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.

Jeff Pulver has been operating 140 Characters Conferences over the past two years at many U.S. locations where attendees hear stories about how Twitter has played a role in both personal lives and business activities. About six months ago an ambitious group of social media enthusiasts in the Kitchener-Waterloo region approached Jeff about about holding a session in Kitchener, Ontario – twin city to Waterloo about an hour’s drive west of Toronto. Jeff, who has had many reasons to visit the Toronto area over the past several years, suggested that it be billed as the 140 Characters Conference: Ontario to give it a regional perspective.

A historical perspective

During his keynote Jeff mentioned that his origins with real time worldwide communications go back to his early exploration of amateur radio – the only way to communicate socially with individuals worldwide prior to the Internet other than to make expensive international telephone calls. I recall several friends who immersed themselves in amateur radio due to the intrigue of finding new friends in far off locations. (Full disclosure: the author used the Radio Amateur Handbook to build magnetic resonance spectrometers at an early stage in his career.)

One of the applications that drove the adoption of Quarterdeck’s DESQview multi-tasking environment for DOS was community bulletin boards that used DOS PC’s with modems and dial-up connections to allow individuals to communicate via text messages. One of the more interesting applications of bulletin boards was managed by an child oncology doctor at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital. She had set up a bulletin board service whereby her patients could continue to communicate with each other once they had left a hospital and returned home. The key learning here was that an otherwise geographically dispersed community with a common interest could come together and share their experiences in dealing with their disease as they carried on their day-to-day lives at home. One of the key observations made by the doctor was that the kids could communicate without the need for others to see any physical impact of their cancers – “kids without faces” she called it; as a result it helped to keep discussions focused on the issues they faced in living their lives and gave them the confidence to raise their concerns.

So there was some early evidence that with the appropriate communications tools available, one can establish common interest groups and communities that engage in conversations sharing experiences and information that are otherwise “below the radar” of mainstream media. And they could do this across an electronic bridge that broke down geographical barriers.

So where are we today?

In the past fifteen years we have seen the evolution of many tools for engaging conversations with others through the Internet: email, web post comments, Skype chat sessions, Facebook and, of course, Twitter. For most of them, one is dealing with a closed or gated” community where you, say, accept Friends on Facebook, approve Skype contacts and put up anti-spam filters for email, etc.

However, what became apparent with yesterday’s presentations were:

• Be authentic, remember you are always presenting your “personal brand”, not only building relationships but also establishing legitimacy and credibility even if that is not your intention
• As a “broadcast” tool where anyone can see your Tweets if they have the right tools and filters, you can recruit a community to help you with your common interest.
• Whereas physically close family and friends may not see the nature of your issue, someone out there in Twitterland will be willing to share their experiences and information resources via 140 character messages. Yes, there are pluses and minuses but let’s focus on the positive outcomes here.

We heard stories about helping a single parent with no support resources, alleviating depression, losing your job and becoming an entrepreneur starting your own business, watching out for the “little things” to reward small but important achievements at a small business, growing a “new age” fitness business where the actual activity is secondary to the socialization and building community morale and enthusiasm in a town that has lost most of its “conventional” manufacturing industry. Taylor Jones describes it more completely here.

It was obvious from yesterday’s presentations that each presenter had built a community of interest but most interesting was to note that Twitter was not simply a tool for social networking but also a seed for changing lives. But, as AmberMac stated in her presentation, keep in mind as you tweet – with influence comes responsibility.

The Take Away

A couple of years ago, in conjunction with a CES show, I attended one of Jeff’s initial sessions where he was trying to identify a market to address built around this 140 character communications tool. At that session we listened to Twitter experiences but the presenters largely were achieving commercial success.

What was different yesterday across all the presentations was a common thread of not simply socializing via the Internet to build relationships but then using that socializing for experiencing follow up social change in our lives, whether the Twitter engagement involved dealing with individual personal challenges or driving a “community” to take the initiative to achieve a common goal.

Acknowledgement: Kudos to the K-W area team that organized this conference. Well done, well run. Look forward to hearing about another one in the future.

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)

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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The past six months, with three trips to Europe, have given me the opportunity not only to experience roaming on European 3G wireless services but also the strategies and alternatives that allow me to minimize roaming charges while traveling with both a BlackBerry and iPhone. A key to the achieving this goal lies in the support available for WiFi access points in hotels, restaurants, airports and at conferences that provide robust, scalable WiFi support. But the question outstanding is why would I use both devices? The answer lies in the applications and content.

