“Fring is not a communications platform, but only a toy or at best a testbed for shiny objects.”

Comment by Hudson Barton on Andy Abramson’s post: Fring Fumbles on Cross Platform Video Chat

In observing the evolution of Skype and third party access to it over the past few years I have often wondered how far Skype would go in allowing third party services to deploy Skype as one communications mode in a multi-service communications offering. Fring and Truphone are two examples. Usually these offerings figure out a way to put up a temporary Skype client on a “gateway” server and then build their own interface to the Skype client on that gateway.

There are issues of scalability, service quality (especially voice and video quality) and the overall user calling experience that could potentially compromise the user’s experience in taking advantage of the resulting Skype connection. It’s one thing to show that technically one can make the relevant voice and video connections but the challenges rise to a significantly higher level when taking into account the overall user experience.

Personally I look for services that allow me to easily find and select a contact, select the calling destination (Skype, Home, Mobile, Office, for example) and then click on either a soft button or the hardware green button and make the connection within a reasonable time (say, less than 30 seconds). I find the multi-service communications offerings to be a bit overbearing and almost too overwhelming for a non-technical business and consumer user.

Today there’s lots of coverage about Fring and its use of Skype (or now lack thereof); Dan York has provided an excellent summary of the various viewpoints in his post: Skype vs. Fring: Is Fring not telling the whole truth?. Very significant is the speed with which Skype’s Vice-President, Legal responded to get their side of the story out; their legal personnel usually have stayed out of the public discussion on any of Skype’s market-related issues.

But getting back to basics, there are three considerations:

Skype is Fundamentally Communications Software: we have heard this many times from Skype CEO Josh Silverman; he repeated and emphasized this during our CES conversation last January. As a result they own the intellectual property rights to their software. But they have been successful largely because they make much of their intellectual property available free – they can afford to do this since the capital overhead for Skype-to-Skype calling is so low. We as users provide the key piece by using Skype on our PC’s or other Skype-embedded hardware devices. On the other hand they need the intellectual property protection not only to defend potential revenues but just as importantly to defend their brand.

Best examples of this include:

• Skype video calling – here’s the 1964 AT&T World Fair concept now going out thirty-five years later with no charge for one-to-one video calling and being used on ~35% of Skype calls.
• Skype has also made their SILK codec available royalty-free provided the licensee meets performance criteria. As demonstrated with Skype for iPhone over 3G, SILK has the potential to revolutionize voice quality on mobile calling (and I’ll pay one or two dollars per month just to have the superior voice quality after many years of mobile phone calls with somewhat challenging audio quality ). Blabbelon provides an excellent example of incorporating SILK.
• Skype mobile on Verizon: here is a software development and licensing agreement that generates sustainable revenue streams for both parties while delivering a significant benefit, namely free calling to Skype contacts worldwide, to Verizon customers when calling from the U.S.
• With the success of Skype as a commercial TV production platform, Skype has developed special licensing terms for users of this application.

The bottom line is that all these, including making basic Skype-to-Skype calls using the standard Skype clients, involve some form of license agreement that is being adhered to.

Skype is Ultimately About The User Experience: Skype’s brand focuses well beyond the enabling technology to incorporate the entire user experience. It was ease of installation and use that allowed Skype to be adopted so readily such that over 600 million user accounts have been created with around 100 million active users. Skype’s VP for Mobile, Russ Shaw, re-emphasized this during our conversation at CES. We witness this in the recent launches of Skype mobile on Verizon and Skype for iPhone over 3G. While I can only rely on third party reporting about the former (not being in the U.S.) which has largely been positive, for the latter I simply installed the software, looked up a contact, clicked on the Call button and made this excellent quality call to the U.K. using Skype for iPhone over 3G. Woops, did I mention the quality of the call again? Overall both applications set a higher standard for the user experience.

Skype is Opening Up to Developers: Yes, there has been a rough ride for developers over the past four years. PamConsult, Netralia, InnerPass and OnState have persisted with their offerings and have demonstrated the potential for Skype and third party applications. But the recent launch of SkypeKit beta – in a phased program to ensure control over quality and service level issues as the program evolves – opens up significant opportunities for third party developers. Suffice it to say that I know we can expect not only significant software partner offerings but also some innovative hardware offerings based on SkypeKit. Once again, however, there are licensing guidelines to ensure the integrity of Skype’s brand.

But the bottom line is this: sure Skype reserves the right to generate revenues where they see a significant value-add market opportunity but even with their free offerings they want and need to preserve their brand image. It would appear from Skype’s legal executive’s comments that they have been trying to work out a way to interact with Fring without success; Fring has certainly been around for over three years in one form or another, including attending Skype-sponsored events. As Andy Abramson says:

As we all know there are three sides to every story, but given Fring took the shot first, an old rule of thumb in a legal battle is get the word out first. And Fring did. Now Skype, whose legal minds are based on the West Coast, as well as their platform team and video folks for the most part have gotten in and replied.

We now are starting to get a better handle on how Skype will establish the playing field for third party applications, hardware and services. The evolution of the Fring relationship (or lack thereof) will provide a concrete example of how far Skype will go in allowing third party affiliations.

Full disclosure: yes, I tried Fring several times in the past (when it had Skype access). Simply put, I never found a way to use it comfortably and abandoned it. I have used iSkoot successfully in the past; however, they no longer support current BlackBerry platforms. But all this flurry does generate the background for a future post on what I would look for in a mobile smartphone calling experience.

Re Truphone: I mentioned Truphone at the beginning of this post as another example of a third party service that offers Skype as one communication mode. I’ll have more to say on my Truphone experiences – both favorable and unfavorable in a separate post. At least I find it a reliable backup when I have no other choice for calling.

