The day after Christmas I was driving south from central Oregon on my way to Mount Shasta...

I stopped by the Klamath Falls RadioShack store. K Falls is a small community of about 20 thousand people just north of the California-Oregon border. They only have one RadioShack store but eight people in different parts of town were able to point me in the right direction.

I asked the friendly staff if they had any Skype stuff. I had to spell it ("s-k-y-p-e") and they looked it up on the computer, pointing to a U.S. Cellular display on the right.

Looking a little closer, wading through mobiles and accessories, ...

I found five shiny foil bags.

No other Skype merchandise with the Skype gift packs, now back up to their MSRP of US$9.99. Was told there was a phone that worked with Skype over in the networking section...

with the LAN and wifi gear.

It was the VoIP Voice CyberphoneK, decorated with the Skype Certified logo. Just one of the four Skype cobranded products stocked by RadioShack.

I've had similar experiences in smaller and larger RadioShack stores in California. It's hard to launch a new category and brand, especially with seasonal staff and the holiday sales frenzy. Two months in, most RadioShack employees don't have much (any?) Skype brand awareness, talking points, or merchandising direction. Assuming sales were adequate this month, Skype wil stick around and this will change.

RadioShack is a great place for Skype to start retailing in the United States. Only Wal-Mart sells more (38% of "mobile phones sold in major U.S. retail outlets and consumer electronic stories in the last six months") than RadioShack (28%). While the carrier-owned stores sell nearly half of all mobile phones, their customer satisfaction is horrible (24% positive). Good experiences at RadioShack should make it easier for Skype to open doors at other retailers, all of whom will be at CES next week. See you there.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

With the new year about to start, what are other people resolving? People share their goals and resolutions on 43 Things. Of those mentioning Skype,

1. try "skype out" (9 people)
2. skype (8)
3. get more people I know to use skype (3)
4. Talk to a friend on Skype in English (2)
5. find people to talk to on Skype (1)
6. talk with skype (1)
7. Get my kids to use Skype (1)
8. think of a better skype name (1)
9. promote skype (1)
10. skype madge weinstein. (1)
11. skype in English to improve my skills (1)
12. talk to a complete stranger on Skype (1)
13. Fix my microphone and start using Skype (1)
14. start using skype to talk with the austins (1)
15. skype out (1)
16. get all my friends to use skype (1)
17. Use Skype more often (1)
18. know why skype keeps kicking me out (0)
19. Trying skype to practice oral English (0)

A popular non-Skype resolution: Kiss in the rain. Hmmm, signing up for that.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2.0 nitpicking, but lately I'm wishing for:

• In the contact history, move the filter control to the top of the tab. I know it sorta belongs with the search bar, but all the other controls for things are at the top and that's where I look for those controls.
• "Skype Me with Video" status, to tell people that I'm trolling for videophony. Should promote virality.
• Loving echo123 (and its counterparts in other languages) we need mirror123 to test video calls
• I still want to search on profile attributes in the contact manager and history tabs, not just on skype name and skype ID. Show me contacts in Russia or that have a phone number with the digits 415 or the word Blue in their about box.
• Rapidly becoming useful to nest contact groups. I have lots of groups and I'm just getting started adding in contacts as I make them. I need to group my groups. Think about how bigger companies are organized: the marketing department has subdivisions and they have subgroups and so-on. Would lay the groundwork for enterprise LDAP integration.

  Posted by Phil Wolff at 07:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

About to visit your family for a Chrismakah party and, on your way out the door, you realize: no gift. What do you do?

Introducting the Skype Journal Labs Last Minute Privacy Shield.

Variations: You may decorate your privacy shield with stickers, colors, or a collage of other people's faces you cut from a magazine or download from the web. You may also choose bags of different sizes and from different stores: a Tesco bag says one thing, a Nordstrom bag says another.

Lessons Learned: 1. Do not attempt with plastic bags. Really. 2. Use a clean bag never used to carry fish.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Carol for the Skype Journal Team from Skype

Play the video.

SkypeJournal the online blogsite
Its full of very techie prose (or pro’s?)
So if you’ve got a question
They’re always the ones who know

All of the other bloggers
Use to laugh and call them names.
They never let SkypeJournal
Join in any blogging games

Then the day that VOIP turned up
Skypers came to say
SkypeJournal with your brain so bright
Won’t you guide our way tonight

Then all the bloggers of them
As they shouted out in glee
SkypeJournal you’re our heroes
You’ll go down in history!