While one can theorize academically about various low cost scenarios and one attempts to use WiFi wherever feasible, in actual travel, you need access to some form of wireless service wherever you may be. For instance, if lost in a city where you don’t speak the language, Google Maps can often help get you sorted out quickly. Or find the nearest restaurant district (was a big help in Paris, for instance). But you need wireless carrier access to use these services.

So what measures can I recommend?

First step: buy an International roaming package from the home wireless carrier. Over the summer Rogers introduced European roaming packages; here’s the comparison:

The good news about these packages is that the per MB and per minute charges remain the same for any overage over the minimum expenditures. The bad news is that roaming charges are still “huge” compared to the $0.03/MB or approximately $0.10 per minute paid when on my home Rogers network. U.S.-based users should check with their “home” carriers to see if similar plans are available. Rule of thumb and current reality, however: roaming charges remain the last ultra-high margin service for wireless carriers.

So, while relatively expensive, these packages are helpful when away from a WiFi access point; however, as mentioned above, the real saving comes when you set up for using WiFi wherever possible. (In addition I encountered a couple of situations where 3G coverage was weak or non-existent; in these cases access to WiFi became essential.)

Second step: ensure you have installed both Skype and Truphone on your iPhone; you can then make voice calls from WiFi access points at prevailing Skype or Truphone rates. For instance, Skype-to-Skype calls are free while SkypeOut calls are based on using either a Skype Calling Plan subscription or Skype credits.

Third step: buy, at a minimum, a Boingo Global Mobile plan; while WiFi in hotels and restaurants is usually free or has a daily charge, Boingo Global Mobile provides access in over 70 countries at airports and often at hotels where, otherwise, you would pay a daily fee that is usually more than Boingo Global Mobile’s monthly charge.

Fourth step: put the iPhone in Airplane mode but with WiFi access turned on. In this way, no voice calls are received via a wireless carrier; also the iPhone specifically requires proactive user permission to roam on data – leave this turned off. But the iPhone applications, including Skype and Truphone, can all be used when attached to a WiFi access point. (Note: I do not give out my iPhone voice number but do use it for various tests; Google Voice is not yet available in Canada to provide multi-smartphone calling.)

So here is where I use each device:

BlackBerry Bold 9000: email (both BlackBerry email and GMail), BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, Google Maps, SocialScope – still the most comprehensive Twitter application on a smartphone; SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry. Keep in mind that BlackBerry is overall more efficient for handling data due to the data compression provided by the BlackBerry Network Operations Centre architecture for managing data traffic. This ongoing wireless data compression feature is a major reason why I prefer BlackBerry for services such as Google Maps or downloading/uploading pictures in SocialScope as opposed to the iPhone when on a 3G wireless carrier network.

iPhone: main application is Skype, followed by Truphone. Very handy for making calls back to North America from hotel rooms or lobbies, restaurants as well as offices and conferences supported with WiFi access. (But you must have the relevant application open to receive calls and receive/send chat messages.) Other preferred applications include the Safari web browser (faster and more versatile than BlackBerry’s) and Facebook (which has a richer user experience than on BlackBerry) and a few applications that are unique to iPhone. Also comes in handy if the BlackBerry battery has died and I need immediate access to, say, GMail or a browser.

Bottom line: the feature that continues to dominate my preference for BlackBerry over iPhone is the keyboard; it’s a real time two-way communications device whereas the iPhone, with its superior browser capability, continues to be an information delivery device but works best for one way communication. My use of its touch screen keyboard tends to be limited to entering user names and passwords.

A few comments:

• There’s one major application missing on the BlackBerry – with its full multi-tasking capability the BlackBerry is ideally suited for Skype as a VoIP client. One can have real time chat sessions continue in background while using other applications; we experienced this with iSkoot but at this point one would expect to have seen the Skype for BlackBerry that was announced by Skype around the time of last spring’s launch of Skype for iPhone. And now that Skype for Symbian beta supports both 3G and WiFi and the FCC is supporting for “net neutrality”, the “carrier-support” argument for avoiding VoIP clients over WiFi on the BlackBerry no longer holds water. In fact, Rogers has made it clear that they have no issue with running Skype over 3G networks. Let’s hope that Skype and RIM can get the act together such that we can see a product introduction early in 2010.
• On my most recent trip I only bought the 15 minute voice package; with BlackBerry Messenger and SocialScope (for Twitter) available I found little need to make voice calls while in 3G only mode. Skype on my PC at hotel rooms and conferences as well as Skype and Truphone over iPhone addressed 95% of my voice calling needs. (Now, if I could just learn how to order a taxi in Spanish!)
• I realize most smartphone users will only have one phone. I present this post simply to provide an overview of my experience using both these devices while optimizing my roaming experience when traveling out of the home country. I need to have both devices due to not only their popularity but also the different content exchanged and user experiences for each smartphone.

