may be on any of several platforms – PC’s, iPhones, Android phones. One of my first benchmarks for how Microsoft will deal with its Skype acquisition would be the introduction of a unique Skype for iPad. This would be an application that would allow video calling on the iPad 2 taking full advantage of the iPad 2’s display size. It has nothing to do with Windows or Office but rather providing new user experiences using resources at hand.

Bottom line: It’s not a case of will Microsoft attempt to displace other OS’s on TV platforms with a derivative of Windows – that opportunity has passed them by. But rather the strategic opportunity lies in merging Skype’s experience with introducing a real time communications application onto TV platforms with Microsoft’s existing Windows Live experience on other platforms.

Michael also questions whether Google TV will be a competitor. In the end consumers want as few boxes as possible combined with ease of operation. If all the services, broadcast TV and Internet applications can come via one “box” the market for add-on boxes on home entertainment systems will eventually evaporate. How many HDMI connections will be tolerated by the average consumer?

Related articles

• Microsoft Acquires Skype – The “Amber Mac Test” (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Microsoft Acquires Skype – A Most Interesting Marriage (voiceontheweb.biz)
• The End of the “Skype as Bandit” Era (disruptivetelephony.com)

Tuesday’s announcement of the pending Microsoft acquisition of Skype has certainly drawn a complete spectrum of comments, feedback and posts. They range from Microsoft’s perception as doomsday venom for an acquisition’s products and services to praise for the potential to merge two complementary software companies that allow not only the continuation of the current service but also leveraging real time conversation features and technology into Microsoft’s existing platforms and products.

But the bottom line is that over 170 million people have actively been using Skype this year. As reinforced at the acquisition press conference, any move that would threaten or inhibit those users’ ability to continue using Skype would not help Microsoft’s bottom line. Thus, for instance, the ongoing support of Skype clients for Mac OS/X, iOS4 handheld devices, Android devices and even Linux. Yet we can now certainly see that a Skype for Windows Mobile can be expected to surface by year end.

But it’s really the user experiences that will both win new users and drive continued use by existing users. Technology journalist, technology TV program host/producer and social networking strategist Amber MacArthur has summed up the desires of most Skype users in her Tending Tech blog on the Globe and Mail website in a post: Dear Microsoft, don’t mess up Skype.

Amber outlines the history of her experience using Skype video. She was a pioneer in using Skype video for TV broadcast feeds – even when the best Skype video call resolution was 320 x 240 – long before Oprah. She regularly uses Skype for her current productions and business activity. But she also has more importantly found the value in Skype for reinforcing family relationships through calls to relatives, especially to her parents for the weekly grandparent call – regardless of where either she, in her travels, and her parents are geographically.

Amber speaks for all Skype users in her conclusion:

In my world, it’s fair to say that Skype is a necessity. Aside from Gmail, it’s the one piece of technology that I’d hate to live without. With more than 170 million active users around the world, I’m not alone. Sure, Facebook has more subscribers, but I’d ditch that social network any day of the week if I had to choose between it and Skype. I can’t say I remember any memorable Facebook messages, but there are Skype video calls I can’t forget.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what the Microsoft news means to the tech world. After all, $8.5-billion is a lot of money. However, the truth is that I don’t care. I don’t really care how much the giant software company paid. I don’t care if it gives them a stronger foothold in the web world. All I care about is that I can still make free video calls to Mom and Dad on my son’s birthday and invite them to share in a little virtual cake and a singalong. [Editor’s bold]

So, Microsoft, don’t screw up Skype. There are 170-million people and growing who won’t be very happy if you do.

Bottom line: I would ask that every Skype employee and all Microsoft employees who may become involved with embedding Skype technology into Microsoft products print  Amber’s post and put it up in their cubicle or office and, when making decisions related to the deployment and use of Skype, ask if each individual business decision passes the “Amber Mac Test” outlined in the excerpt above. It provides one significant benchmark against which the evolution of Skype and its technology can be measured.

Note: the number of users in the quote has been adjusted to reflect the 170 million active users reported at the Microsoft-Skype press conference. Based on previous reporting, this is based on the number of users who actually made at least one Skype call or conversation during the Jan-March 2011 quarter. A much more realistic measure of Skype usage than simply the total number of Skype accounts that are increasing by over 500,000 per day.

Update: Check out Alec Saunders Microsoft-Skype: emerging themes for the perspective of a former Microsoft product manager.

Related articles

• Microsoft Acquires Skype – An Investor’s Perspective (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Microsoft-Skype: emerging themes (saunderslog.com)
• Microsoft And Skype Like A Horse And Carriage (informationweek.com)
• Microsoft-Skype Deal: Three Ways It Benefits Enterprises (lirax.wordpress.com)
• The End of the “Skype as Bandit” Era (disruptivetelephony.com)

When entering the BlogHaus suite over three years ago at CES 2008, I quickly learned I had to be careful with my activities as Robert Scoble was running around with a Nokia N95 recording short video clips(and sometimes “instant” interviews) using a newly launched service called Qik. The basic idea was that (1) you could record a video on a smartphone for archiving on the web and (2) during the recording period the video was also being live streamed via the Qik website.

Fast forward three years later when Qik supported a broad range of smartphones, had probably millions of video clips archived and was developing an comprehensive iPhone offering.  At the Skype press conference at CES 2011, Skype announced the acquisition of Qik. This past two weeks has seen the launch of two iPhone apps: the premium ($2.99)  Qik Connect Video PLUS (at SXSW 2011) and, last week, the free app Qik Video Connect.

Over the past couple of days I have been checking out Qik Video Connect PLUS with Dan York and Phil Wolff. Basically the (Free) Qik Video Connect  offers three services:

• Video Chat: a one-to-one video calling service over WiFi, 3G and 4G
• Video Streaming: Live stream a video to the net via the Qik website with promotion via Twitter and Facebook
• Video Mail: record and email a video message.

All videos are also archived at Qik for private or public viewing. And, within the iPhone app, their availability can be sent out over Twitter and Facebook; they can also be sent to the iPhone’s Camera Roll (video/photo library). In fact, there is even an option to send it to YouTube.

Qik Connect Plus adds:

• Real-time effects: Customize and enhance video chat and live video streaming with seven effects and filters.
• Video editing: Use simple video editing tools directly from your device to share the best moments.
• HD quality: Upload and share true HD quality videos captured on your phone.

The Real-time effects are created by using the image bar at the bottom of the picture to turn the video being seen to full color, black and white, sepia and five other “effects”. When you End a Video Chat session, an editing bar appears across the top of the screen; it can also be recalled for later editing from the My Videos icon on the Home screen menu.