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In the past I have written about how WiFi is becoming the de facto unregulated stealth wireless carrier; I have also mentioned Boingo as a service that provides significant convenience when on the road, with its 125,000 access points at airports, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and other public locations worldwide.

Over the past year Skype has added Skype Access as a feature of the latest versions of both Skype for Windows (4.2) and Skype for Mac (2.8) which provides another WiFi access option at the same 125,000 Boingo access points. It’s what I would call a “last resort” option in that its convenience also comes at a premium price starting at over $0.20 per minute. Obviously it is limited to work over PC’s, whether Windows or Mac.

Today there is a new option for Apple iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch owners only: purchase “Boingo WiFi Credits” via the Apple App Store. For $1.99 you get one hour of iPad, iPhone (or iPod Touch) connectivity over WiFi. Ideal for those who do not have a Boingo mobile account but occasionally need WiFi access at an airport or hotel to make a Skype or Truphone call. From the press release:

Consumers can purchase the $1.99 Wi-Fi credits in advance or at the time of connect simply by confirming the purchase using their iTunes account login. The credits can be redeemed for 60 consecutive minutes of Wi-Fi access at a single Boingo hotspot, and can be used at any of the more than 125,000 Boingo hotspots worldwide.

Apple mobile device owners can purchase as many credits as they want. Those users who buy credits in blocks of ten will be rewarded with an additional free credit.  The credits are good for up to one full year after purchase.

Available under “Boingo WiFi Credits”, initially on the U.S. and Canadian Apple App Stores. An interesting alternative for those who do not need the ongoing access available through Boingo’s Mobile WiFi offering.

To summarize the various Boingo offerings:

• For PC’s: Boingo Unlimited Americas, Boingo Global (subscriptions) or Skype Access (occasional use)
• For iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch:  Boingo Mobile (subscription) or Boingo WiFi credits (occasional use)
• For all other WiFi enabled smartphones: Boingo Mobile (subscription).

Bottom Line: one more option to connect via unregulated wireless access.

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Announcement of the Skype – Verizon agreement certainly has generated buzz around both the Mobile World Congress and the blogosphere. Last Wednesday morning, one day after the announcement, several bloggers and mobile ecosystem players came together on a CalliFlower-hosted SquawkBox conference call to discuss both the triggers for the agreement and the implementations.

Co-hosted by Carl Ford and myself, participants on the call were Andy Abramson (who had been listening to the jungle drums on-site at MWC), Hudson Barton, James Body, William Volk, Alec Saunders, Thomas Howe and Moishe Maier.

Topics covered included:

• Verizon’s history of invoking VoIP; the “game” for Verizon (Carl Ford 00:30)
• Why Verizon finally had no choice but to do the deal. (Andy Abramson 02:15)
• What were the competitive drivers? (Andy Abramson 03:20)
• How does Verizon benefit from this agreement? (Andy Abramson 04:20)
• Who are the real winners (and losers) from this agreement? (Andy Abramson 05:00)
• How does this differ from what 3 is doing with Skype in nine countries (Andy Abramson 06:50)
• Lost in the announcement: final release of Skype for Symbian (Andy Abramson 07:50)
• Applications implications I: initial thoughts from Thomas Howe (08:15)
• Is Verizon missing a market segment through their smartphone offerings (James Body 09:05)
• Is this net neutral and no risk for Verizon? (Alec Saunders 11:00)
• How this agreement is a win for RIM (Andy Abramson 12:50)
• Dumb pipe or embedded intelligence: (Andy Abramson, Alec Saunders 13:50_ [Note that my last question to Russ Shaw was meant to be quoted as “When can I say ’Call Russ Shaw on Skype’?”, not “on mobile” as stated in this conversation; all four carrier friendly points referenced in this discussion can be found here.)
• Perhaps the most informative commentary: Applications implications II: a very interesting perspective on the mobile application store market from William Volk who has several of the top selling games on the iPhone. Backed up with comments by Mr. Mashup, Thomas Howe  (17:25) Terminology: ECPM – effective CPM. Bill makes some very poignant points about the uniqueness of Apple’s app store and why Verizon’s Get-It-Now app store that has no appeal to developers.

Download

Posts referenced during the call or subsequently relevant:

• Carl Ford: Jim Courtney & Carl Ford Converse about Skype & VZW
• Om Malik, GigaOm: Skype & Verizon’s Fear of the iPhone
• Andy Abramson, VoIP Watch: Skype, Verizon (and Andy) In the News
• Om Malik, GigaOm: Skype CEO: Skype Over 3G on iPhone Soon
• Om Malik, GigaOm: Skype-Verizon Deal: More Details
• Andy Abramson, VoIP Watch: Todd Carothers Point of View on Skype-Defining The Battleground

Thanks to Angelo Mandato at RawVoice for his assistance with getting my first “podcast” up and running using the BluBrry PowerPress WordPress plug-in. And, of course, our thanks to all who participated in the call.

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Full disclosure: This post was prepared prior to today’s press conference using information that was publicly available prior to the conference. In the second post I’ll discuss the service as announced at CES today.

When you can advertise “Free phone calling internationally”, they will come! In the CES interview with Skype CEO Josh Silverman, Josh makes the point about how Skype draws in customers by offering a free service that is easily adopted by consumers and then offering “premium” services, such as SkypeOut calling, to generate revenues. This model has led to:

• over 580MM registered Skype accounts (probably 100MM are currently active)
• over 12% of international long distance calling minutes are Skype-to-Skype calls
• and revenues approaching $1B per year.