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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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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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If you own a brand name as a TwitterID, take heed. Twitter will reveal your ownership details to the brand owner. Nerdgirl Stephanie Robesky, a former employee of a venture fund established by the founders of Skype, was shocked recently into realizing she still owned the @Skype TwitterID even though she had moved on in her career and never used the account. In an email exchange with Techcrunch she responded:

“I registered the Skype Twitter name because I worked at Skype at the time so thought it might have been of use to us at some point. I’m sure I told someone in marketing who ignored me and had no clue at the time what Twitter was. Left Skype last year and forgot that I even had registered the name until yesterday… Glad they don’t have my credit card details.”

In her own Nerdgirl blog she wrote a letter to Twitter:

I would like to say, however, that I am hugely disappointed that my name, email address (even if it didn’t work) and details were given out to anyone in reference to any account held on Twitter.  And, yes, someone at Twitter did give this information out and this is how I was contacted about the account, so please do not try to deny it.  This is a violation of my privacy and, quite honestly, probably a big violation of your privacy policies. It is unprofessional of your team to hand out users information regardless of circumstances and this is something that we never would have done at Skype – even if Obama himself couldn’t log into an account that he says wasn’t even his!

I hope that you and your team take privacy more seriously in the future.

Read the Mike Butcher’s amusing post on Techcrunch, Gone in 140 characters – Privacy issues raised as Twitter employee hands over personal details of @Skype registrant to Skype, for more details.

I always appreciated that Twitter would close down accounts that had an element of illegitimacy to them. However, let’s hope Twitter can come up with a more discrete protocol for handling issues involving use of brand names as TwitterID’s.

In closing I need to draw your attention to the Chief Twitter Officer for Skype: Skype’s blogger Peter Parkes, who goes by the ‘nom de Tweet‘ PeteratSkype. Peter is often found addressing individual customer issues in the Twittersphere. You do need to be following him in order that he can DM you a reply to any Twitter queries.

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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An acquaintance’s selection of BlackBerry Bold, based largely on Twitter message exchanges, has resulted in not only a few informative posts but also an avalanche of almost daily Tweets responding to individuals seeking a recommendation for a smartphone.

When I traveled to IT Expo and Mobilize last September I was in the unique position of having a BlackBerry Bold, following the Rogers Canadian launch but prior to the long-delayed AT&T launch in the U.S. During that trip I showed the Bold to fellow blogger Luca Filigheddu from Italy. I had previously met Luca at eComm 2008 where it was rapidly apparent that he is highly respected, especially in Italy, for both his business acumen and opinions on the emerging communications space. From his About page:

Luca is a recognized expert in the VoIP market. He’s now CEO at Abbeynet, an Italian company which develops technologies and services in the field of IP Communications since 1999. Abbeynet is the company behind services like Chocophone, Abbeyphone, Sitòfono and Hictu!.

As a passionate user of any kind of technology and internet service, he loves gadgets and electronic devices and wants to try out any new cool device that arrives to the market. Luca can be considered an early adopter in any field of technology. In particular, he loves Apple, Nokia phones and his Sony PSP.

And he loves trying new VoIP services out, of course. Luca’s current interests are web-based VoIP services, Web 2.0/VoIP integration and product marketing. In the never-enough spare time, Luca loves martial arts and listening to good music.

He is a very avid Twitterer but only when his Tweets have relevance. Little did I know that showing him the Bold would eventually trigger an avalanche of tweets supporting his decision to acquire a Bold, to be followed by a continuous, almost daily, feed of recommendations to individual Twitterers.

In early November, 2008 His Nokia N95 had died for some reason. Initially he asked on Twitter for input to a decision between the BlackBerry Bold and the iPhone. Unfortunately a Twitter search does not go back that far; however here are some of his posts at the time:

• Business Usage: iPhone 3G or BlackBerry Bold?
• A Bold New Experience
• Why The BlackBerry Bold is Way Better than The iPhone 3G (for business)

and I started observing his recommendations appearing in Twitter, often with the single word “Bold” in response to an @ request. On the right is an early example. Between Luca’s blog posts and the Twitter conversations one can build up the feature set that supported the decision to go with Bold.

• Why Multitasking on Mobile Devices Matters
• He gives a fairly balanced review of four smartphones in Palm Pre, BlackBerry Bold, Android G1, iPhone: What’s best?
• He has become an avid user of SocialScope (full disclosure, so have I): SocialScope, the new Social Networks Aggregator for BlackBerry (Note:  SocialScope is still in alpha as they work out client/server balance, scaling and user interface issues – follow @socialscope for on ongoing dialogue)

• How To Sync your BlackBerry Bold with a Mac (the only solution that REALLY works) Why Google Sync was his sole recommendation.