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Google's approach build up Jabber into a more effective development platform will be welcomed by many small players. There is no SIP here however Google's approach could quickly create some PSTN interconnect solutions. Eg Asterisk plus... That may be part of their bet.

Finally some evolution. Google announced their Libjingle program this week. In a world in which IM texting is a commodity and voice apparently close to a defacto listening standard (with GIPS currently) the time is coming where these platforms must compete on other attributes and capabilities. I'm travelling and so haven't looked too deeply at the implications of the GoogleTalk API. Two links provide some further discussion. See The Steinhorn Stare and Kevin Smith's Doomed. So far it appears Google is doing nothing to enable the devices market. See also Neil's World.

Libjingle is a set of components provided by Google to interoperate with Google Talk's peer-to-peer and voice calling capabilities. The package includes source code for Google's implementation of Jingle and Jingle-Audio, two proposed extensions to the XMPP standard that are currently available in experimental draft form. Google Talk LibJingle Code and API

Google's approach to build up Jabber into a more effective development platform will be welcomed by many small players. There is no SIP here, however Google's approach could quickly create some PSTN interconnect solutions. Eg Asterix plus... That may be part of their bet.

Will it make any difference to Google Talk? Not in the short term. GoogleTalk misses too much in functionality to make it a useful daily client. Its also failed to deal with the encryption issue or lack of it. Similarly, GoogleTalk isn't thinking about how users communcation skills are developing and apprarently not yet working on the devices market.

Then again... giving away control at the UI end may just open up new opportunities for Google. I expect it will. Imagine calling in media objects to Google/IG. Its more, its progress and still has a very long way to go.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 03:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Ultimate Voice Coach - Learn To Sing Like A Star! (2005)

Do you always turn up your microphone volume? Do people keep asking you to speak up? to speak more clearly? Then you might need The Ultimate Voice Coach, singing lessons from Gary Catona and Ron Anderson, Voice Coaches to the Stars!

Your voice will be so strong, they'll hear you even without a connection!

Caution: May lead to Skypeoke (said sky-pee-oh-kee): uncontrolled singing over Skype to perfect strangers, to friends, and to work colleagues. See also: Karaoke Blogging from Germany.

I've already been Skyped by a radio game show, Swedes testing Americans on their geography knowledge (e.g. "On which continent is Sweden?"). Ready for fame? Warm up your singing voice. And set your status to "Skype Me!"

Posted by Phil Wolff at 02:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been giving these out as gifts for the last week

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Muni wifi is a big deal, especially in a city as large as Taipei. If they can do it, in less than six months, why can't your city? For more on their network: wifly.com.tw. Thanks to Morden Chen, PC Home product manager, for taking the photos. See also our note on the event.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Phil Wolff asked me via IM what I thought about this Booz Allen Strategy + Business article on ‘Format Invasions’, as it relates to Skype. I’ll post my thoughts here in public, though.

To save you the effort of actually reading the article, the essence is that industries are susceptiple to invasion by new entrants wielding a “new format” or value network that has lower intrinsic cost. Many examples are given, such as Southwest Airlines vs incumbents; Toyota and lean production vs incumbents; and so on. It parallels Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, but has different dynamics as the innovation is not a technology one and isn’t protected by intellectual property. It is largely a matter of values and “delivery technology” — the art of executing a particular way of getting the same customer outcome with fewer resources.

Superficially Skype would appear to fit the pattern of the article, and telcos would be wise to follow the advice. The problem is this. Skype doesn’t have any new format revenue. So far, all the revenue comes from PSTN interconnect services, and services like voicemail which have been constructed with legacy centralised PSTN-alike cost functions. It’s a bit like Southwest Airlines running a network where they give all flights away for free — unless they happen to compete on a route where American or United have a service, in which case they charge.

So until there’s a “real Voice 2.0 company” with revenues from presence, transaction integration, social networking, or some other such innovation, the business gurus’ advice is somewhat hard to interpret in the context of Skype. Furthermore, we have a more complex situation. Traditional telephony bundles connectivity rental with voice service. In the new model people tend to buy all-you-can-eat connectivity and then run “free” voice service. So there isn’t an apples-to-oranges fit. You’re also seeing a split of a once unified industry into two at the same time.

All I can say really is you need to hire a really good consultant to navigate you through the strategic maze ;)

Martin navigates through the turbulence from his Telepocalypse weblog.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not sure what using a Nokia N90 "transformer" phone has to do with Skype, other than keep me away from it. I've been testing the N90 compliments of a program kicked off by Andy Abramson to let bloggers really play with the product. There's about a dozen stories from me wrapped up in this phone already. My first real acquaintance with it was at Nokia about six months ago and then at Reboot where an Executive was demonstrating it along with the Nokia Lifeblog. The tech gadget guy in me then wanted to get ahold of one, while my current Nokia 3650 is getting a little long in the tooth and can't participate. I'm enjoying the chance to try something new. See this post by Stowe Boyd who puts a perspective on participating. .