As mentioned in the recent CES interview with Russ Shaw, Skype’s VP & GM for Mobile and EMEA, Skype’s partnership with Hutcheson Whampoa’s 3 service in nine countries has delivered interesting carrier-friendly results from 3’s customers who take advantage of its free Skype-to-Skype calling:

• 20% higher margin
• 17% additional traditional voice minutes
• lower churn rate
• high ARPU (average revenue per user)
• over 1 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes delivered in the UK since Nov. 2007

Results that should get all wireless carriers’ attention! And Russ did emphasize these results to reinforce where some of Skype for Mobile’s current activities and resources are being directed.

Setting the stage in the U.S. market for today’s Skype-Verizon announcement:

• Verizon has a reputation as offering the best high speed (3G and faster) wireless data services within the U.S. and nobody’s complaining about their voice quality.
• AT&T’s major strength appears to be its iPhone arrangements
• AT&T’s network performance issues, especially with their data service, are well documented (even their voice channel failed me on my last two trips to the U.S.)
• The major failing of the iPhone that impacts Skype for iPhone is its lack of multi-tasking capability
• Skype has announced they will be making available Skype for iPhone running over 3G – a service that will only be available on AT&T for the duration of the current Apple-AT&T agreement
• Verizon needs an offering and drawing card that will compete with AT&T’s forthcoming ability to offer a Skype-based service on the iPhone.

So it should come as no surprise that Verizon is announcing an agreement to offer Skype on several devices including the BlackBerry line and the Android phones they support.

The Service Architecture

Based on information that has come out over the weekend and content archived on this weblog, this service is modeled on an architecture similar to the iSkoot architecture used for 3’s service whereby data (Skype chat messages, presence and call signaling information) go over Verizon’s data channel but the actual voice calls are connected to the phone via Verizon’s (robust and readily scalable) voice channel. As a result:

• Call quality is limited by the (3.7KHz) audio bandwidth of the voice channel (in particular, no SILK superwideband quality calls)
• Verizon has no termination charges for calls to Skype contacts (or what amounts to being a Skype-to-Skype call – a key factor in making this service cost effective from the Verizon perspective)
• There is no loading of Verizon’s wireless data network (and the associated backhaul demands) with the heavy demand that would be placed on it via a true VoIP client.
• The resulting “Skype for Verizon” Skype Lite client on the BlackBerry and Android devices  has no support of calls via WiFi access points.

So the Verizon-Skype announcement certainly builds on previous Skype technology and business model experience; it will take advantage of proven and demonstrably reliable carrier voice and data services. I’ll have more in the follow-up post covering the actual announcement.

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Launch of the iPad last week and the Apple’s recent change in their developer terms of service involving the removal of restrictions for using VoIP technology over a carrier’s 3G network have had the Skype mobile team busy reviewing the opportunities.

In a Share Skype post, An update on Skype for iPhone and calling over 3G, Peter Parkes interviews Skype for Mobile team member David Ponsford making a few points:

• Skype’s high quality audio SILK technology will be embedded in the next version of Skype for iPhone (for both the latest model iPhone 3G S and iPod Touch)
• “Real soon now” (quoting David in the video) we’ll be able to make Skype for iPhone voice calls over a carrier’s 3G network using Skype for iPhone.
• The next version will also incorporate the call quality indicator, a very useful tool found currently in the Skype for Windows 4.2 beta release.
• Skype for iPad is under consideration; given Apple’s claim that all current third party iPhone apps should run on the iPad, this should not involve too much change other than adapting to the larger screen size.

Here’s the video:

Skype for iPhone has bailed me out for voice calling on my recent trips to the U.S. for CES 2010 and IT Expo. During both events several calls from outside parties to my BlackBerry resulted in very poor call quality when roaming over the AT&T network. As a result I had to ask the calling party to hang up and called them back using Skype for iPhone (fortunately I was in a WiFi access point’s range). And the call quality was more than acceptable in each case. Just reinforces my point last spring about WiFi becoming a stealth carrier.

What will be real interesting is how much data traffic is generated by calls over 3G:

• Will it be the application to cause me to take full advantage of the 6GB data plan (for Canadian access) on my iPhone where my usage currently runs under 100MB per month?
• What will be the impact on roaming data plans and the resultant charges?
• While there is no doubt that Rogers, Bell and Telus will be able to handle the additional data traffic load in Canada, will Skype for iPhone over 3G be the application that brings down AT&T’s network in the U.S? (Especially if they can’t deliver good quality voice calls on their voice channel – see above.)

One final question: Does “real soon now” mean prior to or during the upcoming Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics that start in nine days (Feb. 12)?

Thanks to Skype’s Chief Blogging Officer Peter Parkes and David Ponsford for the update.

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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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Towards the end of February there were several news reports about DoCoMo suspending their recently launched BlackBerry Bold service due to an overheating issue. In my six months of using a BlackBerry Bold I had never encountered any heating issue. But during my Toronto to San Francisco flight to eComm 2009 on Monday, March 2 that changed. I’ll get to the details but first I need to provide some background.

As reported previously I often use iSkoot or IM+ Plus for Skype (BlackBerry  version) for accessing my Skype contacts via voice or chat while away from my home office. One benefit of the BlackBerry version is that chat sessions can occur in background while using other applications. (This also applies to iSkoot for Android.) As new messages arrive, I receive a notification which provides me with an option to look at the message or continue my current foreground activity.