• David’s Posterous: Why I ditched my iPhone for a BlackBerry Bold.

• Give a New Look to Your BlackBerry: Vista Themes

• How I Achieved an Unbelievable Battery Life on My BlackBerry Bold

Keyboard, multi-tasking, battery life, MMS, cut and paste – eventually Luca covered all the highlights and features of the BlackBerry Bold.

However, just as importantly, Luca’s ongoing dialogue with his Twitter followers and Blog readers provides a great example of the power of social networking as a viral marketing tool. Person-to-person threads, information delivered by a party with no interest in the outcome other than the best interest and satisfaction of his “friends”, a passion for excellence in technology have come together resulting in many sales for a product in a highly competitive market space.

Yes, I have had a Bold for a while; I also have an iPhone. This evening, via an iPhone application with reliable sources, I learned about a 3 cent/litre increase in the price of gasoline tomorrow, went out and filled up my tank to save the cost of a Tim Horton’s coffee and donut. iPhone is a great information delivery platform; BlackBerry has, however, the best line of devices for complete two way personal and business communications. And for some results:

• BlackBerry grabs market share as the iPhone slumps

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During our conversations with Skype COO Scott Durchslag last week at CES, Scott outlined Skype’s criteria for its software development going forward.

First was the emphasis on “liquid communications” through statements such as “Skype Whenever, Wherever”. Just as today you can pick up any PC or mobile platform and find all the Google Tools (Search, Maps, News, Reader, etc.) Skype wants to be on virtually any platform or device.

Pick up a smartphone, find the Skype button. Turn on the TV, find a Skype button, have a conversation. Open a web browser; start a Skype session. All this to complement Skype on the desktop. Today, besides on the desktop, you can find Skype on over 200 mobile phone handsets, several (Sony) mobile devices, Skypephone and Apple TV. But Scott emphasized, this is only the beginning. It will only start to get real when we see Skype on higher profile devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry or when we start to see Skype seriously back into the hardware device business with vendors such as Philips and iPevo.

Then Scott outlined four benchmark criteria that every implementation of a Skype on any platform or device must meet:

• High call quality
• Simple and easy user interface
• Consideration for battery life
• Security

Last week’s hotfix upgrade of Skype for Windows 4 beta 3 included the first implementation of Skype’s three year effort to develop the SILK codec, increasing the audio bandwidth to 12 KHz while effectively reducing the Internet bandwidth consumed during a Skype call.

A key reason for Skype’s rapid and widespread adoption has been associated with its ease-of-use. Yet Scott says the Skype conversation user experience needs to be even easier to encourage adoption by a broader user base. Developing a more effective user interface has certainly been a focus of the Skype for Windows 4 beta program. At the Skype CES press conference Scott reported that, in a recent survey of users, 88% preferred the new UI to the previous Skype for Windows 3.8. But I’m still wondering if the Skype for Windows team could take a look at Skype for Mac and implement a “drawer” type interface to manage and select the active conversation. For the longer term evolution of Skype clients hopefully Skype also has a look at Dan York’s post on Skype’s fragmented product strategy.

Battery life on smartphones was a key issue that prevented Truphone, who uses a native VoIP client for calls over WiFi, from launching a native VoIP smartphone client running over 3G networks. Instead they launched Truphone Anywhere that takes advantage of the underlying network 3G GSM voice channel and uses the data channel to set up a call via a server that, in turn, sets up a VoIP client. That voice channel tends to make much less use of the device battery than a constantly compressing/decompressing VoIP client that devours the underlying processor activity. Addressing the battery life issue is a major reason why we see Skype using a similar calling architecture when launching the Skype Lite Java client on over 100 Java-enabled cell phones, including those based on Google Android.

Security is an issue that I’ll leave to Dan York and others who are able to cover this issue more knowledgeably and effectively. Suffice it to say that we would expect security to continue to be a feature of all Skype products, including those that use the mobile voice channel for placing calls from mobile phones.

Two take-aways from these statements:

• Fundamentally we should expect Skype, going forward, to be a provider of real time conversation-enabling software on desktop, web, TV and mobile platforms. To use an old telegraphy term: Full Stop! For instance, rather than developing their own social network, we should expect Skype to seek out agreements with other social network service providers, such as the MySpace agreement. Skype is an enabler of real time conversations; it is not in the community building or social networking business. Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, amongst others have already captured that space and done an excellent job at it.
• These benchmarks also provide a basis not only for deciding what product offerings Skype will develop but also when they are in a position to release a product.