So the observations that run parallel to my Skype experience.

This is not a phone it's a camera. Well really! I was walking down the street last weekend walking the dog my bluetooth headset stuck to my ear. So I'm yacking away and it was a beautiful day. Without thinking I just started taking pictures. Concurrently I was telling my buddy about the pictures I was taking while talking. I had forgotten there was a phone inside. When picked up on this I continued talking while pointing the video camera at me. All a little silly, however this was the first phone I've had that had the power to be holding a call and running a video. I'm sure my caller could have been my hidden interviewer had I wanted.

Second is the volume of pictures I'm now taking. The Lifeblog just organizes them in a timeline. It's a much better way than just uploading into a folder. Even better I've worked out the synch process. Drop the phone down by my PC when I get in and it all synchs automatically. For the first time this synch is almost flawless. (for another post). So my picture taking is gone up at least 10 fold if not 100 fold. I'm also starting to take clips of newspapers I read in the morning, even just a photo outside if I don't have something for today. God forbid I resort to self portraits. Still there's a new diary element here and it's rich and doesn't take much effort. Put these in the hands of kids in MySpace or Facebook and with some you will have a revolution.

So the parallels to my Skype experience.

First I thought I was getting a phone. This is not a phone although the organizing aspects are - eg calendar synch etc are fantastic (again another post). No, the real pleasure as someone who has enjoyed photography for years is putting a camera in my pocket that I can't leave home without. At 2meg pixels the pictures are great. I already want 5mb etc and and not just a digital zoom. But if you ask me would I like a $500 Digital Camera or the N90. There is no question. In a few years I'll get the extra quality I want etc. The result was just like my first experience with Skype. It radically reframed my thought on phones and conversations. Now presence is an element I can't do without and want.

On the exponential usage. Skype created a global world and easily ten times the talk time around the world. As a result it reframed my network. The presence factor and the ease of balancing calls with chat provided a richer conversational medium in which to work. I'm not yet sure how the Nokia N90 will change the way I work, however I'm going to use it as part of the excuse to reintroduce myself back to blogging at Unbound Spiral. With a break for the holidays I have the perfect opportunity. We'll see then whether it really changes my behavior. If it does many will follow in its footsteps.

And thirdly, very simply, it is mobile. In an always-on mobile social world the N90 like Skype has the potential to put more power in my hand. That's a huge benefit.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

ライブドア大学　世界が注目するSkypeの正体！人気の秘訣と最新ビジネスモデルを徹底解明. Livedoor University hosted this lecture for the first 30 people to sign up.

On the agenda:

1. The true Skype business model, which is not just "free telephone software "
2. The secret of Skype's popularity where 200 employees support 70 million users
3. Skype as used in Japan's business scene, Skype's circumstances, and future development

Does anyone have detailed notes on the presentation?

via Siwata at Skype (topic details in Google English), via the very informed HK's Skype Page.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 07:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When at Sprint, myself and David used to run around doing exec presentations on how the Sprint diamond logo (RIP) should be a trust mark, and that Sprint could add value as an intermediaryby making people’s (wireless) web browsing experience safer and more convenient. We even filed a patent, whereby the operator logo on the handset would light up when showing operator-provided interstitial advice pages.

Anyhow, we used to get a lot of blank stares, and telcoheads looking at us like we’d just come back from vacation on planet Zog.

I don’t think we’d get that reaction now. Just take a look at this:

This is the fire-up splash page from their new anti-phishing plug-in for Firefox. Google is the Web’s new trustmark. Can you imagine any telco positioning themselves in this way? Every intermediation of a telco is regarded with distrust and suspicion. Nobody sees a telco trademark and thinks (however naively): “these guys are on our side”. Google have to follow “don’t be evil”, not because they’re nice, but because the privacy effects of theis business give them no choice.

PS - Notice Amazon/Alexa’s new service where they are offering web crawling APIs (for a fee)? We argued that Sprint was in a good position to become the champion of commercial web services APIs, where people assembled applications from lots of component services, but where money was also due to flow between those parties. The idea was to leverage Sprint’s natural advantage in providing an in-house selection of web services (messaging, profile, identity, etc.) into a wider sphere. Needless to say, those ideas got killed, and Sprint remains a capital-bound midwestern telco, and not a cash-machine virtual enterprise like Google.