Early in February I attended a BlackBerry App World Developer presentation in Toronto where Tyler Lessard, RIM’s Director of ISV Alliances and Developer Relations, made the point that, in designing third party applications, developers need to “write to the device platform”, not simply to the “application”. For instance, any IM or “voice enhanced” application should include access to the native Blackberry address book as a matter of convenience; iSkoot on the BlackBerry can access the BlackBerry address book for setting up SkypeOut calls. But most importantly, RIM provides API’s such that an application can run in the background and receive data in a “push” fashion rather than requiring it poll the network frequently for data. Tyler pointed out that this approach minimizes an application’s dependence on the radio and, ultimately, battery life.

Finally, as background to this story, I should mention that, due to an allergic reaction to watch back covers, I cannot wear a watch; I use my Bold as a clock for time checks.

So what happened during my flight to SFO that resulted in a mild searing of my left hand? While at the Toronto airport waiting area I made a Skype call to Spain via iSkoot. Immediately after completing the call, it was time to board, so I simply pocketed my Bold and boarded. Once seated I turned off the Bold’s radio, more to conserve battery rather than worrying about interfering with aircraft radio.

But about two hours into the flight I pulled out my Bold to check the time and noticed that it was somewhat warm. Checked the radio settings; both GSM and WiFi were off. Checked again half an hour later when I wanted to listen to music on the Bold and all but mildly seared my hand while holding it. And, what had been a completely charged BlackBerry Bold at the beginning of the day was now showing battery level down at one-quarter. Obviously something was still active and draining the battery.

At that point I realized that I had left iSkoot running when I boarded the plane; maybe its background processing was attempting, unsuccessfully to check for my Skype messages; however, being unsuccessful resulted in frequent re-attempts. I closed iSkoot; within 15 minutes the Bold’s temperature had dropped to a point where I could hold it comfortably; an hour later it was back to ambient temperature.

I have contacted iSkoot with a suggestion that they look at:

• checking whether at least one of the Bold’s radio channels (2G/EDGE,3G or WiFi) is on before attempting to contact the network , and
• ensuring they are using RIM’s  API’s appropriately, especially with respect to their “push” feature, to reduce the heavy battery consumption I have experienced in normal use of iSkoot.

I also had SocialScope running while in flight; however, on my return flight with SocialScope open, I did not notice any heating issues. And, while I made reasonable use of my Bold during eComm 2009, I have not noticed any heating issues. Blogging colleague Jon Arnold did mention that, during phone calls, he did notice his Bold got warmer; however, it was not uncomfortably warmer. To me this was simply an indication as to how much I use text for conversations from my Bold: BlackBerry Messenger, SocialScope, iSkoot (for Skype IM and chat), email (either BlackBerry or GMail), web browsing and how little I use it for normal voice conversations.

Bottom line: if you’re writing applications for the BlackBerry, ensure you are only accessing the Internet when one of the BlackBerry’s radios is on, take advantage of the BlackBerry’s “push” feature, using the appropriate API’s to help extend battery life while using your application and check for other opportunities to “write to the device platform” as opposed to simply attempting to port an application from another platform.

Final question: does this provide a hint as to the cause of the DoCoMo problem? Is it possible that some DoCoMo-exclusive software is encountering a similar problem? To date a Google News search does not provide any mention of restoring availability of the Bold at DoCoMo.

And I’m still awaiting notification of a new build of iSkoot that addresses this issue. In the meantime make sure iSkoot is closed when turning off your BlackBerry radios (GSM/3G/EDGE and WiFi).

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The U.S. cell phone industry is asking its customers to only text during the inauguration ceremonies tomorrow. From the New York Times:

The largest cellphone carriers, fearful that a communicative citizenry will overwhelm their networks, have taken the unusual step of asking people to limit their phone calls and to delay sending photos. The carriers are also spending millions of dollars to temporarily and substantially upgrade their networks in Washington.

And the article goes on to request that customers delay sending photographs; they warn of delayed text messages and difficulty getting onto the (mobile) Internet.

But then all weekend I have heard CNN wanting to try out some “new technology” asking that as many of their “viewers” as possible send in photographs of “The Moment”. so that they can do a mass (Microsoft) Photosynth montage. Is this a recipe for Atlantic seaboard wireless network meltdown at noon Tuesday (EST or GMT-5)?

James Kendrick talks about his problems in San Francisco with AT&T; I experienced similar problems roaming on AT&T in Las Vegas at CES 2009 and in California back in September. At CES this was resolved only by setting my BlackBerry Bold to use just the “2G” network on the advice of an employee of a company who really would know; that tip resulted in a more stable and reliable operation. For those U.S. friends who want to experience a robust, reliable 3G GSM/HSDPA network, I invite you to move to Canada to be on Rogers. Rates may be a bit higher, but it’s always there, robust and reliable, in the advertised regions. Best proof: handling SlingPlayer for BlackBerry when driving along the 401 freeway at 100 km/hour.

Finally, first test of Barack Obama’s ability to change the U.S. government bureaucracy? His ability (and his resolve) to keep at least one of his two BlackBerries. And to save embarrassment when he next drops his BlackBerry, I would have to recommend an Otterbox Defender case.

Over the past few years we have seen the evolution of several conversation communities, some simply employing instant messaging; others employing both instant messaging and voice. Skype is the primary example with its support of IM, voice and video as well as auxiliary features such as file sharing (and, as announced tonight, basic screen sharing) but we are also seeing these services diffuse into Google, via GTalk’s voice and chat capability, MSN Live via Live Messenger, and, in spite of its trying to define who they are, Yahoo. Truphone is a mobile voice calling service that I have used for a couple of years from a Nokia N95-1; it became critical in a situation I encountered in Germany two years ago. I have liked both the quality of the voice calls as well as the user interface, especially its use of the device’s native address book for initiating a call. While they have had some hiccups with their recent product launches, Truphone has become the leader in providing low cost calling from the iPhone while breaking the carrier barrier via Apple’s App Store. I will soon be reporting on Truphone Anywhere for BlackBerry. Now, under recently appointed CEO Geraldine Wilson, Truphone is making a move to grow their user base rapidly by leveraging the user bases of other services.