Some screen shots:

Qik Video Connect Contacts are those amongst your iPhone Contacts who have the same mobile or iPhone number as they have registered with their Qik account; a green webcam indicates that the Contact has Qik Video Connect installed and is available to receive a call. (You can receive a call while in another iPhone application.) Note that as I already had a Qik account, I did not have to use the registration procedure available on the application yet I could pull up and view previously archived videos.

In the center image, Phil Wolff was receiving the call and used his rear facing camera to catch our simultaneous Skype video conversation on his PC screen. I was using the “front” facing camera on my iPhone 4. The right image shows not only the option to do further editing but also the many ways a video can be shared or distributed.

And a short clip on YouTube:

If there is one concern, it’s about the user interface, not for the screens, but rather for the random way in which some screens come up. For instance, sometimes when I asked for the Connect screen (showing the Contacts) I would get a screen asking me to Invite contacts – and it would act as if I had no Contacts. Touching other Home menu items and then going back to the Connect screen would bring up the Contacts but there appeared to be no logic as to why this was happening. Also the process of showing webcam presence in the Contacts screen was sometimes not in accord with what I knew Phil was doing at the other end (for instance, I knew he was trying to call me, yet I would see his webcam as gray). Also I have yet to discover what is meant by “HD Quality”; certainly the video was not 720p HD resolution (1280 x 720).

Bottom line: While Qik certainly has developed an appealing application that demonstrates not only video messaging, streaming and archiving but also the video technology that Skype acquired with the Qik acquisition.  Questions have to arise as to where Skype will apply the technology. Will it be used to improve the resolution of Skype video calling on the iPhone and Android? Will Qik Video Connect add Skype contacts to its “Connect” contacts list? What does Skype gain in terms of transmitting video at top quality over 3G and 4G networks? Will Qik’s technology be used for recording Skype video calls? (And I’m sure there lots of other questions.)

And one other note: There are now at least three video calling offerings for the iPhone: Facetime (calls over WiFi to other iPhone, iPod Touch and Mac users); Skype for iPhone (calls to Skype clients on multiple platforms over WiFi and 3G but at lower resolutions than Facetime) and Qik Video Connect’s video chat (calls over WiFi and 3G/4G between iPhones and iPod Touch where also video “mail” messages can be left and calls are archived).

Related articles

• Qik Free available in the US iTunes store (skypejournal.com)
• Handheld HD with Qik Video Connect Plus (insideview.ie)
• Qik unveils Qik Video Connect for iPhone, offers real-time filters and effects (thenextweb.com)
• Qik technologies should flow to Skype users (skypejournal.com)

Having been invited to attend a BlackBerry Torch launch event in Toronto a week ago Monday, I have now experienced RIM’s latest smartphone for about ten days. Suffice it to say, as a veteran BlackBerry user, it certainly elevates BlackBerry’s feature set to a level that is very competitive in today’s smartphone market.

So what’s new – relative to my previous Bold 9700?

• combining a touch screen display with BlackBerry’s traditional keyboard
• BlackBerry 6 operating system
• a WebKit-based web browser that delivers a state-of-the-art smartphone browsing experience
• universal search
• an accelerometer that allows operation in both portrait and landscape mode
• a 5M-pixel camera with flash
• enhanced multimedia support
• significantly enhanced social networking support

To comment on some of my experiences:

Migration from a Bold 9700 to the Torch: using the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Manager’s “Switch Devices” feature, the entire migration process required 20 to 30 minutes, including all my installed applications. Desktop Manager 6.0 is more user friendly and has a much easier migration process than previous versions – key when you’re trying to appeal to a consumer market.

However, for many applications, such as Twitter and Social Scope it was necessary to log in again; effectively a positive security feature. The biggest challenge is organizing the applications within the various categories across which you can swipe in the main menu: “All”, “Favorites”, “Media”, “Downloads” and “Frequent”. Once organized finding an application using touch screen gestures becomes much faster.

The Touch Screen and Its Keyboard: Touch with all its gesturing effects brings a significant productivity improvement to the handling of emails, media and web browsing. All the traditional ways to use the touchpad and keyboard remain available but for the majority of applications it becomes much easier to use the touch screen as opposed to the four function keys, touchpad and traditional keyboard. For example, it is now possible to simply swipe a finger left or right to move through your Messages, including emails.

As for the Touch screen keyboard: it simply confirms that my fingers are too large for a touch keyboard – works fine for entering a few characters but I revert to the hardware keyboard for any serious typing such as longer email replies.

Bottom line is that the touch screen and hardware keyboard are significant complements to each other and bring the advantages of each where appropriate in context of the application. And, being a true multi-tasking smartphone, the touch screen has features that make application switching much easier.

Note there are a few applications that are currently not sensitive to the touch screen, the most significant being the Google Mobile suite, including GMail, Google Maps and Google Reader. Here you can continue to use the touchpad but trying any gesture on the touch screen has no effect. I’m sure Google and RIM are working on a resolution of this situation. But almost all my other applications are appropriately touch sensitive.

The Browser: Not only is the WebKit-based browser the first truly reliable browsing experience on a BlackBerry; it also brings in features such as “tabs” that make browsing a much more manageable activity. Combined with the touch screen’s gesturing, such as the two finger expansion and pinch for zooming/unzooming, BlackBerry’s OS 6 browser has become on par with my iPhone browsing experience. Actually one advantage of also having the BlackBerry’s touchpad available is that it can be used for the precision cursor location required when two or more links are very close to each other such as on the PGATour.com mobile website.

The Torch also includes an accelerometer to allow portrait and landscape mode viewing in the browser; however, if the hardware keyboard is open, only portrait mode is available. On the other hand, when viewing YouTube videos they always come up in landscape mode. One of those small but important features that contributes to the device’s user friendliness.

Overall the BlackBerry 6 browser is a much more reliable, user friendly (and satisfying) experience.

Universal Search: within BlackBerry 6 is a search facility that not only searches the web but can search the entire BlackBerry. Basically hit the search icon on the status bar, enter the search term(s) and hit return. The applications containing the search term(s) will show up; click on the application and it will take you to the search term(s). Included in the applications is an option to do a Google search. In my world there can never be too many search opportunities, whether in Outlook, Skype chat messages, Gmail on the BlackBerry or iPhone, Google on the desktop, or locating emails from a contact on my BlackBerry.

