I once considered AOL a relic, a doddering giant foundering without direction and burdened with legacy ideas and technology.

Not any more. 

Start with the AOL People Connection, where naturally evolving blogging, dating, and image sharing communities become formalized and juiced with extra resources. Or the Calcanis project reshaping Netscape.com into a peer news filter.  

The AOL of ten years' ago, even of five years' ago, wouldn't have been up for this kind of rapid evolution and leadership.

AOL's messaging family shows this managerial focus and maturity too. Read Andy Abramson's Requiem For The Future of VoIP. He explains AOL's closing of the AOL TotalTalk service as strategic abandonment of a commodity market in favor of AIM PhoneLine, "a true Phone 2.0 child and the future of voice." A walk through the reasoning with Andy shows strong situational awareness and readiness to act.

I'm also excited for their AIM platform evangelism. It opens their AIM technical architecture as web services. It's still only months old, but the words are right and they're hustling for geek attention. Now if they'd just do it across all their properties. It's prerequisite when competing for developers with Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft.

I'm glad to know aging fools, like myself, can get their act together.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

About a month ago a visiting friend told us that she was traveling to Mexico City the following weekend for her son's wedding. Her son lives in Minneapolis where he is involved in sales and servicing of mining equipment with lots of travel to southeast Asia and Australia; the bride was studying medicine in Houston. His mother started explaining to us how this was a match facilitated by Skype. So I followed up with Eric earlier this week now that they have settled into a new home in Minneapolis.

Eric learned about Skype a year ago May from a customer in Malaysia and started using it to communicate with this customer. He soon realized that Skype could replace his need for any calling card and now uses Skype routinely both from his home office from hotels, airports and customer sites while traveling.  In fact, he often uses Skype video for his presentations to make them more contextual. Within his sales presentations he talks about how his employer uses Skype, often including its free video conferencing, as one resource for providing customer service to customers who are half way around the world from the head office.. On one trip while making a sales visit in Orange, NSW, Australia his hotel did not have Internet so he did some "war driving" to locate another hotel with a free Internet signal to make his Skype calls.

However, Eric's more interesting story is about how he started to use Skype to facilitate his relationship with Lore shortly after they met a year ago this summer:

Skype definitely helped us to revolutionize our long distance relationship. We would have dates on Skype where we would do things together. For example, we would go out and buy the exact same sushi dinner and eat it together. We both enjoyed the same kind of sushi at the same time, but in different places. I even organized a Skype date for the day that I went down to Houston to propose to Lore. That way I knew she would be home! If we had to worry about long distance charges we definitely would not have talked as much over the past year.

In further discussion Eric mentioned how they did cooking contests on Skype - for example, simple-to-make quesadillas. They would actually watch each other make a quesadilla over Skype video; they then would sit down, eat their preparation and judge who's quesadilla is the best based on the look on the other person's face.

While Eric was painting his new apartment he would turn on Skype video such that Lore could watch the progression of the painting. In general he says, "Skype definitely helped us to make a long distance relationship more doable as it definitely makes you feel like you've been together for a longer period of time." He then went on to explain how they once did a "remote" shopping tour at the Brisbane Australia airport; Eric would walk through the stores showing items via Skype video while conversing with Lore via his Bluetooth earpiece; Lore then had the opportunity to select what items she would like to have purchased and brought home. And finally, when there was an occasion to celebrate they would each go out and buy champagne and drink toasts facilitated by Skype video and audio.

While they are now living together and have definitely reduced the need for Skype, I found that during my interview with Eric, Lore was on another laptop doing a Skype call with her parents and brother in Mexico City; Eric also uses Skype to talk with his family based in Toronto. Skype continues to be a facilitator in building and reinforcing their extended family bonds.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill Campbell's post about Wall Street is baloney, of course. Kent says it well.

You state "Wall Street frowns on the eBay/Skype side of the partnership according to the New York Times." I read the article you linked ... it makes absolutely NO mention of the market's (i.e. Wall Street's) view of the Google/eBay/Skype collaboration.