Martin peers suspiciously from his Telepocalypse weblog.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 04:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been editing Skype Journal for 10 months and I'm so ready for this wishlist. Not in any order:

1. Punctuation. Commas from Bill, semicolons and periods from Stuart. Anything from Dina.

2. Someone to update the Skype Technologies entry on Wikipedia.

3. A truly devastating scandal to write about. The love child of... Warrants outstanding for... Candid videos of two people... The Taavet Christmas Album.

4. A Skype API explosion. A complete surprise where Skype delights and suprises developers. Commerce, identity, attention, scheduling, telepathy, presence, themes, ui affordances. Did you like how I slipped telepathy in there? Skype can do anything if they want.

5. Skype buying Serious Magic and building everything in. Vlogging. PowerPoint sharing. Teleprompter. Green screens.

6. Skypeberry. Email, Skype, an API and thou. In my pocket.

7. TiVoPod. (Thanks, JoJo)

8. Earbud implants. Just a little surgery, right behind the ear, against the jawbone. Enough with the wires and gadgets. Just build it in.

9. PimpMySkype, like PimpMyNutcracker.

10. $10 webcams. So I can give them to all my Skype contacts.

And now for my Chanukah list...

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Taipei (臺北市) put its RFP for a citywide wireless broadband network out to bid in July 2005. 20,000 access points later, and they are set to officially launch 20 December. The mayor of Taipei, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), is ending his second term with a technical demonstration. He will use Skype to talk the mayor of Tao Yuan, at the other end of the country, showing how the city's wifi service is not just for e-government but for everyday phone calls too. They'll be using the free-1 USB phone (which is Mac compatible) and the Ipevo view-1 video camera from Taiwan's own Ipevo.

What would it take for Skype to become the defaul telephone system for all of Taiwan? Will muni wifi help Ma Ying-jeou run for president in 2008? If you're there, please post photos to flickr, and tag them Skype.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My parents are kleptomaniacs. Just don’t tell them I told you. The garden shed is bursting with stuff. The loft is full of old boxes. The shelves teem with ornaments. (eBay will have a good fiscal quarter the sad day they shuffle off this mortal coil.) And the drawers under the bed are stuffed with toys from our childhood.

Which turns out to be quite useful when you yourself have kids and an endless supply of goodies starts to emerge for free from Nana and Grandad. I’ve been reading this picture book to my older daughter, where a little boy hunts around for his lost pet froggie.

Very cute.

Speaking of which, I think we all know of a very cute voice application that’s currently hiding behind a log and looking a bit lost. Whatever happened to Skype’s mojo? Why wasn’t Skype 2.0’s arrival a case for dancing in the streets?

I can forgive the ringing noise being replaced by an extract from the opera Ode to a Kathmandu Stomach Upset. (Believe me, the full work is quite an experience. I’ve been there.) As a customer, I’m not too fussed whether video is a plug-in or comes out of the box. Tweaks in colour schemes and icons don’t impress me. (I’m male. It’s the way we are. I think my mum is still hoping I’ll notice when they’ve redecorated without having to prompt me first.)

No, what’s important is this. Make it work. And make it easy.

Let’s take the former one first. I bought a Plantronics DSP-400 USB headset a while back. It came “Skype certified” together with a small SkypeOut credit. I’m still happy with it. But it’s also very annoying to use. Because I like to listen to music from my laptop with real, quality headphones. Sometimes I unplug the headset when I move my laptop about, or want to use it on another PC, and Windows takes note and resets my audio devices to point to the built-in stuff. No matter how often I set my preferences in Skype to “Plantronics headset”, it keeps being turned back to Windows default each time I unplug. This is, needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), not a good experience.

It’s a design snafu in Skype. The actual requirement isn’t to select one device from the list, but I should be able to select the preferred order for audio devices it has seen. If the headset is plugged in, use that. Otherwise, revert to the next preference.

My laptop doesn’t have a built-in microphone, and I never plug one into the microphone jack. I should be able to de-select that as an input. Which means anyone calling me when I have no headset plugged in needs to be warned “Martin doesn’t have a microphone plugged in yet”. This case should be handled intelligently.

Perhaps USB headset owners are too small a minority to make this a priority. But then don’t waste your brand karma on declaring it Skype approved.