Social Media: When I arrived at the Canadian BlackBerry launch event, one of Canada’s top social media guru’s, Amber MacArthur (@ambermac), author of Power Friending, was demonstrating the Torch’s social media features. Full disclosure; through a recent series of her columns in the Globe and Mail, it was apparent Amber remains a hard core BlackBerry user. But it quickly became apparent why she was carrying out this role at the launch event. BlackBerry 6 includes a comprehensive “Social Feeds” application where you can readily view your stream of Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and five other IM feeds either in one stream or filtered by application. In addition swipe to the left and you can view a stream of selected RSS feeds. A very comprehensive interface that has the potential to challenge my favorite Twitter/Facebook client – Social Scope. (Social Scope, which has BlackBerry 6 compatibility, has the ability to follow individuals and specific hashtags as well.) In summary, Social Feeds is a new feature that will readily appeal to anyone managing social media.

Of course, BlackBerry Torch includes RIM’s unique social networking tool, BlackBerry Messenger, that, in its latest incarnation, provides instant PIN-to-PIN chat, photo and file transfer along voice messaging. I continue to use it when I really need to grab a contact’s attention and using other Internet messaging applications, including email, as an intermediary can not get the message across fast enough.

And finally, BlackBerry integration with applications. Many BlackBerry apps are integrated tightly with the Address Book and other primary BlackBerry apps such that, for instance, a Contact’s picture will be retrieved from FaceBook if it is not available from an Outlook Contact synchronization. From a Contact in the Address Book, one can immediately go to her/his Facebook or LinkedIn page or locate an address in Google Maps.

Bottom line: This review highlights the features that became apparent over the course of my first ten days with the BlackBerry Torch; there are many other more subtle ones. For any BlackBerry aficionado it’s a “must” upgrade that puts the BlackBerry technology performance on a par with either iPhone or Android.

RIM’s real challenge is to attract new BlackBerry adopters and recruit more application developers. Certainly the PlayBook announcement earlier this week, with its underlying QNX OS, appears to brings to the table many of the tools required to assist the latter challenge. And RIM’s continued promotion of BlackBerry Messenger, a unique application that has bailed me out on many occasions, as well as its ongoing reputation for the most mature smartphone email operation and high level of security help with the former.

Of course the final piece of the puzzle for full support of real time social networking would be that missing BlackBerry SuperApp: a carrier agnostic Skype for BlackBerry; Amber, a longtime Skype user and enthusiast who used Skype for TV reporting long before Oprah, would have loved to have been able to demonstrate it.

And why the timing for this post? BlackBerry Torch launched yesterday on five Canadian carriers: Rogers Wireless, SaskTel, Telus, Bell and Virgin Mobile

Three more announcements this week that should help these challenges:

• Press Release: Research In Motion announces BBM social platform
• Press Release: RIM launches BlackBerry Advertising Service
• Press Release: RIM to launch free BlackBerry Analytics Service

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• RIM’s Blackberry Torch now available in Canada – here’s the lowdown on where to get one (techvibes.com)
• Future Shop offers Canadians the highly-sought after BlackBerry Torch smartphone on September 30 (newswire.ca)
• Review: BlackBerry Torch is a hot pick, but has flaws (thestar.com)
• BlackBerry Torch 9800 Goes Live on Rogers (intomobile.com)
• BlackBerry Torch up for pre-order on Vodafone (v3.co.uk)
• BlackBerry Torch 9800 Launched on Bell and Telus (intomobile.com)
• BlackBerry: Smartphones Sans AntennaGate (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Skype and Third Party Access: Getting Back to Basics (voiceontheweb.biz)

At his eComm America 2010 keynote presentation Monday morning, Skype’s recently appointed Chief Technology Strategist Jonathan Rosenberg provided his perspective on where Skype can introduce real time communications into “social sharing” activities.

Positioning the current state of social networking as personal broadcasting where a Twitter or Facebook message “broadcasts” your information out to a selected set of Followers or Friends, he went on to outline how these “broadcasts” were missing two key elements: emotion and interaction. And these broadcasts have a “random” aspect in terms of who receives them:

• Followers and Friends could cover a random mix of interest groups: family, work colleagues, special interest groups
• It’s a bit of a gamble as to who sees your ‘broadcast” message; some may follow every Tweet while others may be selective in what they see and take a few days to see a Tweet; others, for whatever reason, may never see it.

Bottom line is that current social networking is missing the emotion and interactivity associated with “social”.

Jonathan sees three “i’s” that need to be added for social networking to become totally social:

• involvement
• investment
• interactivity

And sees real time communications, integrated into a web property, as the infrastructure required to bring these to the table.

Jonathan then proceeded to give an example of each of the three “i’s”:

Real time and involvement: The quality of the real time call experience matters, as supported by statistics that Skype has mined out from their call detail records. It turns out that Skype’s SILK superwideband codec not only provides a higher quality, more readily understood voice conversation but also has been demonstrated to result, on average, in ~45% longer conversations, based on real Skype call detail records data. Phil Wolfe over at Skype Journal has more to say about this.

Real time and investment: here the example involved multiple people planning a trip together by sharing a desktop browsing travel web sites while carrying on a voice or video conversation.

Real time and interactivity – the virtual couch potato. While Jonathan gave an example, my own experience occurred a few years ago during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy when I was on a Skype call with a person in Sweden. We were both watching the ceremonies on our local television networks while discussing them in Skype voice and chat conversations.

This also brings to mind the couple who used Skype a few years ago for a remote courtship a few years ago; not only did a marriage result after a year of courtship via Skype but also a family with a couple of young ones.

According to Jonathan the bottom line is about turning a “me” experience into a “we” experience by escalating an asynchronous conversation (an initiating email or chat message) into a synchronous experience that can involve voice, chat, video and desktop sharing. And it involves bringing emotional and interactive elements into social sharing activities.

So what are the implications for Skype:

• These experiences need to be easy to invoke. What does it take to make users realize they can easily have these experiences?
• According to Jonathan, creating these experiences would involve invoking a web-based infrastructure into the Skype software offerings. Sounds like something we can expect to see later this year.
• What role would multi-party video play in these experiences? Can we expect to see multi-party video later this year?

Bottom Line: Is this all a precursor to some new Skype experiences or features that will be launched over the next few months?

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• Skype offers free WiFi for stranded travellers (cbc.ca)
• Couple Grounded by Volcanic Ash Married via Skype (mashable.com)
• Skype video call saves wedding messed up by volcanic ash (gadling.com)

It’s almost two years since the launch of PamFax as a fax sending service that allows anyone with a PC and an Internet connection to send faxes to any fax terminal worldwide at low per page rates. With a simple fax setup and no subscription requirements, PamFax has become a very popular and robust PC-based communications service delivering documents worldwide. They like to call it “no strings attached faxing”. Over time we have seen:

• addition of PamFax inbound numbers in 28 countries
• implementation of Mac support
• participation in McAfee Secure Sites program
• improvements to the PamFax portal that records and reports PamFax activity
• reduced pricing (as well as bringing several countries into the lowest level “Zone 1”)
• overall performance and stability improvements
• a distribution partnership with Fusion Network Services in Japan
• seamless integration of the PamFax portal into FaceBook and Salesforce.com

At the beginning of December PamFax introduced major upgrades to both the server and the thin client resulting in a significant improvement in both the responsiveness of the client and the speed with which faxes could be sent from the PamFax client. While some improvements are visible via the PamFax client, most of them are transparent to the user as they involve changes to the backend infrastructure critical to the PamFax operation.