The share prices are "factually" listed at the end of the article (without comment) ... as is customary. As for "doing the math," Google shares rose 2.0% and eBay shares rose 1.9%. The difference is statistically insignificant.

There may be a story here, but this article, and yesterday's share movement for Google and eBay, isn't it.

Investors didn't even notice the Skype side of the deal. Why would they? Any benefits won't affect eBay Inc. cash flow for years. Meanwhile, they had lots of other news to consider. For example, the advertising part of the deal, extending Google Inc.'s ad distribution onto eBay sites mirroring the previous Yahoo!-eBay arrangement, and the Google Office Suite that positions Google more clearly in opposition to Microsoft. Both bits of news would clearly have more immediate effect on valuation of the business.

As for the Click-to-Call service, there is both an opportunity and a risk. The opportunity is to create a form of paid advertising with greater merit than page views or even click throughs. Web advertisers find page views a less relevant metric than ever. But someone actually talking to a sales person, well, I have a pretty good chance of converting that lead into a customer. It's the difference between driving by a car dealership and walking in the door to speak to a hungry rep.

The risks are equally huge. Click-to-Call assumes:

1. Potential eBay and Google customers have compatible smartphone software or hardware. eBay is now rolling out Skype to its buyers and sellers, starting back in June at the eBay Live conference. But uptake by the U.S. and Canadian public is very slow. Meanwhile Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL, AT&T, Earthlink, Comcast and others are promoting their own VoIP enabled messaging clients, fragmenting the market.
2. They are willing to use PCs to talk. This is a new behavior. You can't assume customers will change their behavior in ways you approve. What percent of Skype users try voice once and never use it again?
3. Sellers are able to buy the right leads. Talk isn't cheap and margins are thin. eBay started by sheltering sellers from buyers; transactions just happened. Now sellers compete for buyers, augmenting eBay's natural traffic with their own off-eBay advertising and promotional strategies. For c2c, sellers must segment online prospects by interest in specific products. They must also decide which prospects are worth talking to. This is an auction-by-auction calculation and so far there is too little information to make an informed choice, especially for high volume sellers.
4. Sellers are able to answer callers. Most sellers aren't ready to talk to dozens or hundreds of callers a week. Some will need to set up phone-oriented CRM software, hire people or a service, and develop new call center management skills. They will learn to be agreeable and available at their callers' convenience instead of their own. These are new competencies, not lightly adopted and prone to misstep.

These are not fast, sure, or cheap to fix. But they can be managed. eBay and Skype know the problems and have started to address them. Skype education programs for eBay buyers and sellers is a start.

eBay's click-to-call service is FUDware today, the variation of vaporware that spreads fear, uncertainty and doubt among potential rivals. Nothing new for those who follow eBay financial conference calls. To get a payoff on c2c, eBay and Google will need to execute on branding Skype in the US and making the unnatural act of using your PC as a phone an everyday affair.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Hi. Just wanted to bring you up to speed and keep up our transparency. Let me tell you about Stuart, our independence, some policies, keeping secrets, reviewing, and ask for your help.

First, one of our owners and founders, Stuart Henshall, left the building earlier this year. He's still an owner but is happily working full time in an executive role at a stealth start-up. I've been asked not to say what his firm is called or what it's doing, but it's very cool. Skype cool.

Second, Jim Courtney joined us this spring. He's a great analyst and brings serious science, engineering, and business chops to his writing. He also brings his field work to the table, consulting on partnering strategies, channels of distribution, product management, and business planning. Jim's become one of the most linked-to VoIP bloggers and we're glad to have him.

Second, Jean Mercier asked if Skype Journal remains independent. Jean, an occasional Skype Journalist, noted I met Skype's Jaanus Kase. I've actually met a handful of Skype personnel. Yes, we remain financially indepedent of eBay and Skype. The only money changing hands that I know of is Skype paying part of Bill Campbell's air travel and lodging costs for a meeting next month. That trip is part of his uncompensated participation in Skype's closed Beta program.

