When I started using Skype more intensively about three years ago, I had been a heavy user of Microsoft’s MSN Messenger for several years. But about 18 months ago, I stopped logging into MSN Messenger; none of my contacts were there – or, if they were, they were also on Skype. As for GTalk, well I added a couple of contacts two weeks ago to test out GMail’s new voice and video chat feature, so now I’m up to ten contacts on GTalk – and they are also all on Skype. One person still persists in trying to reach me on GTalk these days … and my BlackBerry catches that – in background.

But when long time acquaintance, well respected blogger and former Microsoft employee Alec Saunders puts up a tweet as shown above, it has to be the ultimate complement to Skype’s pervasive worldwide presence.

When you have 370 million accounts (yes, I know there are only 30 to 50 million using Skype over the course of a month), one would suspect that market presence and user base size wins out over any technical disadvantage, such as the lack of XMPP compliance. Sort of places XMPP right up there with SIP – an excellent protocol for interop but it’s sort of like the tree falling in the forest – who hears it -at the end user level? And, both SIP and XMPP require business agreements between the linking service providers covering every connection, whether there’s revenue or not.

In the IM world, it’s a matter of who’s available for a conversation? Which service has the highest probability of being able to determine a contact’s availability and start a chat, voice call, share a file, send an SMS message or even do a (High Quality) video call? Which service has eight ways of seamlessly carrying out a file transfer?

Alec’s one problem in keeping current? He’ll have to go back to his BlackBerry to receive Skype IM messages via iSkoot. BlackBerry’s background processing capability becomes a very distinct advantage here in the smartphone market. When attending an event in downtown Toronto last night I received an important “good news” Skype chat message on my BlackBerry Bold, while looking up a website the speaker was referencing and following the Twitter feed of one of the organizers.

A more significant challenge for Skype is to generate the marketing that will attract all those of a younger generation (such as my daughter) whose “social networks” are immersed into MSN Messenger as their IM client.

In closing have a look at some of Alec’s followup Tweets:

In closing I should also mention that I like to use BlackBerry Messenger for its ability to bypass the Internet for messages that “just have to get there now!” via BlackBerry’s unique method for PIN messaging.

Update: An oversight on my part: of course Skype IM also has the hooks to allow Skype chat sessions to proxy as a client for other services. For a classic example check out Twitter4Skype.

Full disclosure: Alec Saunders is author of the Voice 2.0 Manifeso, which is proving itself out in today’s dynamic mashup environment – especially when it comes to Communications Enhanced Business Processes. He is CEO of iotum, whose Calliflower Conference Call service is currently being launched. And, much earlier in his career, he was DOS product manger at Microsoft Canada at a time when DOS’s memory management feature tried to compete with Quarterdeck’s QEMM and the author managed Quarterdeck Canada.

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

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

Twitter4Skype: A Review
by Hudson Barton

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

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

Installing twitter4skype:

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

Running Twitter4Skype:

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

Tricks for keeping twitter4skype healthy and happy:

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

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

What the Robot can’t do:

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

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

Thanks, Hudson.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Last Friday morning, iPhone 3G launch day, I caught the earliest commuter train into Toronto and arrived at the Rogers “designated” Toronto iPhone launch store about 30 minutes before opening at 8 a.m. A lineup of about 150 to 200 potential customers (awaiting what turned out to be 100 units with a cap of 2 per customer) who had endured a massive downpour about an hour earlier and been served a “breakfast” of a granola bar and orange juice. Ironically this store occupies the location of what was, at one time, Canada’s largest record store (Sam The Record Man) which went out of business a few years ago due to the Internet’s impact on music distribution.

During the wait I had the opportunity to interview Jordan Brown, (left) a 16-year-old high school student, who had arrived at 4 p.m. the previous afternoon to be first in line, and Robert Cowley, an auctioneer and Mac fanatic, who joined Jordan 45 minutes later once he saw that a lineup was forming. Jordan had been following the original iPhone activity for the past year but did not join the crowd who went to the U.S. to get an unlocked iPhone. This would be his first Rogers wireless account; he decided to acquire an iPhone as a result of the service plan changes announced by Rogers two days earlier. His reasons for wanting one included the browsing experience and the App store. But at a broader level he was keen to explore all the features. Robert was a long time Mac aficionado who wanted to extend his Mac experience to a mobile device. He had heard rumors about limited supply and high demand so wanted to ensure he acquired one on the launch day. In his case he was going to move the Rogers account for his Blackberry Pearl to the iPhone.

About ten minutes prior to the launch the media were allowed into the store to take up positions prior to the opening. (Blogger credentials helped here.) There were seven agents ready to take orders and Steve Krecklo had been designated to take the first order. Surrounded by at least forty video cameras, Steve patiently waited as the time approached. At the store opening, Jordan arrived and was overwhelmed by the media. He was interviewed live for Canada AM – CTV’s national morning show and CITY-TV’s Breakfast AM – a “local” station. The most popular question: “whom would he make his first call to?” “My friend who chided me for wanting to wait so long to get an iPhone.” An iPhone package appeared; Steve opened it and gave it to Jordan while he set up Jordan’s account. As shown to the right above, more media madness ensued!

Finally Jordan was able to make his call — and got voicemail! Another call got him through to a friend with whom he talked about his experience. Meanwhile Rob was completing his purchase and activation of two iPhones, one to replace his Pearl 8100 and the other for a friend. I actually witnessed the moving of his SIM to the iPhone. Another Rogers rep was taking the time to walk Rob through all the details of his service agreement. In a subsequent interview with Rob (for which a new N95 user interface for Qik.com resulted in not getting Qik.com’s video streaming working) he pointed out that (i) he viewed his iPhone as a mobile extension of his Mac and (ii) he would have acquired an iPhone even under the initially proposed Rogers service plans. It was certainly clear that Rob was a Mac fanatic who was well acquainted with its differentiating features. I hope to do a follow up interview with Rob once he has a few days’ experience with it.

During all this activity I was reporting the activity via Twitter4Skype using iSkoot on my Blackberry; I also was seeing reports of iBricks when previous iPhone users attempted to upgrade to the iPhone 2.0 software.

At that point it was time to move onto my next appointment. Outside, more media were interviewing Jordan after he left the store. There was still a lineup of about 75 being entertained by Rogers personnel handing out Rogers umbrellas (yes, it was raining again) and Rogers “I was at the launch” T-shirts. But, as later reported:

• This primary launch location only had 100 iPhones (80 8GB, 20 16GB) and was soon sold out. The following morning I visited my local Rogers Plus store which had only received 13 units that were sold out in the first hour (and left a line-up of potential customers disappointed). They had no indication of when they would be restocked (other than maybe on their normal Thursday restocking day).
• There were no reports of “rain checks” for those who had persevered under not the best weather conditions.
• Rogers had eventually encountered the worldwide activation problems reported elsewhere.

My Facebook Photo Album for this event with more details.

Tom Cross: iHate my iPhone because it’s iDead. Hat tip to Andy who also reports that Bastille Day celebrations possibly delay the iPhone launch in France.

To follow: Learnings from the Canadian iPhone 3G Launch.

Tags: iPhone 3G, Rogers, Jordan Brown, Robert Cowley