However, as many businesses have adopted PamFax, a need has arisen for a Business Control  Panel to facilitate faxing within a business operation. Introduced with this latest upgrade, the PamFax Business Control Panel allows a business to use one central PamFax fax-in number company-wide by giving selected and/or all people in the BCP group access to the inbox. Effectively a company or business unit can replace its fax machine (and the associated overhead of ink and paper) with a “cloud-based” fax service that allows any employee to send and view faxes to/from anywhere worldwide.

In a world where one would think that faxes are dying off, the growth and acceptance of PamFax is demonstrating that (i) users want an easy way to send a fax and (ii) there are hard copy document exchange applications, such as in legal activities and real estate, where faxes are still critical to business operations. It is their ongoing increase in usage volumes that has driven Scendix, publishers of PamFax, to put additional resources into improving the overall user faxing experience. As an example, while currently available for Windows and Mac PC’s, expect to see a Linux client in the near future.

Previous Posts:

• PamFax Evolves: Building a World Class Service Offering
• PamFax 2.0: An Obligation-Free On Demand Fax Service on Your PC
• PamFax – Adding Click-to-Fax
• PamFax Receive Skype Certification, Grows Usage
• Mashup Champion PamFax Becomes a Full Fax Sending Solution

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• Three Developers and the Skype Platform Today! (voiceontheweb.biz)
• The Future for 3rd Party Skype Developers: Bloggers Speak Out. (voiceontheweb.biz)

Recently I wrote about the official launch of Tungle, the meeting accelerator that provides a cross-platform,  cross-calendar service for scheduling meetings via the web. In fact, with its new features I am now finding that 100% of my meeting requests have a response that results in a meeting. In other words the released version addressed issues that were roadblocks to successfully, yet productively agreeing on a meeting time.

One could call Tungle’s initial invocation as providing an “outbound” method for scheduling a meeting as you were the initiator from either a browser or email program, such as Outlook and expected to be the moderator of the meeting.

But what if someone wanted to approach you to request a meeting but was not a Tungle subscriber. With the launch yesterday of Tungle.me your non-subscribing acquaintances can launch a request for a meeting with you via Facebook, LinkedIn, a blog or website, your e-mail signature or an IM text chat message via Skype, MSN Messenger, etc.

When a visitor clicks on the resulting widget or link, the visitor will see a web page showing your busy/available times (but no details). You then go into the “Organize a Meeting” mode where, if the visitor is a Tungle subscriber, the subscriber’s busy/available times will also be displayed:

One then proceeds to fill in the standard information (suggested time slots, location, potential agenda) and the normal Tungle Accelerator goes into action emailing invitations and accepting responses.

Whereas originally Tungle was available for outbound requests, Tungle.me provides a path for inbound meeting requests via social media tools and other communications services.

Bottom line: A cool service; however, while providing the ability to receive Inbound meeting requests, you may also want to consider how public you want to make your availability known to the outside world. On the other hand, by once again not requiring non-subscribers to register, Tungle has minimized the barriers and obstacles to using this service.

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• Tungle: A Meeting Scheduler for the Cloud (voiceontheweb.biz)
• SocialScope: Why BlackBerry? (voiceontheweb.biz)

Yesterday’s post, SocialScope: for a Complete, But Managed, Twitter Experience, outlines why I have found SocialScope to be the most complete Twitter client on any platform offered to date. But it only runs on BlackBerry. Why? A recent interview with Ubiquitous Systems CEO Amit Kumar provided the answers.

As their initial goal the Ubiquitous team wanted to provide an application that was designed from the beginning as a mobile application. Amit described how they attempted to write an application for the iPhone but, as a result of their prototyping experience, they quickly turned to BlackBerry for one primary reason: background processing. Basically they needed an application that could continue to monitor and report Twitter feeds while using other applications on the platform. However, as they progressed Amit outlined how they uncovered additional advantages to supporting BlackBerry:

• Fundamentally full background processing changes the user experience, including how a user will interact with the application. Read your email, do some browsing, check the hockey, baseball and soccer scores; in the meantime all your Twitter and Facebook status messages, including those from makeitseven, are being pulled in for viewing the next time you switch back to SocialScope.
• BlackBerry is fundamentally a messaging device – combine a QWERTY keyboard with the vibrant half-VGA (480 x 320) display to provide a complete two way communications device.
• Immediacy: in their market research the Ubiquitous team found that users wanted no delays in getting to their Twitter messages – just switch to SocialScope and the most recent messages are there. No need to leave the application open to receive messages (as required for similar applications on the iPhone), no need to re-login. It’s just there when you want it. While the BlackBerry inherently provides “immediacy” the team also found they needed to address scaling and latency issues to ensure messages could be delivered as quickly as possible.
• Integration: SocialScope has been integrated with the BlackBerry Address book to allow instant viewing of Twitter messages from a contact’s page. There is additional integration with the BlackBerry browser and camera that allows the user to quickly post a Twitter and/or Facebook status update incorporating a URL or Twitpic picture.
• Compression: SocialScope uses compression algorithms to reduce the data transmission load by 20% to 30%.
• Battery Life: going forward their primary goal is to reduce battery drain using the recently released “push” API’s available for BlackBerry developers. Currently, when using SocialScope continuously, I do find I need to recharge my battery overnight.

In closing our interview Amit paid complements to the support received from the BlackBerry Developer program personnel as SocialScope development has evolved. This support has contributed to, amongst other results, the deeper integration referenced above.

Selecting BlackBerry as their platform of choice allowed the Ubiquitous team to deliver a unique and productive user experience which, in practice, allows one to both readily and completely manage our individual social media messaging activities.

Bottom Line:  When following any conversation application that supports Instant Messaging services such as Twitter, Facebook or Skype (via iSkoot, for example):

• the most appropriate platform, from the “immediacy” perspective, is a wireless mobile device
• full support of background processing is a prerequisite in order to deliver a real time, “it’s just there”, user messaging experience.
• the client’s user interface on the device, such as SocialScope’s tabbed UI, is critical to an “always on”, “immediate” user experience
• deep integration with the device’s basic feature set delivers extra value

SocialScope provides an excellent  demonstration of the value of managed “immediacy” when following your personal and business acquaintances in today’s “always on” world.