The new Skype executive team is finally starting to set some benchmarks and guidelines against which we can not only measure executed performance but also have a better understanding of where Skype wants to go.

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This afternoon I came across this article by reporter Chris O’Brien in today’s San Jose Mercury News: “Video Chat has entered the mainstream“. It appears that the worlds of Oprah viewers and Silicon Valley geeks and reporters have more than six degrees of separation. The story starts out by talking about an email he received from his mother:

Seemingly out of nowhere, this note from her landed in my inbox: “Have you heard of Skype? Apparently you can use it to do free video calls on the computer.”

My mother, who lives just outside Kansas City, tends to be a reliable barometer for when a technology is gaining adoption outside the hermetically sealed bubble that is Silicon Valley. Well, my mom, and Oprah. As one of only a handful of people on the planet who don’t watch Oprah’s show every day, I had missed the fact that she’s recently begun using Skype to make regular video calls with her audience.

Chris goes on to report on a brief interview with Skype President Josh Silverman whom he quotes with:

And Skype has a new version in beta that will make video calling much more central to the service, according to Skype President Josh Silverman.

…. And in its new release, Skype users will be able to enlarge the video to fill the entire screen without degrading the picture quality.

Well we now know what Chris is giving his mother for Christmas. For his benefit, listed below are previous Skype Journal posts on both Skype High Quality Video and our reporting last March on Oprah’s use of Skype Video.

• Skype Sponsors Oprah’s “A New Earth” Web Event
• Three Big Milestones in Skype’s Fifth Year
• High Quality Video: What’s the Benchmark?
• High Quality Video: Definitely a Winner for Skype
• Expanding the High Quality Video Experience and Observations
• To Be Restored: Camera Flexibility for Video Hackers
• Installing a Logitech High Quality Video Camera: The Experience.

Chris, keep up with Skype Journal and you won’t be learning about how Skype is used from your mother.

By the way, how did I know to follow up on Chris’s interview with Skype President Josh Silverman last Wednesday? He set it up via Twitter messages with Skype PR. At the time Twitter was their sole available source of contact information.

A final question: will we be seeing a new version of Skype High Quality Video (or better) introduced at CES in January?

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If I ever had any doubt about the value of Twitter as a commercial social networking tool, it evaporated this weekend as a result of following some Tweets on the subject of smartphones that appeared this weekend. They certainly provide an independent perspective on issues that I’m sure others are wondering about:

Mark Evans acquired an iPod Touch back in August after deciding he did not need an iPhone; as a result of his recent employment status change, he is now debating the merits of having a smartphone – in particular, an iPhone

Luca Filigheddu has just gone through the process of evaluating the BlackBerry Bold and iPhone over the past few weeks. Yesterday he sent me a Twitter direct message to say that he had acquired a BlackBerry Bold; after he had had a few hours experience Saturday I see this on his Twitter feed:

And when I came home yesterday evening I see that my acquaintance Olivier Chaine has put up this Tweet (earlier yesterday I had suggested, in response to his request for smartphone Twitter client recommendations, that he look at Slandr.Net as a mobile platform Twitter client):

First I would suggest that the mini-computer industry died many years ago, to be replaced by the microcomputer era, especially server banks. Trust me, I spent a major part of my career relying on mini-computers. I think I would need a backpack to be mobile with a mini-computer.

So I’ll assume Mark is really looking to have a mobile microcomputer or PC experience on a smartphone. Having had several months’ experience with both an iPhone and a BlackBerry Bold, here are my criteria for a mobile microcomputer or, more aptly, a “Laptop for the Hip or Purse”:

• Minimum 480 x 320 graphics display.
• Full QWERTY keyboard.
• Web browser capable of supporting PC-type browsing.
• Supports “Cut & Paste” (of significant value more often than one would initially imagine until it’s not available)
• View and edit MS Office documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) with potential to add document creation.
• Supports video recording and MMS
• Background processing (especially after experiencing both Truphone for BlackBerry and Truphone for iPhone)
• Supports true Instant Messaging in background while running other applications
• A very high speed processor (>500 MHz)
• Runs applications such as Qik.com, SlingPlayer Mobile and iSkoot (for voice and chat conversations with Skype contacts).
• Bluetooth stereo audio support.
• Removable battery
• Equipped for memory upgrades through a removable memory card.
• Supports both Both WiFi and 3G wireless protocols

A nice set of specifications but the key question here is: “How does it change the user experience?”. In particular does it eliminate the “urge” to turn on, or always carry, a laptop to keep up-to-date with real time activities?

