Martin was accused in a comment of pimping Popular Telephony's Peerio as part of this post. Despite all the "blogging for dollars" comments these days I think he's still clean and he seemed to get more out of them than I did at VON. Anyways I've held off posting anything more on them as there is plenty of glitz and still absolutely nothing to try out. Still Andy and Martin were raving about them at the VON bloggers dinner. Still despite being told by a rep at the show I would by now be able to download Peerio444 I still can't. I'm not sure Peerio or PT will ever get this all going. However it sounds very similar to concepts pioneered years ago and called IndraNet. You probably need the Wayback Machine to find that.

You should all harbour a great fear that the mistakes of the past are being repeated, driven by short-sighted network designs and corporate security paranoia. Yet a glowing light in the darkness exists in a small booth in the exhibition hall. Popular Telephony are changing the world, and making most of the other exhibitors obsolete. Their Peerio product is putting a SIP and H323 server into the silicon of phones on people’s desks. Married to this is an encrypted, peer-to-peer content management network. Your voicemails, emails, and even directories can be smeared around, in duplicate, at the network edge. No servers, PBXs, or centrexes. Want a telephone network? Available at Costco, $50 a phone, buy in bulk. Oh, and they’re quietly hijacking and subverting the PSTN numbering space, too. Just don’t say it too loud, in case someone hears.

Maybe they should rename themselves the Popular Telephony Liberation Front. Or was that the People’s Telephony Liberation Front? Never mind. This is peer-to-peer as it was meant to be. It’s horribly subversive. I’m in love. [Telepocalypse]

Whether PT launch or not Peerio like solutions are coming.... hardwired into appliances.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

News of Skype's API is leaking out slowly with a few rumors here and there. I'm been quiet as I've been in the beta forum and some of my best Skype buddies have been busy readying some new presence solutions. However the Skype API forum and API details

It's now possible to build Skype tools into your own website, or other applications. Nobody officially knows this, of course, because, typically, Skype Technologies hasn't actually announced it -- but if you download the latest build today, you'll spot the innovation in the install log.

What on earth is a Skype API? Skype is an instant messenger, but specially designed to allow non-expert users to talk to each other over the Internet. The trick is available with rival IM services like MSN, AOL and Yahoo but many users find it hard to set up. Skype's install is comparatively idiot-proof. And the API means that programmers can add the Skype IM features to their own work. PCWorld

The first big surprise will be a Skype Presence Server developed outside of Skype. It will enable a new market for presence. A market where you and I can choose who brokers our presence information and when and where it is shared.

It looks like you can do quite a bit. The first is part of how a USB phone can use the API. The second is what third party software can do. And it looks like you can place calls, IM, view a user profile, and probably some more stuff. You can even have two apps use the API at the same time.

This could get interesting. Documentation for the API is expected to be released in November, and some companies are quietly working on easy to use API wrappers to allow Skype to be used through Java and web apps. RossCode.com

This slow leak style appears to be the norm for Skype now. See also NewWire

The Skype API has huge potential. It will immediately provide opportunities not available with other messaging services and has potential to grow a whole new market for information services. My belief is simple. If Skype's API release is successful then not only will growth accelerate, it will gain a huge innovation advantage, bootstrapping on resources that as a small company they could otherwise not afford. That's been the successful software model for awhile - releasing beta versions and getting developers to build their own applications around it.

I see opportunities for new applications. If you are ready to release your Skype API application let me know.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (2)

I believe other opportunities for connecting Skype to cordless devices will soon emerge. Should Siemens like a tester, I'd be happy to try this out. I'm not sure how much it is going to cost.

The Gigaset M34 USB is a small, easy-to-use USB adapter for computers. It offers you an incredible array of options. Calls on the Internet reduce your costs. Messenger services are equally possible. Thanks to the Internet alert function, you can see which of your friends are online and when.

Naturally, the Gigaset M34 USB also functions like a conventional ISDN radio adapter, which provides computer connection to the ISDN basestation for cordless Internet surfing.

To enable the Internet telephone function, the Gigaset M34 USB comes with the respective software from Skype*. Just connect the Gigaset M34 USB to your computer. It will pass the telephone signals from the Internet on to your Gigaset S440/445 or Gigaset C340/345. So you can make calls with your Gigaset S44 or Gigaset C34 handset instead of a headset and enjoy perfect quality of service. Gigaset M34 USB - Siemens - Gigaset Portal

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Friendster links with Glophone in a too late (a least a year!) too little (no imagination) introduction to VoIP. This effort is similar but different to the Morpheus launch that went nowhere some months back. The key difference is there is no ATA box required, instead just the GloPhone software client and a PC of course.