Question: will these messaging services eventually replace current SMS messaging services or simply contribute to a decline in the usage of SMS?

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When it comes to organizing and following my Twitter activity, I have found that SocialScope – currently in a closed beta and only available on BlackBerry – provides the most complete and most satisfying Twitter user experience. A recent interview with Ubiquitous Systems CEO Amit Kumar provided some additional background on how SocialScope evolved and their plans going forward.

Twitter started out as a way to broadcast messages of up to 140 characters via SMS to “approved” followers; however, its popularity has driven it to become a key social media tool whose messages can be followed on a desktop PC, via a web browser or on a mobile device such as smartphones. When one starts following several hundred Twitter users the challenge for the individual has become one of “how can I effectively manage my Twitter activities to my benefit?”. An ecosystem of Twitter clients has evolved in an attempt not only to provide access to Twitter on multiple platforms but also to bring some order and prioritization to one’s Twitter experiences.

Over the past few months I have been experimenting with various Twitter clients on PC’s (TweetDeck, Seesmic Desktop), iPhone (Twitterific) and the BlackBerry (TwitterBerry, SocialScope). I came to the conclusion that I wanted a client that:

• allows me to see all my Twitter messages as one viewing option
  • with minimum delay after sent
• is available on a mobile platform
• receives messages while using other applications on the platform
• supports multiple Twitter accounts
• supports Facebook status messages
• is capable of organizing my “Following” Twitter contacts into groups
• provides a search capability
  • including searches for #hashtags
• has a tabbed UI for accessing:
  • all messages, direct messages, @ replies,
  • individual Twitter and Facebook account messages
  • user-defined groups, search results
• provides a complete Profile of a Twitter User:
  • user description and website
  • view all the user’s recent messages
  • select Twitter accounts on which to follow/unfollow
  • search for all Tweets referencing the user
  • see who the user is Following
  • see who is Following the user (Followers)
• allows easy insertion of pictures (via Twitpic) and URL’s into Status Updates
• quickly moves amongst the various tabs, user profiles and searches

About three weeks ago SocialScope delivered a major upgrade to their beta version that built it out to include all the features described above. While attending a social networking workshop two weeks ago I suddenly found myself using SocialScope on my BlackBerry Bold to track all my Twitter activity as I made new acquaintances, followed the event’s hashtag and did searches on various speakers and related topics. It handled both my Twitter accounts, allowed me to organize those I was following, had a neat Search capability, provided a complete user profile for any Twitter user and eliminated the tediousness of performing key operations on a PC.

I then realized that, considering all the Twitter clients I had trialed, SocialScope provided the most complete, yet user friendly, experience. Social media messages basically have the same “immediacy” as a phone call or an email received on the BlackBerry.The convenience of having it on a a QWERTY-keyboard mobile platform with a vibrant half-VGA display had become a significant factor in coming to this conclusion.

Most importantly, however, recall that Twitter’s original ambition was to drive messages through SMS messaging; thus, the 140 character limit. This had become a huge cost factor for Twitter to the point where, for instance, SMS messaging to Canadian users was cut off until Twitter made special arrangements with at least one local carrier. (And now all Canadian wireless carriers plan to charge for inbound SMS messages.) However, SocialScope provides a much more user friendly user interface than dealing with SMS messages; a major benefit is that it eliminates the need for any SMS subscription (but will make “light” use of your wireless data plan) to access Twitter or FaceBook messaging activity on a BlackBerry.

SocialScope was the evolution of the founders’ goal to provide a client that aggregated, yet organized, a user’s social networking activity. Founder Amit Kumar and his colleagues (today they still only have a team of four plus an intern) saw lots of web-based social networking activity on the web but felt that browsers put too much overhead on the overall Twitter (and Facebook) user experience as well as on mobile device resources.

While their original prototypes were developed for the iPhone, they quickly realized they needed the full background processing capability of the BlackBerry (8xxx or 9xxx) to handle social media messaging seriously. Key to their overall design approach was the recognition that, while they are delivering a dedicated client, Twitter itself is a dynamically evolving web page which requires special handling on mobile platforms. To this end they have developed compression algorithms and are working on battery consumption issues. (More details on “SocialScope: Why BlackBerry”will be the subject of a second post.)

SocialScope alpha launched in December 2007; the Ubiquitous team suddenly found they had to limit their alpha subscribers while they dealt with initial scaling and usability issues. Their most important feedback for user interface design came from looking at usage patterns. The most common feedback they obtained was the need for messages to be delivered “immediately”. In response they dealt not only with scaling issues but also latency and connectivity issues.

At the same time they have been developing deeper links into BlackBerry features such as the address book from which one can view a Contact’s most recent Twitter and Facebook updates. When viewing a web page in the BlackBerry browser, a “Send to SocialScope” command is available to insert the web page’s URL into a Twitter Status Update window.

Currently they are working on improving group management, de-duping messages (such that messages sent to multiple accounts only show up once) and deeper integration with Facebook. They also want to add support for showing Twitter “trends” information.

SocialScope is still in closed beta with, apparently, a very long waiting list. However, the wait should not be too long; they expect to release a publicly available version at some time during the summer.

Bottom line: SocialScope sets the bar for all Twitter clients in terms of feature set and performance. It demonstrates that social media messaging and message management is best handled, from a user experience perspective, on a mobile platform. It also demonstrates the importance of having background processing for messaging activities on a mobile handset (did I say their next platform of choice would probably be Android?).

To follow: SocialScope: Why BlackBerry?

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PamConsult launches PamFax 2.0 as an obligation-free hosted fax service that supports sending and receiving faxes worldwide with no capital expenses, no usage contract requirements and lower “per page” costs.

The process of sending and receiving faxes involves:

• a document source: whether physical or a computer file
• physical document scanning
• a cover page
• transmission of the fax (originally over a phone line)
  • often at expensive long distance rates and/or hotel service charges
• receipt of the fax (over a phone line)
• printing the received document
• logging the transmission and archiving the document

In the early 80’s the original fax machines were huge (at least the size of a bulky floor model photocopier), expensive and rare. However, a former medical practitioner customer was impressed that he could fax electrocardiograms to obtain diagnosis assistance with, say, a remote cardiology specialist, providing an initial level of value in time-critical circumstances.