Another example is the new video chat. I’m pretty convinced that the video degrades the audio quality. My in-laws have low-speed DSL (256k down/128k up). Just audio is fine; add in the video and the sound gets choppy. This is bad, bad, bad. I can guess what’s happening. Skype uses an audio codec supplied by GIPS. The video is probably a separate thing, and not integrated. Asking GIPS to create an integrated codec that prioritises voice to maintain a minimum bit rate will cost Skype Inc mucho dolula. The audio codec API probably doesn’t make it easy to manage the bandwidth use. So we get a kludge, and the “integrated” product isn’t any better than the third-party plugs-ins. It’s more “overlayed” than “integrated”.

Sadly, Skype’s also having a mid-life attack of feeping creaturism. In the rush to add more feature tick-box items, usability and simplicity is being sacrificed. I think I’d find grouping of contact quite useful. But the user interface is just too ugly and obscure. Hint to Skype UI designers: screens are 2-dimensional. There are information architectures other than “list”! (As I’ve whined on previous occasions.)

And why have my SkypeOut contacts suddenly been elevated into the middle of my Skype contacts? This is a case of the product turning against me. Every time you call someone more than once it asks if you want to name and remember that number. Was a useful and harmless feature as long as the list of remembered numbers kept out of sight. But believe me, the UK Passport Office isn’t one of my buddies. And I’ve only just finished successfully suing Expedia in the small claims court after a car rental screw-up last summer. They’re not my friends, either.

I can only imagine the stress and turmoil the development team are going through as the eBay deal sinks in. But these problems smack of leadership issues, where priorities are not clearly being spelled out, and strategic alignment is being lost. If I were in charge right now, the edict would be “no new features!”. Let the API do the work for you. Focus on making what exists even easier. Make every use case or problem be handled ever smarter. The only exception to the rule is anything that integrates eBay merchants and transactions into telephony.

We’ve already got plenty of VoIP tools that kinda work, sort of, as long as you don’t hit any snags or unusual situations. Skype’s positioning is around simplicity, reliability and ease of use. Lose sight of that, and your cute frog will be forever lost.

Martin reads to us from his Telepocalypse weblog.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Xandros bundled Skype with their Linux distributions since February, showing up in some People PC products. Skype bizdev is bragging a little this week about Mandriva (great penguin!) bundling Skype with their new distribution, Mandriva 2006. The Skype for Linux release is at 1.2, far behind the Windows version; Skype for Windows had major 1.3, 1.4, and 2.0 beta releases. Skype is available for SuSE (Novell), Fedora (Red Hat), Mandriva (formerly Mandrake), Debian, Xandros, MEPIS, Ubuntu, other Debian-based distros.

So far, these are mostly desktop distributions. Skype won't make a real dent in Unix/Linux until it also offers server/network apps. That's where these Linux alternatives to Windows servers still dominate. Skype's SkypeNet server products remain vaporware. The good news is the relationships Skype forms now with its Linux partners will pave the way for Skype enterprise, security, and management apps and utilities if Skype ships them.

Is Skype's dominance in consumer VoIP overcoming open-source loyalists' distaste for Skype's closed proprietary network? What other VoIP products do these distributors bundle?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

This little story over at El Reg reminds me on an anecdote from a few years back. Anyhow, the lead-in first:

The Mirror reports that a BT insider who had access to the shows’ voting database fed the results to a betting syndicate before they were made public to viewers on the live TV shows. The gang then placed bets at betting exchange Betfair.com on the outcome of the voting netting a fortune.

So your communications are only as secure as the least trustworthy and most corruptible person in the telco data centre. And they want to keep Skype out of the enterprise because of (in)security concerns?!

Well, in about 1999, during my database consultant years, I was over visiting the Oracle headquarters at Redwood Shores, CA. My hotel was a few miles down the highway overlooking the airport. (I once got a great view of a Lufthansa 747 aborting its landing presumably due to the runway not being clear ahead. Vroom!) Rather than get a rental car when jetlagged like crazy, I was taking taxis. So I called the front desk and got a taxi booked for the next morning.

Up rolls a big old white Lincoln Town Car taxi with a woman diver. “Mr Geddes?” “Yes.”

Off we head. She hands me her business card, and tells me to call directly to book further journeys.

That evening I call the taxi company direct to get back to my hotel. I really don’t care who picks me up — just that the first available taxi comes. “But Mr Geddes — you didn’t turn up this morning when we came to collect you!”

“What — yes I did!”

“Was it a woman who collected you by name name of Blahdy Blah?”

“Yes.”

Now, here’s what was happening. A pirate taxi driver was listening in on dispatch orders from the taxi company, and sneaking in and snatching customers from them. So we agreed to get a little revenge in.

I call the pirate taxi driver, and make a reservation for the next morning.