So why's a phone on Friendster a bad idea? Friendster demonstrates short-sighted thinking.

First this is just a soft phone. There is no presence associated with it. It's just a business deal where GloPhone can extend their reach and potentially acquire a new customer. They even offer to add some dial-up options in the future. I can at least see which of my buddies are online on Flickr and even Ecademy. This won't bring Friendster closer to real-time interactions and personally I think that's a shame. One of the latent opportunities for adding voice is the opportunity to explore introductions to friends of friends. (Would I be a good match with X etc.)

Second firing up or logging on to your GloPhone via Friendster defeats the purpose of integrating social networks and communications. Either the GloPhone remains running on your desktop or it's turned off until you think about calling someone again. In the Friendster case we require "profile" calls and access depending on your how much access you want to grant. I'm sure there is a great group of people out there that would like to experiment with talking to others. There are also some mighty rude callers. So the second component that is required is some form of simple reputation or warning.

Then the call system must provide some calling context context. (eg seeking activity partner, travel companion etc.) An inbound number or even a name is not enough. Particularly as this Friendster phone is open to the world. All these are easy things to do when one connects the phone with a text messaging application. Thus for those Friendsters that are not logged in, but able to take a phone call as the soft phone client rings... the caller ID data should include the Friendster profile and the call context. Some opportunity for personalization makes sense too.

Aphone is an always on application. While many of the social networking sites can be adapted to provide an excellent caller ID service and potential for marketing personal messages with auto-call backs, they won't replace my "buddylist" and my ability to simply and quickly control my presence. This has to work on my desktop and soon must be integrated with my mobile.

Finally, it makes little sense to create this connectivity without access to a billing or charging system. While calls may be free, the opportunity to say send gifts (eg a 99 cent music file via iTunes) needs the same type of functionality that exists on cell phones when one downloads a new ring tone. Similarly I'm sure new options for the mighty e-card will also appear. At a few cents these will be fun to send. And in that last aspect that is the rub. Where one wants premium caller ID services users will pay a little more (pennies) to their social network while voice connections will speed things up and make them more personal.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Andy writes that the convergence between Call Vantage and Linksys is a perfect marriage. Frankly I'm not sure I get it. Is everyone who sells a router now going to give away the phone portion of the component with the hope we all engage a VoIP provider? Why can't ATA boxes mimic Skype or alternatively use a SIP registry like FWD? How difficult is it? Why don't Linksys, NetGear and others just provide free telephony? Plug your cord into the router and viola the phone rings. All part of the initial router setup. No fees unless you want to connect to the PSTN. Want more there are options.

This is a short-term offer. It will be obsolete well before this time next year. The only way for them to make this much more appealing is to enable "free calling in network". Now that would be a typical telephone company strategy. Buy two routers and sign up for two accounts and you can call your friend for free.

More appliance options for VoIP are coming. What's being identified here is that people turn off their computers but never their routers and modems. Phone services that run with a cable or use WiFi will just become a one-time payment. It's getting easier to give up that landline everyday.

Linksys to Deliver New Home Networking Options for
AT&T CallVantage Service

Wired and Wireless VoIP Devices Simplify and Enhance
Home Networking and Broadband Phone Service

AT&T and Linksys®, a division of Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced the offering of new Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) devices that combine the capabilities of a wired or wireless router with an analog telephone adapter (ATA), giving AT&T CallVantageSM Service customers simplified options for their VoIP home networking needs.

The new AT&T CallVantage Service Certified Linksys equipment consist of a Wired Router with 2 Phone Ports and a Wireless-G Router 2 phone ports, which will be available in retail outlets by the end of October.

These new devices help eliminate the need for multiple devices for broadband telephony and computer networking when a user wants both. In these situations, these devices make it easier and more economical to set-up AT&T's broadband phone service solution.

[VoIP Watch] (post cut by me)

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A great post on why PoIP is not open, rather too closed. It's worth a broader discussion.

So I paid a not insignificant amount of money to hear marketing pitches from AT&T and Vonage, telling me how they are open and building open platforms. Open platforms that you and I can use after our snowball fight in hell. These are independent closed platforms that operate on a model like that of putting my own apps in my car, only after GM approves it and I make a business deal with GM.

Mike McCue said some great stuff, e.g. "What we want is the ability of anyone to write any application for the telephone."
As attendees asked about APIs and real web services platforms, like those being offered by Ebay, Amazon, Google, and others, we heard the Phone-over-IP (PoIP) folks first tell us they were already open (by their definition) and besides they will build all the applications we will ever need, so there is no need for a web services model. Example quote: "None of our customers are asking for a better 41 Mr Blog

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)