As we moved through the 80’s fax devices became less expensive, more pervasive and somewhat smaller such that they fit on a table top; the biggest issue was finding or installing a nearby fax-dedicated phone line. In 1985 GammaLink introduced the first Fax PC board; a fax modem became common in PC’s throughout the subsequent 15 years. In the early 90’s there were various attempts to develop fax software for PC’s; the most widely remembered program was WinFax, which was sold to Symantec in 1995 and discontinued by Symantec at the end of 2006. But, while WinFax certainly could send and receive faxes, it did not exactly provide the simplest user experience for sending and managing faxes. Over this period several Internet-hosted fax services became available and contributed to the demise of WinFax.

Certainly, with Internet email and various file transfer services the volume of faxes has dropped off. However, they are still essential for (i) convenience of sending and receiving faxes via a dedicated device and (ii) exchanging executed legal documents, real estate papers and other business requirements which are suited to having a hard copy.

In many circumstances recipients still simply like to have a piece of hardcopy paper in their hands. As a result the real challenge for any new service is to offer a simple, easy-to-understand and easy-to-use fax services experience at lower costs yet that take advantage of the Internet’s cloud infrastructure and worldwide accessibility.

Fast forward to late 2007 when Ethernet ports had replaced modems on PC’s; PamConsult launched PamFax 1.0, a fax sending service that significantly simplified sending a fax from your desktop or laptop PC to any fax number worldwide. PamFax 1.0 was solely a Windows application that featured:

• sourcing documents from either a computer file or a scanned image
  • compatible with all recent scanners, including multi-function printers
• five or six steps to send a document:
  • select the document source
  • (optionally) scan in a paper document
  • enter the destination recipient and fax number
  • (optionally) add a cover page
  • pay via Skype Credits or PayPal
  • send the document
• integration with Skype for fax confirmation notification and payment using Skype Credits
• an infrastructure that handled the payment transaction and sent the fax to any destination worldwide
• a Windows printer driver capability
• a minimum cost of ~$0.20/€0.14 per page
• a web-based PamFax portal to report on usage and archive sent faxes

But PamFax 1.0 lacked the ability to receive faxes and was not available for Mac PC’s. Yet PamFax usage has grown constantly; this past weekend PamFax 1.0 downloads passed the 200,000 mark, confirming the demand for easy-to-use fax services available wherever one finds a PC and Internet connection. It sure came in handy when on the road in a hotel room – at a much lower cost and no need to go to the front desk to send a fax.

According to PamConsult CEO Dick Schiferli, 58% of PamFax 1.0 downloads resulted in at least one additional paid page being sent; the average paying customer sends 6.5 pages. Overall month-to-month volume growth is currently running at 10% per month.

Today PamConsult is launching PamFax 2.0, elevating PamFax to a complete send/receive fax service on both Windows and Mac PC’s at lower costs. PamFax 2.0 features:

• Support for both Windows and Mac OSX
• Fax-in numbers available in 27 countries
• A complete redesign incorporating new user interface
• “Per page” pricing reduced by ~40% to $0.12/€0.09 page for on-demand service and $0.08/€0.06 page for volume subscriptions
• Several additional destination countries moved into the lowest cost zone 1.
• No requirement for Skype although Skype integration adds notification and payment options
• Ongoing support for Facebook and Salesforce.com integration
• A Vista sidebar widget

Much like Calliflower which takes a user through the entire conference call business process from invitations to archiving, PamFax 2.0 is a complete service that takes you through the entire fax generation and transmission process from the initial document sourcing requirement through to logging and archiving your fax activity.

The ground rules for pricing include:

• On Demand/Pay-as-You-Go or Prepaid?
• destination country (seven zones covering the world)?
• Fax-in number required?
• currency (select from 15 options)?

While PamFax can be used as an obligation-free “On Demand” service for sending faxes (at €0.09/£0.085/US$0.125 per page to Zone 1 countries) , PamConsult is offering volume bundles that reduce per page costs even further. For receiving faxes a monthly or annual subscription is required for the associated fax-in number.

PamFax Professional, a monthly or annual subscription, includes:

• Fax-in number for the subscription period (select one of 27 countries)
• Unlimited fax reception
• 33% discount on “per page” prices, starting at €0.06/£0.06/US$0.08 to Zone 1 countries
• Monthly: €3,95/£3.75/US$5.50 (subject to fluctuation with exchange rates)
• Annual: €47,40/£45.00/US$66.00 (subject to fluctuation with exchange rates)

PamFax Credit Packs add credits to your account at the €10, €30, €50 (with 5% bonus credit), €100 (10% bonus credit) and higher levels with increasing bonus credits.]

PamFax also offers a “business control panel” from which a business’s administrator can create a group account, assign and manage PamFax credit and track employee fax activity.

I have used PamFax 1.0 successfully on many occasions over the past 18 months and have tested PamFax 2.0 with success on both a MacBook and a Dell Inspiron laptop.

As a next step, address book integration and scheduled sending would be useful features to incorporate into future releases of PamFax.

Bottom line: PamFax 2.0 is another disruptive service within the Skype ecosystem as it eliminates several costs associated with faxing documents:

• country and international long distance charges
• hotel and airport kiosk fax service charges
• charges associated with having a fax-dedicated physical phone line
• cost and overhead of a dedicated fax machine

and results in turning your desktop or laptop PC into a fully featured fax machine. Laptop users have the convenience of being able to take their PamFax-enabled “fax machine” anywhere they may travel and find Internet access. Basically PamFax 2.0 allows you to disconnect your fax-dedicated phone line and to throw away your dedicated fax machine while having fax services available not only at the home office but also on the road.

Give it a try and report on your experience in the Comments.

Update: Alec Saunders: PamFax – no strings attached PC FAX

Previous PamFax posts:

• PamFax: Sending Faxes via Skype
• The Dawn of the Mashup World II: And the European Mashup Competition Winner Is…
• Mashup Champion PamFax Becomes a Full Fax Sending Solution
• PamFax Receive Skype Certification, Grows Usage
• PamFax – Adding Click-to-Fax
• PamFax Update: Lower Rates, Volume Plans and Improved Perfomance

Skype today published data from a recent Zobgy survey that, aside from demonstrating smartphone users’ desire to control their own phone configuration, demonstrates that a significant majority of users in the four countries surveyed (U.S., U.K., Japan and Spain) simply are still not perceiving the potential for a mobile phone handset to be considered as having additional use beyond simply making voice calls.

While I am receiving feedback from acquaintances who are saying their BlackBerry Bold or 8900 Curve has become their mobile computer (reinforcing my own experience) the survey results conclude:

• over 62% of the survey respondents do not perceive their mobile device as an extension of their computer.
• Over 70% have never downloaded an application to their mobile phone.