As I have mentioned elsewhere, after a month’s experience with the BlackBerry Bold, I found I had lost that tugging “urge” to turn on my laptop for keeping current with real time (and often mission critical) information. This change did not just involve email and web browsing but also Instant Messaging, Twitter and attached document editing.. RIM would do well to position Bold as a “Laptop for the Hip or Purse”, bypassing all the technical comparisons and moving on to succinctly promoting Bold based on the actual user experience.

I like my iPhone for many of its personal information delivery features; it gives me a feel for what is appealing about the iPhone. I can find Toronto Transit streetcar times, do unit conversions, find the nearest Tim Horton’s or Starbucks; it has lots of great information delivery features. On the media side it’s definitely an extension of the iPod although it does not have the full audio performance of the Bold.

However, a mobile microcomputer the iPhone is NOT! I find myself turning to my Bold much more often than my iPhone for real two way interactivity. And just as important as the keyboard is the ability to track instant messaging sessions, whether on iSkoot (for Skype chat), Palringo or BlackBerry Messenger in background while carrying out other activities. On the subject of low cost international calling I find I can make much more use of Truphone for BlackBerry than Truphone for iPhone (that’s the subject of a future post).

I am encountering more and more acquaintances who have no use for a touch keyboard; certainly my typing error rate is much worse on the iPhone. For this reason alone I consider the iPhone to be a very good one-way information delivery device whereas BlackBerry is a true two-way communications device.

As for applications, suffice it to say that over the next six months, where feasible business savvy developers will publish applications running on both devices. For instance, The Hockey News has just released mobile applications for both the BlackBerry and iPhone. I mentioned Truphone above; Mobile Google apps are another example.

Keeping up with iTunes music via BlackBerry MediaSync is a trivial operation. Frankly from some video and audio streaming experiences I have had, BlackBerry Bold provides superior stereo audio performance even without earbuds or a headset.

Bottom line: when I leave my home office or hotel room with my Bold, I no longer have to take my laptop to keep current.

Yes, at the moment, the iPhone browser a superior user experience but rest assured RIM is not ignoring the issue.At this point the Bold’s browser issues have sometimes been frustrating but they not been an inhibition to my browsing activities in any major way – I still get the information I am seeking. The critical parameter here is the 480 pixel display width, which is sufficient to view most websites and weblogs without the need for horizontal scrolling via a ribbon bar. When RIM releases carrier-specific versions of their upgraded operating system – including browser enhancements, the Bold will live up to its full potential as “A Laptop for the Hip or Purse”.

(As for pricing on Rogers, both the Bold and iPhone are C$199 with a three year contract.)

In future posts I’ll cover in more detail some of the issues mentioned above, including my Truphone evaluation on each device, some very interesting real time video and audio experiences, the range of third party applications available on each device and why both background processing and WiFi is becoming critical to any smartphone.

And, Mark, if you’re looking for a mobile microcomputer, I would suggest serious consideration of the BlackBerry Bold.

In closing, can we expect Skype to include BlackBerry as one of their supported platforms for Skype for Mobile? Or will iSkoot improve on their user interface to take advantage of some new BlackBerry developer tools? (Most Skype executives I meet are sporting a BlackBerry – it’s supported by eBay IT.)

Update: Luca published a post this afternoon, A Bold New Experience, and asks about his Tweet above: “Why Did I Say That?”

1) Always on Experience: the BB is offering me a realtime always-on experience never found in any device I used before
2) Multitasking – It lets you receive IMs while writing an email or making a phone call, for example
3) Stunning display
4) Wide availability of apps
5) Crazy speed
6) Great usability

Update #2: (Dec. 23) ZDNet names BlackBerry Bold as #1 most influential biztech product of 2008; iPhone is #3.

Other posts:

• Om Malik: Review: BlackBerry Bold is Beautiful
• Web Worker Daily: BlackBerry Bold: Upgrading Your Mobile Experience.

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

When Skypecast was shut down at the end of August, I suggested three alternatives that can be considered as cost effective replacements for those serious about multi-party discussions.

iotum CalliFlower serves as the host for the daily SquawkBox conference call discussing communications news of the day as well as featured guest interviews. (Full disclosure: I usually participate.) But it also is building a user base who hosts a wide range of audio conference calls for business meetings, interviews with prominent personalities, training and enhanced social networking amongst other audio conferencing requirements. CalliFlower’s key feature, aside from the “Free” aspect, is its rich web interactive interface that supports the call through a “chat wall”, seeing who’s on the call and hand raising.