This evening at the MacWorld Showstoppers event Truphone announced an enhanced Truphone for iPhone providing connectivity to these four conversation communities. Supporting both instant messaging and voice conversations, voice calls to, say, Skype contacts are free provided they go over a WiFi connection. Calls to these communities can also be made over a carrier’s 3G network, usually at the cost of a local call. In addition Truphone is providing access to Twitter as one additional messaging service accessible via Truphone’s iPhone application.

In my interview this evening with new Truphone CEO Geraldine Wilson, she pointed out:

• Using Skype as an example, Truphone’s enhancements set up an appropriate Skype client on a Truphone gateway and complete the call to the Skype contact, taking advantage of Skype’s peer-to-peer architecture such that there are no resulting termination charges.
• By introducing instant messaging, Truphone is recognizing the key role IM is taking on in IP-based conversations where a conversation may start over a chat session and migrate to a voice session if deemed appropriate.
• Truphone sees the introduction of these enhancements as a key to building the Truphone user community; Truphone generates revenue through offering low cost calling to/from the landline and mobile PSTN network.
• Truphone is looking at adding BlackBerry and Android to their supported platforms for this service over the next few months. Key here are devices that support an application store in order to make user access to these services simple and trivial.
• To avoid high roaming charges it is recommended that Truphone for iPhone be used either over a WiFi connection anywhere worldwide but only over a user’s home country 3G carrier.
• These new features go live on next Monday, January 12.

Some outstanding questions:

• Given that the Truphone application needs to be active for conversations, how will this work when other applications are open? Currently if I have Truphone as the open application on my iPhone, I can receive free Truphone calls and my presence will be indicated to other Truphone for iPhone users if I am in their “Favorites” tab. However, if I am in another iPhone application, I cannot receive “free” Truphone calls over WiFi; nor is my presence indicated to others. I look forward to seeing how the enhanced Truphone handles Instant Messaging when Truphone is not the “open” application on the iPhone. This is where BlackBerry’s full multi-tasking capability is a major advantage over the iPhone.
• Calling Skype contacts involves providing your SkypeID and password. What security is in place to maintain the confidentiality of this information. What other security aspects are compromised as a result of placing the calls via a connection to a gateway that supports the caller’s Skype client.
• What is Skype’s reaction to having Truphone siphon off what could otherwise potentially be SkypeOut revenues while leveraging the Skype user base and using the “free” aspect of Skype? We know Skype is working to launch mobile phone applications, probably this week at CES. With iSkoot and the Skypephone on 3′s networks, as we learned at last year’s eComm 2008 iSkoot presentation, a portion of carrier revenues are shared between Skype and iSkoot.

A major step forward in making low cost calls worldwide, Truphone’s moves once again emphasize that WiFi is becoming an ever growing alternative connection option to making wireless calls. At the same time it will be interesting to see how the business model plays out in a world where the cost of voice calling continues to move towards zero.

GigaOm: Truphone Brings Skype to iPhone and iPod Touch

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Truphone‘s announcements last week overcame a significant carrier resistance barrier to using VoIP-enabled services to reduce international calling costs. The key secret here was that it required the combination of Truphone’s iPhone and iPod Touch applications along with the Apple Application program that leverages Apple’s established carrier relationships to break this barrier.On Friday I was finally able to complete provisioning of Truphone on my iPhone. It happened at this time for three reasons:

• The association of my original Truphone number and account with a Nokia N95 handset and the “416″ number I eventually transferred to my iPhone whose acquisition as an upgrade on my carrier account minimize my iPhone costs over the term of the three year contract.
• The original iPhone application only supported outbound calling; I would have lost the Truphone inbound calling feature I had on the N95.
• For this reason I left Truphone on my N95 (using a deactivated SIM and my home office WiFi access point) pending the arrival of a Truphone for iPhone application and service that supported both inbound and outbound calling.

Recall also that the original Truphone for iPhone only allowed calls over WiFi access points with no ability to pass them through the underlying 3G wireless carrier. Truphone’s two announcements last week addressed three issues:

• Truphone for iPhone now supports both inbound and outbound calling
• Truphone added the Truphone Anywhere service such that Truphone for iPhone calls could be made over the underlying 3G carrier as well as over WiFi.
• Truphone for iPod Touch (2nd generation) invoked the Truphone Anywhere service allowing calls to be made from iPod Touch to any PSTN number.

Over the course of the past week it has become possible to make low cost international calls from any iPhone or iPod Touch mobile device worldwide. Truphone has demonstrated how the underlying service provider can can eliminate the need to have a multitude of individual “carrier-service provider agreements” with the 79 carriers currently offering the iPhone worldwide. Yet carriers still benefit through increased local minutes used to provide the connection to/from Truphone calls. To quote from Ted Wallingford’s “Heartburn Chuckle: The telecom industry can blame itself”:

The Carriers

The carriers are firms like AT&T, Windstream, Verizon, BT, and so on. Their obsession with the billing unit (the almighty minute) has made them helpless to see the possibilities of a software-rich, application-based global ecosystem. Consequently, the most successful apps to arrive on the carriers’ networks, the ones most embraced by the public, overwhelmingly have one purpose: to steal billable minutes from the carriers. The innovation disappeared and the scrappy new players in the market, the ones with the power to transform the public’s thinking about telecom, instead got stuck doing the same old thing the big telecoms do to put bread on the table: bill minutes. [Author's italics]

For instance, Canadians can now use Truphone for iPhone as their international calling service over Rogers without the need to subscribe to one of Rogers international calling plans but perhaps with an increase in their monthly “local” voice plan minutes. In this case, there is no cost for the actual application and you establish international call credits through a Truphone account. When Rogers’ iPhone customers travel to Europe, calling back to North America can be handled at a much lower cost through hotel, cafe and airport WiFi services, such as Boingo or iPass. (True roaming calls from outside the “home country” over a 3G carrier will still be expensive; Andy’s post linked here suggests RebelSIM provides a solution.)