Up she rolls to the front of the hotel. “Hiya — nice morning!”, I say.

And I get straight into the white Town Car. Not hers, but the one now pulled up behind. Driven by the owner of the legit taxi company. Who waves at her. And she screams a load of abuse back!

The moral of the story? No communication is too trival to encrypt.

UPDATE: Just to avoid possible confusion, it was the radio transmissions from the dispatcher that she was listening in to, not PSTN calls to order the taxis.

UPDATE: That’s because the PSTN is totally secure. No, really it is. (Thanks, Lee).

Martin decries to his Telepocalypse blog from Scotland.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Stuart Henshall and I will be going to the International Consumer Electronics Show in January. Will you be there shopping or selling? Leave a comment that you're going and maybe we can swing by your suite or booth or party or demo or swimming pool or limo or ... Stuart remains on a mission to find the ultimate Skype-smart headphones. As for me, I've never been a gearhead. But gadgets are how we experience and mediate conversation and I want to grok the product pipeline furnishing our Conversation 3.0 lifestyle. January 5-8.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

By Torben Nyhuus, Aalborg, Denmark

The contest to acquire market shares on the growing VoIP market is at full pace. The market is;

• the VoIP calls,
• the internet access,
• the devices.

VoIP calls:

Skype is reaching out to new customer segments. With Jubii and Skype in new cooperation!

(Jubii was the first and is the most successful web portal in Denmark, visited by 2.5 mill users monthly. DK has 5 million inhabitants.)

The Danish internet portal Jubii has commenced a cooperation with the world's most popular provider of IP-telephony, Skype. The new cooperation is a cobranding strategy, which shall broaden the knowledge of Skype in Denmark, and in return be a new source of income to Jubii.

The idea is to get Skype out to Ms. and Mr. Smith, using Jubii to reach them and fight the somewhat nerdish stamp on Skype. Skype can now be downloaded from on Jubii and Skype is expecting a Danish success making telephony free. In return for this exposure Jubii gets a part of the SkypeOut revenue generated.

Microsoft building our VoIP backbone!

Microsoft bought Teleo and is now co-operating with MCI to let users, as a start, make calls from PC to fixed line and the mobile/cellular net.

Google, Yahoo, and AOL have been on VoIP for a while.

Access:

Old and now privatised Telco’s: Broadband access is still being sold at too high prices; you still must pay for a phone line to be 'allowed' to pay for ADSL/DSL, that’s even with a three-party ISP, double charging. The privatised Telco’s and governments are still happily milking the cow together! Did they make a secret agreement? For how long? Was this international, European/EU wide? The necessary legislation is postponed (Government/MP’s claim further examination needed) to the fourth quarter 2006 in Denmark, this on an already five year old issue. No wonder that TDC can keep a 70% market share on broadband.

Mobile prices:
Are mobile prices being squished from 3G (UMTS) and the lowered fixed line prices?

In the mobile area, discount sales of cards are now starting in the Aldi shops in Germany. Aldi is a low price supermarket chain spread out over Europe with 4000+ shops alone in Germany. This is a big stick in TDC’s discount EasyMobile (purely internet based), launched 4 months ago, gaining 15,000 customers. EasyMobile has already lowered their price from 16 -14 € cent as a response to Aldi's 15 € cent.

Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telephony company, responded with a full page ad to counter Aldi, which began its service on Thursday. … T-Mobile will have to provide something to keep customers. Aldi has been one of the driving forces behind retail change in Europe's largest economy.

by TMCnet

Aldi is also selling IT hardware, recently a Wi-Fi SIP phone (200+ €) for Hotspots and your other access points.

Devices:

Kirk and RTX companies are joining up to get global market shares together on both Wi-Fi and DECT.

Kirk Telecom, who already has an 8% market share in North America on 2.4/5 GHz DECT products and a 100+ years of telephony history behind it is being sold to US SpectraLink, known for its Wi-Fi Netlink products.

RTX and Kirk Telecom are long term co-operators, both Danish companies. All three are VoIP ‘players’, more on this Monday.

And when are we going to see new Skype devices? The long promised Wi-Fi phone is not yet seen. Accton and Skype and their WIFI phone -Skype Journal.

The WiFi phone prototype. Share Skype, the Skype blog, lists 34 preferred partners but Accton is not among them!?

RTX is soon launching a VoIP standalone SIP phone before a Skype one. Is the eBay takeover delaying Skype getting the certification process going on new (kind of) products and making better room for non-Skype ones? Is Skype on public Wi-Fi hotspots not significant?

Which new players will join in, will they be late? Will even new IP markets be opening during the next year?