However, sometimes users get stumped in setting it up. Monitoring “CalliFlower” on Twitter via either Tweetdeck or TweetBeeps, iotum CEO Alec Saunders encountered one of those frustrated users, Steve Pohlit – a blogging for business consultant, and made contact with him. In Alec’s subsequent post, A little twitter karma, he comments:

The lesson here is pretty simple. In today’s world of social media, news travels near instantaneously. And in the world of twitter, an idea can propagate and mutate at unbelievable rates. Steve wasn’t asking for help, but by offering it I turned what was a bad experience for him into a very positive experience. He rewarded that effort with something special.

And what was that “something special”? Steve has produced three instructional videos on how to use CalliFlower.

SkypeOut subscribers can readily call into CalliFlower calls; in fact, if you have setup your mobile number as your Skype callerID and registered that same number with CalliFlower, you bypass the need to enter a PIN number. This became very useful last week when my broadband Internet service was down. From my Blackberry I called into SquawkBox via iSkoot, which cannot currently pass through DTMF tones. But since my SkypeOut callerID is my mobile number CalliFlower immediately admitted me into the call. In this case, since I had to hold the Blackberry to my ear (and had no broadband Internet connection), I accessed the call’s web page for the call via my iPhone. Is this convergence or divergence?

When I received this Twitter message earlier this afternoon:

clicked on the embedded URL and immediately was listening in on a conversation involving not only Stuart Henshall but also David Beckemeyer of Televolution (producer of PhoneGnome – now known as the PhweetGeek), I found I was in for a most interesting conversation experience. Within minutes we had a multi-party call involving as many as eight participants from India, Italy, Ireland (actually, Pat was calling in while on vacation in Spain) as well as others in the U.S. They had all joined “spontaneously” from a Twitter message (in my case initially seen via Twitter4Skype) as Stuart and David launched an Alpha version of Phweet this afternoon.

First thoughts and comments:

• The immediacy – send the URL via Twitter and any of your Twitter Followers can join with three clicks – the URL, the TringMe VoIP Flash Player widget and the “Allow” button within the Flash Player. At that point the call host needs to “accept” your request to join and you’re into the conversation.
• You monitor the call participants and participate in a chat session via a web page with a URL dedicated to the specific call (www.phweet.com/[four character call code]). When the host ends the session, the URL dies also; however, tweets are the only traces left of the call.

• It’s a mashup of Twitter, TringMe, and SIP-based services all hosted on a Televolution server.
• While, if you just send out a general Tweet all your Followers can join; you can Direct Message an individual, or individuals, if you want a totally private call.
• You can join from a browser or a SIP ID; for instance Pat Phelan (of MaxRoam fame) called in from a Nokia N95 via his Truphone SIP ID (Truphone number@truphone.com) but you can also join in from Gizmo 5 and other SIP-based services.
• It’s Alpha: TringMe would periodically drop the call connection but a web page refresh would bring back the Widget button and you could instantly be in the conversation again.
• It’s Alpha: when I attempted to host my own call with Stuart as the invitee, we could “see” each other on the related web page but the audio connection did not work.
• Joining a conversation actually involves a call out from the Televolution server; as a result they are only working with connections that do not involve termination charges. Eventually they would like to have a way to join from, say, a mobile phone while letting another party worry about the back office transactions.
• Call quality was quite good; David needs to up his mic volume but other parties were very clear. On the other hand there is no echo cancellation capability, so headsets are a requirement unless you have echo cancellation hardware embedded into your mic.
• This is totally an Internet based service: effectively your Twitter followers are the directory; there is no other form of intermediation, such as a softphone client, involved in setting up, and participating in, the call. It does require you have the Adobe Flash Player installed.
• It’s Alpha: Stuart and David are still going through the discipline of defining a basic feature set.

Stuart and David are inviting Twitter members to give it a try; they want user feedback before even calling it Beta, to ensure it at least has all the basics of a service that provides reliable connections, total host control (for instance, they need to add the ability for a host to remove a participant) and meets basic call support needs. Overall it looks to be a promising concept and a unique “click-to-call” service that supports ad hoc social networking.

Other posts:

• Stuart Henshall: Why Phweet?
• Stuart Henshall: Who created the Phweetman?
• Pat Phelan: Phweet.com Talking on Twitter
• Phil Wolff: Phweet public alpha – from tweet to talk in one click
• TechCrunch: Call your Twitter pals with Phweet
• All public Phweet sessions

Tags: Phweet, Stuart Henshall, David Beckemeyer, Twitter, Televolution, TringMe, Pat Phelan, Truphone, Nokia N95

Our choice of PC’s and the associated applications are becoming a factor in the definition of our personality:: Windows or Mac? IBM or Dell? Our smartphone choices are becoming a factor in the definition of our personality. Blackberry, iPhone or, Nokia?