It was the second part of this announcement that is most significant. Previously VoIP-enabled services, such as 3′s Skypephone, required working with individual carriers to establish the appropriate business and operating agreements. However, in one move, Truphone was able to leverage Apple’s relationships with 79 carriers worldwide to bring about commitment free international calling. Apple, through its Application Program has become a disintermediator, facilitating a business model disruption, once again.

As for the iPhone for iPod Touch application; this is why the most successful carriers need to offer both wireless and broadband Internet services. Calls via WiFi access points, including one’s broadband Internet service, go over the broadband connection and reduce carriers’ needs to build out the capital-intensive wireless network infrastructure, including backhaul.

In a future post, once I’ve had some more Truphone for iPhone experience, I’ll do a comparison of services available over Skype and over Truphone. But one obvious difference: Truphone is about voice conversations only; Skype is about voice and text conversations.

Related Post: Race to Provide Low Cost International Calling Heats Up

Tags: Truphone, iPhone, carriers, voip, Skypephone, iSkoot, international calling, service providers, WiFi

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Yesterday I wrote a post for GigaOm, Skype: Coming to a Cell Phone Near You, discussing how the announcement of two new beta versions of Skype on mobile devices gave a hint of Skype’s future mobile strategy.

At the same time Truphone announced a new version of their iPhone application. Whereas the version released at the time of the Apple App Store launch back in July only supported outbound calling over WiFi access points, the new release not only supports inbound calling to your iPhone number but also makes outbound calls via the 3G carrier networks that offer the iPhone.

Innovation driven competition in delivering low cost international calling services appears to be heating up during these challenging economic times – at least for calls originating in your “home” calling country or area code(s). Here’s a brief summary of what is evolving:

We’ve seen the evolution of two architectures for making VoIP-enabled calling from mobile devices; it’s all a matter of where the calling party’s Skype (or VoIP client) session is opened up – directly on the device or on a dedicated hosted server. This leads to two other considerations:

• Carrying the voice portion of the call from the mobile device into the network cloud: either via the carrier’s robust and proven (GSM) voice channel or over via a WiFi access point
• The need to support Skype’s instant messaging (chat and presence); this always occurs as a data activity

VoIP Client on the Mobile Device; VoIP over WiFi

Skype for Windows Mobile places the VoIP client directly onto the device. As a result the device must handle the “VoIP processing” to generate the packets that are transmitted over the supporting data network (either a carrier’s 3G network or via a WiFi access point.) As mentioned previously, it places heavy demands on the device’s resources, especially the processor (running at much lower speeds than on a PC) and the battery.

Truphone’s original voice offering also runs on the device (usually a Nokia Smartphone). While both Skype for Windows Mobile and Truphone can run over either WiFi access points or a 3G network, it is strongly advised to use these only over WiFi access points to have a reliable, robust, high quality voice service. For instance, the Skype for Windows Mobile download page says:

• Log into Skype from any WiFi zone to make free calls and send instant messages to anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world, any day of the week.
• WiFi connection or 3G/2G data connection (we cannot guarantee voice quality over 3G/2G. You may also be liable to additional data charges so please check with your operator before using)

Truphone’s original iPhone outbound calling offering was also only available using the iPhone’s WiFi capability; however, details of their architecture were never revealed.

Accessing VoIP via a Wireless Carrier

Over the past year we have seen the rise of several services that use the alternate architecture where a call is placed via a local access point to a hosted server that then opens up a Skype client. The server-based Skype client then completes the call as a Skype-to-Skype call.

While originally pioneered by iSkoot, a service using this architecture, such as Skype Lite beta, makes a call to a SIP Gateway server via a local point of presence while data about the call is concurrently sent via the underlying data network to a hosted Mobile Gateway. This dedicated gateway then sets up a Skype-to-Skype call between the SIP Gateway — now connected to your cell phone — and the destination Skype contact. Skype chat messages can also be exchanged concurrently over the data network. We are now seeing various offerings using this architecture:

• The highly successful Skypephone offered by 3 in nine countries.
• iSkoot providing service for a wide range of phones including BlackBerry, Nokia and T-Mobile’s G-1.
• Truphone Anywhere: when Truphone found they could not offer a highly reliable service over 3G networks (largely due to device resource considerations), they launched Truphone Anywhere that allows Truphone calls to be made over a 2G (GSM/EDGE) or 3G (UMTS/HSPA) voice/data network as well as over WiFi access points.
• Skype for Mobile beta – Skype’s first attempt to go beyond Skype for Windows Mobile onto other platforms such as Nokia N-Series and E-Series devices. This never got out of the beta phase; while you could use Skype chat anywhere, the voice service was only to be available in a limited number of  countries (that did not overlap with countries where Skypephone was available).
• Skype Lite beta: building on the Skype for Mobile beta experience to a service that supports not only smartphones but also over 90 cell phones that support a Java client and include basic web browsing and data capability. According to the Skype Lite page it appears that Skype is working with carriers in ten countries to support this service.
• Truphone for iPhone 1.12 release: makes Truphone calls either over WiFi or any cellular network using an iPhone, building on their Truphone Anywhere experience.

