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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Since its version 1.0 launch in late 2007, PamFax has provided an easy-to-use web-based fax service, that allows you to send faxes worldwide without any hardware requirements. Initially a fax sending service, PamFax 2.0 introduced features such as a Windows print driver, support for Mac and Linux and inbound faxing to a local number in your area code in 25 countries.

Over the past week Scendix, producer of the cloud-based PamFax service launched PamFax 3.0 with a focus on improving delivery speed, scalability, robustness and access. But to meet these goals they had to start over from scratch, building a newly architected back end that also incorporated new hardware to meet the growing demand for the service.

New features include:

• Faster fax delivery – in my recent experience, the new service was delivering faxes in one to three minutes as opposed to 15 to 30 minutes under the previous setup
• More registration/login options: Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and several others
• Two plans for fax-in numbers:
  • Basic: provides fax-in number for 12 months that allows you to receive an unlimited number of faxes
  • Professional: provides fax-in number for twelve months, 20 fax pages to Zone 1 recipients per month and 33% discount for additional pages, unlimited storage of send and received faxes and “My Company” PamFax Manager to sign up employees and delegate PamFax credits as well as report on company fax activities.
• Three free fax pages upon sign-up to check out the service
• Every new registrant will receive a free Basic Plan for three months, including a fax-in number
• Free faxing from PamFax to a PamFax fax-in number.
• PamFax API’s – allows you to fully embed the PamFax functionality easily and quickly into your application or device

PamFax continues to offer:

• A simple, straight forward five or six step process for sending a fax
• Fax from a Windows/Mac/Linux client or online via a web browser
• Operation from any web browser worldwide with no additional hardware requirement.
• A portal to manage your fax activity
• Fax status messages to e-mail, SMS and/or Skype chat
• No minimum commitments
• Support for over 100 file formats
• Payment either pay-as-you-go or via PamFax Credit packs
• No contracts or ongoing obligations

Often my posts on PamFax bring up the question of “who’s using faxes today”? With various alternatives for exchanging documents electronically, one would think that faxing is becoming passé. However, with billions of fax machines still attached to phone lines and the ongoing need for “recognized originals”, such as contract execution signatures, Scendix reports that their monthly page volumes continues to grow at a significant pace. And, were the market not still a significant one, Scendix would not have invested their resources since last summer in the  very extensive development of the PamFax 3.0 platform.

Yet, with PamFax, fax activity can become paperless and “totally green”. Sending documents involves simply attaching a document (in over 100 formats) during the fax set up process unless it is one that has to be scanned in. While there are options for printing received faxes, they can also simply be read on the user’s PamFax portal and printed only when absolutely necessary.

The Scendix team has prepared an “office drama” introductory video about how PamFax brings relief to the frustrations of faxing:

An introduction to PamFax from PamFax on Vimeo.

Voice On The Web posts about PamFax

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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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PamFax adds a Japanese partner, lowers rates to 13 destination countries and enhances its infrastructure

Back in April Scendix launched PamFax 2.0 with many new features outlined in a post at that time. To address some reader feedback and summarize PamNews announcements, it’s appropriate to do an update summary of PamFax’s evolution.

First, and most important, is that the launch of PamFax 2.0 with its feature set has triggered accelerated user adoption. While not at liberty to reveal numbers, its acceptance says that, if you provide an  easy-to-use service, the customers will come. Adding Mac support and fax-in numbers brought instant credibility as a fully featured fax service.

A more robust, stable service: With user experience PamFax has required some infrastructure improvements. Issues involving the individual fax-in numbers were resolved during the first week of this new service. Fax-in numbers for Mexico have been added; as result fax-in numbers are available in 22 countries. And as their fax volume grows, the PamFax servers have required improvements to increase the stability and reliability of the service. Probably sounds “boring” but servicing PamFax’s “back office” infrastructure is probably more critical to sustainable reliability at this point than any modifications to the user interface.

Adding a Japanese version: But the PamFax team has not stopped with simply technology improvements. Earlier this week they announced a strategic partnership with Fusion Network Services in Japan who are  offering a Japanese version of the service:

We have jointly worked hard to prepare the launch by localizing the entire PamFax system in Japanese. Fusion is also a Skype partner and provide Skype with the local Skype-In numbers in Japan.

Fusion plan several marketing activities over the next months to introduce the PamFax solution to the market.

Reducing costs: While there were significant price reductions with the launch of PamFax 2.0, there were still some challenges out there. Recently I was going to send a four-page fax to Estonia but when I found out there was a $0.89 per page charge via PamFax, I scanned the document to a pdf file and sent it as an email attachment. However, as of this week, Estonia has been moved to the PamFax Zone 1 list of countries served with a base rate of €0,09/$0.12 per page (or €0,06/$0.08 for PamFax Pro subscribers). In total, thirteen fax destination countries were moved to the lowest Zone 1 rates: Singapore, Israel, Aland Islands, Malaysia, Finland, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Venezuela, Cyprus, Argentina, Estonia. (As a side benefit it now becomes a reasonable cost to use PamFax to send faxes to Skype’s developer team in Tallinn.)