But just as important is how these associations are also playing a role in how IT departments are losing control over our IT platforms. I recall a story when the first IBM PC’s came out where a major Canadian bank Vice-President chastised an employee for having a modem connection — insecurity written all over his face and the modem ordered removed! My first cell phone required both a rather large handset device that was screwed into my dashboard and connected to a black box stored in the luggage compartment of my station wagon. And those external cell phone aerials attached to a rear window were a status symbol that you were “connected” anytime, anywhere. But the employer would usually define what you would have (@$3,600 for my first cell phone in 1986, you bet!). CFO’s wrestled with the expense, wondering why anyone would want to talk while driving.

Jonathan Christensen, Skype’s GM for Audio and Video, in two recent guest posts on Saunderslog.com talks about how IT is becoming personal. In the first post he talks about how “The Web is My IT”

But, we have more freedom when it comes to the applications we download and run. I use Skype for *all* of my telephony that is not mobile. I use Google Reader as an info clipping service. I use Gmail to manage my online subscriptions and travel arrangements. I use Twitter to stay up to date. With the myriad of great choices available, users are finding ways to make “personal technology” work for them. None of these are IT-sanctioned applications, but they are enormously helpful in my work (and personal) life… and I am saving my company real money on telecom and infrastructure costs.

Slowly, this shift is happening at the hardware level too. Our machines are reflections of our personal styles and tastes. At Skype, we are in two camps: the Lenovo loyalist and the Mac fan club. Apple has a reputation for inspiring fanatical loyalty, but ThinkPad users are every bit as rabid as the MacBook fans. They know every model number past and present. They reminisce about great machines they have retired and passionately compare notes about DIMMs, hard drives and battery configurations (I carry a MacBook Air – and thank goodness that Apple makes these decisions for me).

He starts off his concluding paragraph with “The long-term effect when users migrate to personal technology is that the IT-approved applications slowly lose traction.” Coming from a former employee of Microsoft whose revenue depends highly on IT-sponsored implementations of its server-based applications, it’s a powerful statement with lots of implications for the challenges ahead at Microsoft.

In his second post “IT Gets Personal – Mobility and the Desktop”, Jonathan talks about how, while Blackberry, with its Blackberry Enterprise Server, still controls authentication and authorization policies, RIM is broadening its market approach to encompass the prosumer and even consumers. He talks about the iPhone “thumbing its nose at IT managers”:

However, aside from the Blackberry/Exchange relationship, the IT department has had little to do with our mobile technology choices. My mobile is MY business, thank you. I use it primarily for work, but it is not an IT-approved device. Oh, by the way, thanks for picking up the airtime charges.

Certainly a noticeable trend lately is how, when someone leaves an employer, the two constant in his/her contact information is the mobile phone number and, if they have one, the SkypeID.

Jonathan goes on to talk about the decreasing role of the PBX, becoming identified with your personal mobile number and the adoption of desktop communications applications in the workplace, especially IM.

There is more rich interaction in these sessions. People are sending links, copying and pasting text and sharing files in real time. Today’s knowledge worker roams seamlessly between Mobile calls, SMS, IM, Blackberry email and PC calling. Nearly 30 percent of Skype users are using it for business and 28 percent of Skype-to-Skype calls include video. The old desktop phone just can’t keep up.

His bottom line:

Users are taking control of their communications channels. They are innovating, making personal mashups with the new tools, and they are creating a new namespace to go with it (e.g., Gmail address + Mobile phone number + Twitter ID + Skype ID). And all of this is happening outside the IT department’s “walled garden.” It’s good news for users and productivity, but what does this loss of control mean for the IT department and the organization? What does it mean for PBX vendors? And, if the users are happy, does it really matter?

Interesting perspectives from someone who has been integrally involved with the rise of IP-based communications and the extension of voice messaging to incorporate text chat, video and mobility over the past one-and-a-half decades.

The PC is transitioning to the lightweight laptop (many of my acquaintances have a MacBook Air); smartphones fit in the shirt pocket or purse or hang from a belt clip. The IT department is becoming more ethereal as in “figures light and aeriform come unlooked for and melt away”. Both posts (once again here and here) are well worth the read.

(And did anyone notice that, while RIM tried to distinguish consumer and business markets by having a camera in the Pearl and Curve but not in the 88×0 series, the about-to-be-released Blackberry Bold has everything – camera, new media player with iTunes support, GPS: all-in-one – and addresses both markets.)