Key features of these server-hosted VoIP client services:

• They are most cost effective when calling from your home country or local calling area. You could incur long distance or, when outside your home country, roaming charges that would run up quite quickly.
• An unlimited or high cap data plan minimizes costs associated with using these services.
• Only Skype provides a full Instant Messaging capability covering both chat and presence. Some Truphone offerings have shown support for SMS messaging.
• Calls to Skype contacts are free.
• Calls to mobile numbers outside U.S. and Canada will still invoke the charges incurred in “caller pays” mobile services.

Why only the cost of a local call? Your cell phone makes a call to a local number which puts the call through to the service’s SIP Gateway. At this point you connect into a Skype-to-Skype call for which there are no termination charges involved as a result of Skype’s unique (and secure) peer-to-peer architecture.  The same applies to Truphone where Truphone-to-Truphone calls are free.

This Skype Lite beta announcement portends that we could be seeing Skype-to-Skype calling, along the lines of 3′s popular Skypephone service in nine countries, become available to mobile customers having a much broader range of cell phones and in up to ten additional countries.

One other service that can be accessed from any phone is Mobivox. However, there you have to build up and manage your address book online such that VoxGirl can help you make your calls; it does not access your mobile phone address book. It’s purely a voice service with no messaging component (other than using SMS to facilitate setting up calls under certain circumstances).

While we’re getting a first step in driving down mobile costs for international calling, the next step needs to be finding a user-friendly way to drive out roaming costs. MaxRoam and Truphone’s SIM4Travel are starting to offer some hope on this front; however, at the moment their costs for USA-Canada calls are much more than my Rogers roaming charge. The winners will feature not only lower costs but a very friendly user interface, interacting with the device address book, that also provides the most complete ranges of services in terms of coverage and complementary conversation modes, such as IM.

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• Truphone for iPod Touch: Accessing Skype Contacts and Social Media

Use SkypeOut with Talkster to make SkypeOut calls to “Caller Pays” mobile phones at your “local” SkypeOut rates (= free, if on a Skype Unlimited plan).

A couple of weeks ago I reported on how North Americans can make calls on SkypeOut and send their mobile phone number as their SkypeOut callerID. This has had significant unanticipated implications for a couple of services that use your mobile callerID for immediate identification and access to their service.

iotum’s Free Conference Call: I noticed that, over the past couple of weeks since making my mobile number my SkypeOut CallerID, I did not have to enter the PIN codes supplied for each of the Squawk Box calls I register for. When I initially registered for Free Conference Call last fall I had to supply a mobile phone number with which I would associate my FCC account. If I called into a call from my mobile phone I was immediately identified using my mobile CallerID and put into the call. But since I usually called in via SkypeOut, where the callerID had been “000123446″ I had to enter a PIN code to access the call. However, now that SkypeOut sends my mobile callerID, I am immediately put into the Squawk Box call as if I called in from my mobile phone.

Then last week, speaking with Talkster CEO James Wanless, he pointed out that the availability of mobile phone numbers as the CallerID (CLI) for SkypeOut calls makes it feasible to make SkypeOut calls to mobile phones in “Caller Pays” countries at “local” wireless phone charges using Talkster’s Free World Dialing service.

Prior to discussing Talkster’s service, a reminder: for calls originating from any carrier or VoIP service, the charges for calling mobile phones in “Caller Pays” countries are approximately an order of magnitude higher than charges to landlines in these countries. Basically call termination rates are established by the various mobile carriers in these countries; the originating carrier or service has little control over this differential. For this reason Skype’s various Unlimited plans do not include calls to mobile phones in “Carrier Pays” countries; the same general principal applies to calls from, say, Truphone or other VoIP-based services. Skype’s Unlimited plans, where relevant, will include calls to mobile phones in U.S./Canada since it is the mobile phone owner who pays for the mobile connection.

Here’s how Talkster’s Free World Dialing to Skype works:

1. First ensure you have set your Skype CallerID¹ to be your mobile number, preferably, but not necessarily, a mobile number you have entered into your Skype profile.
2. Talkster asks you to create individual “pairings” with each friend’s mobile phone number in the remote country.
3. You “register” your mobile phone number and your friend’s mobile phone number in, say, Germany or U.K. as a pairing.
4. Talkster then gives you “local” phone numbers for this pairing — for instance I get a “416″ or “647″ Toronto number; I am also given a “local” German or U.K. number for my German or U.K. friend to use.
5. SMS messages containing these numbers are sent to both yourself and to your friend. On my Blackberry there was an opportunity to add the phone number to my address book.
6. I then use SkypeOut to call the “416″ or “647″ number in Toronto; Talkster detects my mobile callerID at this number and automatically calls my German or U.K. friend on his/her mobile phone.
7. We then have ten seconds to confirm we want to talk; I stay on the connection. There is no charge for this confirmation step.
8. My German or U.K. friend hangs up and then dials back to his/her assigned “local” German or U.K. number and is immediately connected back into my initial call.

And the resulting costs:

• Wireless carrier charges: Each of us is paying “local” wireless calling rates (i.e. I use up “local” minutes from my monthly Rogers subscription, and my remote friend pays according to his/her mobile subscription arrangements for local calls in his/her country) for the wireless connection at each end.
• The call originator pays whatever SkypeOut rates apply for to the “local” Talkster number. Since I am on a Skype Unlimited plan there is no charge for calling the “416″ or “647″ number assigned to me by Talkster.