What this survey really says is that awareness of the smartphone as a mobile computing device is still quite weak amongst the general public, especially in North America. Secondary to this finding are the results showing:

• Only 23% feel that they have more or the same level of control over their mobile device as they have over their computer.
• 67% want to be able to choose their mobile applications for themselves, rather than have their carriers choose for them.

Of course consumers want choice; the real issue here becomes the legacy microcomputer user issue of balancing:

• how much guidance does a vendor (carrier, PC manufacturer, smartphone vendor) provide driving users to “supported” or “authorized” applications against
• how aware is the consumer that they can actually have “freedom to choose” when it comes to not only smartphone applications but also personal computing applications.

The major difference from the early Windows 95 days of wanting to be on the Windows desktop and wanting to be immediately available on a smartphone is that the carrier, not the operating system developer, approves the user interface and smartphone configuration that is available on purchase of the computing device.

We have since seen the disappearance of “pre-configured” Windows desktop applications (how many PC’s have I installed over the past 15 years where I removed the AOL application?) with more practices such as the Dell Vostro line of business PC’s providing a minimal number of pre-installed desktop applications supporting use of the PC itself and no third party applications. It has become the responsibility of  the individual third party developers to generate market awareness and adoption on a PC platform.

The Apple iPhone started this trend within the smartphone consumer market. A basic iPhone has the necessary applications to use the phone for voice calls and text messaging along with a minimal number of third party applications such as Google Maps and Facebook. From this starting point, the user can then use the iPhone App store to choose applications that find the nearest Starbucks, tell you when the next TTC streetcar is coming, deliver the Toronto Globe and Mail or turn your iPhone into a musical instrument. No carrier control, no carrier revenue; over 20,000 applications available.

When looking at the BlackBerry, one again finds that it comes with a set of basic applications that support communications, either voice or text (including several IM applications). Users have long been able to add applications either via stores such as Handango with 1800 applications for the Bold, Crackberry App Store or a wide range of enterprise-specific applications. Today my BlackBerry can follow Twitter and Facebook via SocialScope, deliver my cable TV service to the device anywhere worldwide, make Skype calls via iSkoot or IM+ for Skype, follow the news on NY Times, Wall Street Journal or CNN (Globe and Mail, where are you?), stream video to the Internet (Qik) and use any Google service (Maps, News, Reader, Search, Sync, etc.).

The ability to download user-selected applications is here (certainly on my Rogers Wireless service). The real issue is that North Americans need to be made more aware of the potential of a smartphone to deliver value-added services and information. Only at that point will there be sufficient pent-up consumer demand to “free up the smartphone” from today’s level of carrier control.

According to the report the Spanish and Japanese “get it”; probably other European countries where the level of  carrier control of applications is much less than in North America also get it. The survey found almost twice as many Spanish have downloaded applications and perceive their mobile devices as an extension of their computing experience. When the awareness is there, the demand for user freedom to choose their applications and smartphone configuration will arise.

The bottom line:

• General awareness of mobile smartphones as more than a voice calling device still needs to be promoted heavily by both application developers and smartphone vendors
• Users perceive that they would want to have control over their smartphone applications if they know there is an huge range of non-telephony applications available.
• the younger generation will drive adoption through their personal social networks, in turn, making older generations aware of what can be done with a smartphone.
• Developers still need to market their applications, emphasizing the user experience, beyond simply having them available on the iPhone App Store or BlackBerry App World.

All it takes is for an individual to find one Starbucks, watch one television program remotely, see a live video of the grandchildren, read one time sensitive news report, have one business success story or make a free international Skype call via iSkoot or other Skype-enabled application to drive awareness amongst a broader public. In the end it’s all about demonstrating the satisfaction that results from an engaging user experience to build the necessary awareness.

Om Malik says “As Mobile Data Grows, People Want Wireless Carriers To Buzz Off”.

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• Unauthorized iPhone app stores emerging (buddymob.blogspot.com)
• Why Facebook’s Future Is Mobile (gigaom.com)
• BlackBerry App Store Clone Pushes $3 Minimum (iphonesavior.com)

Over the past three years of blogging about IP-based communications, one frequent reference has been to Dan York, who for the past eighteen months has been Director of Emerging Communication Technology in the Office of the CTO at Voxeo, whose story has often been blogged here.

Once he joined Voxeo we noticed that Dan was often travelling afar to conferences to tell the Voxeo story while continuing his previous exposure as a blogger: Disruptive Telephony, Disruptive Conversations and, in an industry trade association role, considers security issues as Best Practices Chair of the VoIP Security Alliance (VOIPSA). More recently we have been able to track his every mood and every move on Twitter and Facebook. His responsibilities at Voxeo have included telling the Voxeo story through their various blogs. Somewhere in there he works in a weekly podcast contribution to Shel Holz’s For Immediate Release. Dan is a great reference resource for telephony and security issues in the communications industry.

Today Dan finally came out to tell the world about his recent appointment as Director of Conversations. A new title to reflect the realities of the impact of social media on business development and marketing. Twitter drives conversations; not only does Dan have his informal personal Twitter feed but he also manages the more “corporate announcement” Voxeo Twitter feed. Facebook drives conversations. Again Dan manages both a personal and corporate Facebook page. In fact in his announcement linked above, Dan points out that Voxeo CEO Jonathan Taylor leads by example with his own Twitter feed and Facebook page as well as being heavily into SEO. On the job title Dan comments:

As to the job title, Director of Conversations, it’s really a recognition that in the Age of Google and Facebook and reviews (in iTunes, Amazon, etc.) and Twitter and everything else, what we think of as “marketing” is increasingly all about joining into all the various conversations that are happening out there. Ten years later, many of the theses of Cluetrain are more true than ever. The conversations are happening. Our challenge is to find the most appropriate ways to join in.

Last week at eComm I had the opportunity to meet several members of the Voxeo team; their enthusiasm and passion expressed in a low key manner said everything about how Voxeo will remain a major player in the Voice 2.0 world.

Congratulations, Dan. We look forward to many conversations from and with you.

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Borderless Communicator Hudson Barton and I both follow our Twitter friends using a nifty third party Skype utility called Twitter4Skype. Basically you set up Twitter4Skype as a Skype Contact and enter your account information. Going forward, whenever you are logged onto Skype and a Tweet arrives from one of those whom you are “Following”, it will pop up in a Twitter4Skype chat window. And, of course, your messages placed into a Twitter4Skype chat window become “Tweets” seen all your Twitter Followers.