Posted by Guest Blogger at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Share.Skype reports an update for the Skype Pocket PC. While this doesn't bring you the same level of features as Skype 2.0 for Windows, Skype improved reliablity (long list of bug fixes), performance (two versions, each optimized for different speed CPUs), compatibility, and functionality (voice mail). Download it, discuss it in the forums, check the change log for details. Caveat Beta and let us know what you think.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype’s problem now is maintaining growth. The second challenge is to get Skypers to adopt premium services and think about dropping their home phone. There are many barriers to this. The PC must be always on. There is currently no embedded Skype device. People just don't want to lose their numbers. Free local calling may apply and be an advantage, as is 911. Many early adopters that have Skype have not yet added SkypeIn (lack of numbers availability) or SkypeOut, as they aren’t making either enough calls, or they are making them on another service.

Let’s consider what a Skype partnership with PhoneGnome would enable:

1. Home Phone numbers to be associated with Skype accounts. Thus every PhoneGnome activated with a Skype Account would 1) ring when the home phone rings (anywhere!) and 2) provide cheap SkypeOut rates when dialing out of your local calling area with the home phone. Thus more integrated than doing what I now do. Which is run SoftGnome and Skype concurrently.

2. Backup/Skype solution for when a computer is not operating. All Skype calls would ring the home phone. This is no different that Skype’s call forwarding option that is offered now. However the ring for this service would be free. Device availability could be communicated as well.

3. It would substitute SkypeOut for creating an agreement with another ITSP. It would also enable dial by number for all Skypers who also have PhoneGnome. This would result in many more SkypeOut minutes being used.

4. New service opportunities for the family are opened up. Currently SkypeIn numbers appeal to a small audience. Eg a business line, or access in other countries. Create a SkypeGnome strategy and the opportunity for additional services that cater to each member is increased. Eg one home line, four extensions. Voice Mail on Skype etc.

From my perspective it’s easy. It’s also easy to test. Probably easier for Yahoo who’s IM platform is more SIP centric than Skype's. People don’t like changing their phone numbers. It’s a pain. PhoneGnome reduces the barrier and requires no permission from the current operator or regulators. That’s a strategic advantage.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Vonage is launching a Wi-Fi phone so you can now use your Vonage account anywhere you can find a Wi-Fi connection. There's a $50 rebate on it... for a price of $79.99 and a minimum 3 month contract. There will be an early cancellation fee too. This is a substantial price break from the retail price I see elsewhere for the UTStarcom F1000. It almost suggests they are dumping it on unsuspecting consumers. Engadget described this as for the hard core only. Still it's a new market and the features you will be getting soon on these Wi-Fi phones will push the mobile operators. The Starcom can be purchased as a stand alone Vonage solution. Thus you no longer need an ATA / Vonage box to participate. Will Vonage offer a Softphone next for free?

The UTStarcom F1000 Wi-Fi Phone is a pocket-sized, wireless Internet phone that uses Vonage service by connecting to wireless Internet access points worldwide, also known as Wi-Fi hotspots. It's an easy way to bring your Vonage service anywhere. Vonage - The Broadband Phone Company

I presume the Starcom is locked to Vonage although I can't be sure. I doubt you can just buy it from Vonage and transfer it to another SIP provider at a later date. I'm tempted to try one. I'd like to hook it up to the PhoneGnome I'm using currently.

Posted by Stuart Henshall at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Back in April I wrote that the United Arab Emirates was blocking VoIP traffic and the Skype.com web site. They still are. The latest of many comments:

Damian:

My hopes of broadband quashed in UAE as I read the terms and conditions set by Etisalat which makes VOIP basically "illegal" or against the ISP's policy. When calling a rep to confirm this I was frankly told "NO We do not allow any such Voice Telephony Services being used through our networks. eg VOIP. And if you are found using such services (refering to VOIP), including bypassing our services through the use of VPNs to disguise these activities, we will promptly cease your internet services and may well be prosecuted and fined. Hmmmm. BOO!!!! And in addition to that, their tech are consistantly monitoring such activities (refering to VOIP).

Firesupport:

2006 the Asian games will be in Qatar. lots of guests and tourists will come here in this situation Qtel can run their monopoly bad telephone network with high rates. even now they are charging a very big amount on international calls with their land and mobile lines nobody to ask if somebody ask or right about this their life will be in trouble.. the time is now someone should come to distroy this kind of monopoly systems

So who should organize an Internet Freedom protest at the Asian Games?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype Journal is pleased to announce our sponsorship of the first O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference. We'll have at least three of our people there, maybe more. And we hope to see you there too. January 24-26 at the San Francisco Airport Marriott. One of the reasons we're sponsoring is to offer our readers a 40% discount; use the code "etel06sms" when you register. If you're going, please leave a comment so we can meet you at Etel.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

What is YapperNut's next VoIP product? Enter your guess in... The Y Zone and win a YapperProductToBeNamed25December.