The end result is that nobody is paying those high “Caller Pays” rates for calls to a German or U.K. mobile phone (~ US$0.25 per minute according to Skype’s rate schedule). It is not a traditional “Call Back” service in that I never hang up but rather stay on the connection while awaiting a call back from my remote friend to initiate the call. Effectively I am given a Toronto number for connecting to my friend in Germany or U.K.

Using SkypeOut with a Skype Unlimited plan for local access, Talkster’s Free World Dialing now makes calls to mobile phones in “Caller Pays” countries at no additional cost, provided my remote friends are willing to make a “local” call back into the call.

Talkster is different from the Skype To Go service in that, on Skype To Go, the caller is still be paying those “Caller Pays” charges on a call to a “Caller Pays” mobile phone service and you may end up paying a connection fee. On the other hand the called party does not have to make a call back. (Not being in a Skype To Go country, I have not experienced this service but James understood the algorithm.). Whereas Skype To Go works in eleven countries, Talkster is available for 34 countries.

A few comments from my interview with James:

• The setup connection call becomes a form of presence indication in that the called party needs to answer to indicate that s/he can participate in a call.
• They do not use SMS for notification of a call since SMS delivery does not have sufficient reliability to send a message in a timely manner; also SMS does not necessarily indicate that the called party is available to take a call.
• An individual can set up separate pairings for each remote contact whom you call frequently. Talkster allows up to 15 pairings for Canadians, 20 pairings for U.S. users. However, their experience is that most users will only set up a maximum of five or six pairings. Pairings can be between numbers in 34 countries.
• With this calling algorithm, it’s a “Friends and Family” service for your frequently called numbers but not one for generally making calls to these countries.
• While this service is driven by the cost saving for calls to mobile phones, it can also be used to make calls to remote landline phones in the available countries.
• Talkster is developing business relationships with online communities as a key target market where they would have access to (user permitted) demographics to target advertising more effectively. James has commented on this aspect in his recent post “Using the Social Graph for Targeting Ads“. Rather than being “just another call back service”, Talkster expects to monetize through advertising during the ten second period when making the initial setup call. They may also have a means to send out coupons via SMS.
• There are no termination charges associated with this algorithm.
• According to James, because there are two inbound calls connected, apparently this enhances the call quality. Confirmation would only come through experience.
• Whereas Skype Unlimited Mexico provides unlimited calling to three cities in Mexico (with significant discounts to other regions), Talkster recently announced free calling to 14 regions of Mexico.

A classic example where this lower cost service became available to Skype users simply by Skype’s making CallerID available; there was no additional work required by either Skype or Talkster to make the service work.

Skype CallerID will only accept mobile phone numbers or your SkypeIn (online) number.

Tags: Talkster, Skype, Free World Dialing, Skype To Go, Skype Unlimited, iotum, Free Conference Call, Skype callerID, SkypeOut

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Later today my family will be celebrating the marriage of my son, a computer engineer and medical doctor, to his fiancé, a materials engineer and MBA by training, and now employed in the financial division of a resources company. Talk about how to win over the heart of her future father-in-law — she recently traveled to the Kyrgyzstan (also known as the Kyrgyz Republic) in central Asia. She has a story to tell about how she downloaded her Blackberry email in Krygyzstan, where Rogers has no roaming agreement.. So the steps are:

• Be employed by a company with a mining operations at a 13,000 foot (4,000 meter) elevation.
• Drive up to the mine over a mining development road from the 1,500 foot elevation of the main plain (and I’m told it’s a very scenic drive from the capital city, Bishkek, to where the mining road starts, along the shore of Krygyzstan’s largest lake.)
• Get out and look north; pull out the Blackberry and search for a network.
• Check a few minutes later and you’ll find your email updated.

The secret: a few miles/kilometers north of the mine is Kazakhstan where Rogers does have a roaming agreement. At a 13,000 foot elevation there is enough residual signal from the Kazakhstan operator’s towers to do a download. I have not asked about the resulting roaming data charges…??

But it speaks volumes about the sensitivity of the rf engineering in the Blackberry where even weak signals can be picked up and carry the data stream. For those who ask, it was a Blackberry Curve.

Now off to the wedding celebrations; I’ll be back next week.

Tags: Blackberry, Kyrgyzstan, Rogers, Kasakhstan

iSkoot provides the ability to call, and/or chat with, your Skype or SkypeOut contacts from a mobile smart phone, turning international calls into “local” calls. While chat sessions are carried out on the device, voice calls are initiated from the device but carried over the wireless network’s robust voice channel, usually at the cost of a “local” call for calls to Skype contacts. iSkoot also makes calls to SkypeOut contacts at the normal SkypeOut rates plus the cost of a “local” call. Smart phones supported include Blackberry, Nokia N-Series and E-Series, WIndow Mobile, Palm and others.

Summary from Supplier:

With iSkoot, a mobile phone user gets the power of PC calling as part of their normal communications capabilities. iSkoot eliminates the need for special hardware, headsets, microphones, broadband connections, USB phones and even PCs, and consumers don’t have to go looking for a WiFi hot spot.

Our iSkoot phone application, a small and simple piece of software, and our network gateway connect your voice network with a PC-PC network so that you can use your Internet phone service from a regular cell phone. Everything you can do with online phone services, you can now do on your cell phone powered by iSkoot.

Main Website : http://www.iskoot.com

Products and Services :

• iSkoot
• Supports Blackberry, Nokia N-Series, Nokia E-Series, Palm, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung Blackjack, HP iPAQ’s, etc.