Bottom line: Launching any service has its hiccups, but the PamFax team is there for the long run. If you encounter difficulties they have a support program where you can seek assistance and/or voice your issues for a response. The PamFax team wants to ensure a sustainable, reliable, seamless service and is listening.

Most amazing has been the response in terms of user adoption; while certainly email and other Internet services provide the means to send/receive documents, there’s still a large market for sending hard copy fax to all those dedicated fax terminals and “All-in-One” printers still sitting in offices worldwide. Offering a secure, low cost, yet easy-to-use, worldwide service was really the key to unlocking this business opportunity.

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Recently launched PamFax 2.0 had three key new features:

• Mac OSX compatible (in addition to Windows)
• Lower “per page” pricing by up to 40%, and
• Fax-In numbers in 27 countries

Signing up for a one year subscription to acquire a fax-in number is about a five minute process when you subscribe to PamFax Professional. What makes it possible to so easily obtain a “local” number in any of over one hundred cities in 27 countries? Short answer: Voxbone.

I first learned about Voxbone’s services when they were a major sponsor of eComm 2008 a year ago March. At the time CEO Rod Ullens told us how Voxbone was able to provision DID numbers in over 4000 cities in 47 countries worldwide at minimum cost. Last fall Voxbone launched their iNum service which creates “universal worldwide ‘local’ numbers” via the +883 country code. Customers for their basic DID services, who have been covered on Voice On The Web, include iSkoot, Calliflower, Mobivox,Truphone, OnState, Evoca and Voxeo.

When PamConsult CEO Dick Schiferli told me about their plans to add a receiving service to PamFax, they were looking for a way to easily provision and manage fax-in number subscriptions. At the time I introduced him to Voxbone’s Rod Ullens and the rest is history. But Voxbone does not simply provide fax-in numbers in 27 countries; according to a press release issued today:

Voxbone was uniquely equipped to bring several critical elements to Pamfax’s 2.0 offering:

• An inventory of direct-inward dial numbers (DIDs) in 4,000 cities and 47 countries, out of which 27 will initially be available to PamFax subscribers to use as their personal fax numbers;
• An IP interface to the telephone network that enables fax documents to be translated into TIFF or PDF data files;
• An API for the automated delivery of these faxes to any software or Web site.

In other words, Voxbone is equipped not simply to “make the connections” involved in receiving a fax but also to ensure that formatting and delivery automation is appropriately handled when receiving a fax via PamFax.

Bottom line: Through Voxbone, documents faxed to PamFax Fax-In customers are delivered as PDF files which can then be printed, sent as email attachments, archived or otherwise viewed and transferred at the recipient’s discretion.

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

PamFax is a Skype Extra that lets you quickly and easily scan and fax a hard copy document or fax a PC-based document to any fax number worldwide.

Not only helpful for the home or small business office but also ideal for road warriors who need to fax documents while traveling from their hotel, an airport lounge or at a coffee shop with Internet access. In fact, it can be used as a road warrior’s printer by “printing” a document to your local hotel’s fax number.

PamFax has three modes of sourcing a document for faxing:

• scan a hard copy document from almost any scanner;
• select a stored document on your PC or
• print a document from within a Windows application with PamFax being the Windows printer.

Costs start at €0.17 (~$0.25) per page and vary by destination country.

Summary from Supplier :

Looking for a simple and inexpensive solution to send your faxes? PamFax has it all:

• Simple to use:
  • Fully integrated with Skype
  • User friendly wizard makes sending a fax a breeze
  • Send faxes from Word/Excel 2003/2007
  • Send faxes from any application by printing to PamFax printer
  • Easy payment with your Skype Credit
  • No upfront payments, no subscriptions, no additional cost, no registration
  • No advertizing on faxes
• SSL secure
• Status notification via Skype Chat, E-Mail and/or SMS
• Many supported file types
• Scanner support. Scan and fax a paper document. Supports multi-feed
• Send a fax to multiple recipients at once
• User portal with fax history and settings
• Download sent faxes as PDF
• Add an optional cover page (several choices)
• Reserve credit for faxing so you can one-click send your fax
• Preview your fax
• See recipient’s location in

Ideal for: Home, Home Office, Small Business, Road Warriors

Publisher’s Expertise and Background: PamConsult has a long history of developing third party applications using the Skype infrastructure.

Contact Information:

• Website : http://www.pamfax.biz
• Phone: n/a
• Forum: PamFax Forum
• Email: Enquiry Form

Products and Services amFax will send faxes from three sources

• A PC-based scanner
• Browse to select a document
• As a Windows printer directly from a Windows application

Requirements:

• Skype: Version 3.x or later
• Platforms: Windows XP/Vista

Product Acccess :

• Skype Extras [Tools | Do More | Get Extras];
• Download

Installation Comments: When installing you will be asked to agree with the license.

Product Description

Pricing: Rates by Destination Zone