We both have had many requests for instruction on how to set up Twitter4Skkype. Hudson has authored for Skype Journal a review of Twitter4Skype with all the details:

Twitter4Skype: A Review
by Hudson Barton

One of my favorite online tools is “Twitter4Skype”. Not very many people know about “T4S”, but if you are a fan of both Skype and Twitter, your life will be made much happier and more productive if you use this little robot. It does not require you to download any software. There are no additional processes to clog up your computer. There are no additional windows for you to deal with. Everything runs within Skype as a normal Skype chat session. It could not be simpler.

• First, the robot posts your tweets directly into your twitter account from Skype. When you IM into your Twitter4Skype chat session, the message appears automatically in your Twitter feed.
• Second, the robot gathers tweets of everyone whom you are following and posts them to you in the same Skype chat session.

Installing twitter4skype:

1. Using “Add a Contact”, search for and add “twitter4skype” as a Skype contact.
2. Open a chat session with “twitter4skype”
3. Type the following into the chat window (to tell the robot about your your Twitter account and give the robot permission to access it):
   1. /account (shift+return)
   2. twitteraccountname (shift+return)
   3. twitteraccountpassword (return)
4. The robot should return: “twitter4skype Registration complete!”

Running Twitter4Skype:

1. The next time you write a chat message to “twitter4skype”, the entry will appear on your Twitter account and a confirmation of your posting will appear in the chat. Note that only the first 140 characters of your posting will be received by Twitter, so keep it short and sweet.
2. You will begin to receive your friends’ twitters in the one-to-one Skype chat session with T4S.
3. Try adding another Skype contact to the chat you are having with T4S. You have now established a one-way group Twitter feed. What you (and only you) post into that chat will be distributed to Twitter and to the other members of the chat. Incoming tweets will be distributed to all chat participants.
4. Try adding the T4S contact to another group chat: You have just established a special relationship between Twitter and yourself that distributes your posts (and only your posts) from that chat into your Twitter stream. Incoming tweets are not posted into this extra chat, but go to your main T4S chat only.

Tricks for keeping twitter4skype healthy and happy:

Twitter4skype is running on a server in Tokyo Japan. Its reliability and the stability of the server have been improving, but like everything in our technological world (especially free services), it sometimes disappoints. Although you might glean the following tips from the Twitter4Skype help screen (accessed by typing “#help” in the chat), here is how to avoid some common problems:

• Situation: T4S appears to be offline. Occasionally T4S will appear to be offline when it is actually online. You will not be able to receive your Twitter feed in this state and you will not be able to post your own twitter either. You can “wake up” T4S” by calling it. When you do, your queued incoming tweets will be posted to you immediately, and afterwards you will be able to post your own tweets. If this does not work, then T4S is actually offline rather than only appearing so.
• Situation: T4S appears to be online but is unresponsive. Occasionally T4S will “forget” its relationship with you. Although it is online, you are not receiving incoming tweets and it will not post your outgoing tweets. You can force T4S to reset your relationship by typing “#on” into the T4S chat window. T4S will respond with a “welcome back” message.

What the Robot can’t do:

Twitter4Skype is a simple robot. It knows only the tricks outlined above. Here are some tricks I wish it could do additionally:

• My Twitter use is evolving toward two separate accounts; one for personal and one for business to reflect my multiple personalities. But I really want to run only one Skype account and have both twitter accounts feed into it. So, with my second twitter account I would like to create a second T4S account and run it inside the same Skype name with separate T4S chats. Unfortunately, that is impossible. One T4S account per Skype name is the limit.
• Twitter4Skype is all about following and being followed by Twitter users. Now imagine you could follow and be followed by Skype users in the same way (without sharing contact information). Skype users are already connected to a universe of some 36 million other active Skype users worldwide. So why can’t Skype establish a network of followers within its own system. A percentage of those contacts will lead to shared Skype contact information, and those relationships will lead to increased Skype calling. A pseudo Skype chat established for this purpose would be one way to implement the concept.

Thanks, Hudson.

One additional point: If you have set up your Twitter feed to send tweets into your Facebook status message, then entering a message into a Twitter4Skype session will also pass it along to become your “current” Facebook status message. Same applies if you have linked Friend feed to your Twitter messages. (Unfortunately nobody has offered a means to pass your tweets along to your Skype Mood Message.)

And, when I am away from my office, I am able to follow my Twitter activity as a “twitter4skype” chat session in iSkoot on my BlackBerry.

Tags: Hudson Barton, Borderless Communicator, twitter4skype, Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry, iSkoot

I spent yesterday at a Nokia marketing event in Toronto and decided to only take my three mobile devices to see how I would deal with maintaining essential contacts and information flow (email, Twitter, Facebook, voice calls, web browsing) without having a full laptop available. The devices: a Blackberry 8820 (GSM/EDGE/WiFi), a Nokia N95 (WiFi only) and an iPhone 3G (3G HSPA and WiFi). For about 2 hours we were in a studio where there was video shooting. During this time I had to turn off the carrier radio as it could cause interference with the video equipment; yet all three devices continued to have WiFi access. So what did I accomplish during the entire day?

• Blackberry 8820: read and sent email via both GMail and Blackberry mail, received a Skype call via iSkoot, followed and submitted Twitter messages via Twitter4Skype running as a Skype chat session in iSkoot, checked out and tracked the Blue Jays game, used Google Maps to get to the Nokia event, made a couple of local phone calls.
• Nokia N95 (first model): demonstrated SlingPlayer Mobile and Qik.com to Nokia personnel; made a Truphone call to Minnesota, took photos of the event with 5 MP camera.
• iPhone: lots of high quality web browsing; follow Facebook activity, read GMail.

Each has its own virtues – especially the Blackberry QWERTY keyboard, the N95′s video applications and the iPhone’s web browsing experience; yet I could not have done all these activities on a single device. Having WiFi on all three devices helped maintain contact while not able to use the carrier’s wireless services. Just as important is that I am still getting used to not having to worry about mobile data plan usage with Rogers’ new 6GB/month data plan rates as a result of the iPhone launch three weeks ago – at a $30/month lower cost than my plans for 25MB/month two months ago.

But the “convergence” coup d’état of the day was carried out by iotum CEO Alec Saunders. He had to host his daily SquawkBox call from the hotel lobby using iotum’s CalliFlower service. He followed the web page activity on his iPhone that had a WiFi connection to his Nokia E71 using Joiku and the Rogers Wireless data service; he made the voice call into the session using his Blackberry over the GSM voice channel. Key here is the need to follow the web page while talking on, and listening to, the call.

Seems like there’s still many paths to follow before we see total convergence on a single device.

Tags: Mobile life, Blackberry, Nokia, iPhone, Rogers, Alec Saunders, CalliFlower, SquawkBox, Joiku, twitter4skype, iSkoot, GMail, Facebook, Truphone, Qik.com, SlingPlayer

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