Ray Chen says the winners are those who come closest to the real product. My guesses: The YapperGasm: a Skype compatible telesex vibrator (ringtones, baby), Elephone: rubber elephant phone headset, and The YapperNut Webcam Cozy Line: stylish privacy covers for your cams. Guess away.

These are the guys who brought you the exceptionally stylish YapperBox home phone adapter, and the increasingly smart Amy software. Amy now can route incoming calls based on how directly the caller knows you. Small manufacturers like this are making Skype easier to understand for everyone.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just over two years ago I began infecting all my friends with Skype. The world has changed a little since then. Skype has grown up and sold out. There is little doubt the “edge” and the “gloss” is now off Skype from both a developer and consumer point of view.. So I’ve spent a lot of time considering the opportunity space created by the Skype sale. Where is that space? What must one do to capture it? How does one build global free telephony and empower users at the same time? What must be right to insure that developers aren’t screwed etc.

Looking back when Skype launched, the buzz was about Vonage. Today Vonage is an anachronism in a market of failed VoIP offerings. Skype still reigns supreme but copycat wars are in play. For example Yahoo IM and Project Gizmo. However, these take the Skype approach and assume growth in VoIP will come off the desktop. Each are careful to state that they aren’t a phone replacement – a result of 911 rulings. Thus all remain boxed in.

From what I see, Skype strategy has already failed or is vulnerable on three fronts:

Buy your Skyper a PhoneGnome for Christmas! Maybe buy yourself one. If you are like me then the rest of the family won’t pay much attention when it comes to adopting Skype and making cheap SkypeOut calls. They still want a phone etc. Even when you have hooked up cordless phones to Skype you can’t be sure they will use them. So I will let you into a secret. You can infect your home phone with VoIP and then surprise the kids with a phone on their desktops. In the meantime you will get a whole lot more out of your plain old telephone.

For the last few weeks my house has been connected up to PhoneGnome. I also have installed the Softgnome too, but more about that later. Every so often a product concept comes along that leaps out once you have used it and then you can’t live without it.

I’d put Tivo in this camp. Those that have one swear by it. Similarly, once you have experienced 5000+ songs on an iPod there is no going back. I get that same feeling about PhoneGnome. Like TIVO it sits in the background not demanding much. Like iTunes the services for PhoneGnome are likely to evolve rapidly. Like iPod it is really stupidly simple for a VoIP solution.

I also like that PhoneGnome isn’t tying you into a closed network. It interconnects with other SIP networks and thus millions of calls are potentially free. Concurrently it gives you power over your landline. The power to use the same number (eg home) for making and receiving VoIP calls is just one way you can take control. Concurrently you still have the security of PSTN and 911. There is no need to cut yourself off from the past.

What are the stories behind PhoneGnome?

Home Phone Anywhere: Whether you are a soccer mom, or a frequent international traveler till now getting a home phone to forward voice mail by email was pretty much impossible. Similarly forwarding calls on the home number were expensive. Add the new SoftGnome feature and you get your Home Phone number ringing on every PC. It’s an extra extension, or your home phone away from home. It also provides three way calling etc. My home phone just got smarter.

Installing PhoneGnome and using it? Alex Saunders says it succinctly.

Once powered up, it takes about 5 minutes for PhoneGnome to go through it’s registration sequence. Then you’re ready! Pick up the phone, and make a phone call. The way it works is as follows:

1. If you’re making a local call, it simply routes the call over the local phone lines. This ensures the best quality, doesn’t interfere with 911, and lets you keep your existing phone number.
2. If you’re making a long distance call to another PhoneGnome user, the call is routed over the internet, and is free to both users.
3. If you’re making a long distance call to a non-PhoneGnome user, then you can specify a long distance carrier to use. The one I chose is charging two cents per minute.
4. If you are receiving a call, from either the PSTN, or the Internet, PhoneGnome simply routes the call to your ordinary phone.

The rest of the setup was pretty simple. I visited http://my.phonegnome.com, obtained a password and logged in. Then I chose a long distance provider, activated the telemarketer block feature, and was done.
Alec Saunders

I’ve put it on both my kids PC’s. I’m going to see how that goes. In our household finding the PC is often easier than the