Third, Skype Journal's policies guide our behavior. We link to them in our page footer. Our Editorial Policy governs accuracy, labeling and sourcing, explicit conflicts of interest, and accountability. Our Corrections Policy says we'll make things right. Our Syndication Policy points to our feed formats and provides terms of use. And our Accessibility Policy is more of a goal than reality, I'm sad to say.

Fourth, we respect confidences. If you'd like to tell us something as a confidential source, just tell us as you talk with us. We honor embargoes at least as well as the Wall Street Journal and Businessweek, subject to the usual conditions. If you hire one of contributors as a consultant, they will abide by mutual confidentiality agreements related to their work for you. For example, Bill's service to Skype through their closed Beta program is under an NDA so I never hear any inside scoop from Bill. And neither will you.

Fifth, our product reviews are filtered or frank but not both.

Bill Campbell loves to review new products, especially if they break through in a new category. But he won't print bad reviews. So the only reviews by Bill you'll see on Skype Journal will be happy ones, the disappointments washed out and negative feedback given privately. Part of this, as Bill explains it, is because many small companies can't survive a bad review or even a strong critique. Even big companies and their PR firms don't take criticism well and may exact retribution, which Bill prefers to avoid. So you get posts like Bill's Sony saves Skype on the launch of the Sony Mylo.

I'm less squeamish. For example, you might read my Sony Mylo suffers from Sidekick syndrome post, also in response to the Mylo's launch. They are so different a Sony publicist asked Bill if I worked here. A constructive review is useful for our readers, in the consumer advocacy spirit, and part of telling the whole truth.

So Bill is a gatekeeper, filtering in good news, and Jim and I will tell you the good and the bad. I hope this context helps readers and publicists.

Last, be a Skype Journal author. See our editorial wiki pages (still in draft) for more information.

• Becoming a Skype Journal Author

• Author Guide

• Editing Checklist - before sending your post

• Skype Journal Beats - What we would cover with infinite resources

• colophon - tools we use

Thanks. And if you have any questions or comments, leave them with this post, email editor at skypejournal doht com, or Skype me.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 04:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Jon Arnold is a Toronto-based communications consultant and IP blogger who does a weekly podcast on the Pulvermedia Podcasting Network with IP industry players. Jon and I also share in interest in the Boston Bruins, largely because he originally came from Boston and because my neighbor's son was one of the high points of what was a "down" season for the Bruins last winter. However while Jon is a dyed-in-the-wool Red Sox fan, I still maintain my loyalty to the Toronto Blue Jays when it comes to baseball. So we have our interests both outside and inside the VoIP arena.

Last week Jon invited me to participate as the guest on this week's podcast. Recorded late yesterday it turned out to be timely as a large portion of the podcast covers the Google-eBay announcement which resulted in several posts, not only on Skype Journal (here, here and here) but also by many of the VoIP bloggers such as Andy Abramson and Alec Saunders.I agree with Mathew Ingram in that the Google-eBay deal may turn out to be more important for Google than the Google Office announcement.

You can follow up (with a link to the podcast) here. It's been twelve years since I did media interviews as President of the then newly formed Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft. So if it sounds a bit rusty, it's just my nervousness associated with my first experience with doing a podcast and yet my sensitivity to try to keep a freely flowing conversation.moving along.

Thanks again to Jon for the invitation to participate.Give a listen (iTunes Player recommended) and hope it can provide some additional insight into where Skype is going.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jaanus has pointed out that today, for the first time, over 7,000,000 users were on Skype earlier today.  I usually find Skype peaks at some time between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. EDT. And this benchmark is reached on Skype's third birthday.

Now if Skype would fix the bug whereby presence information is not always current in version 2.5, we could get back to saying Skype is a real time communications service. I have noticed the same problem that Rachel, Rick Segal's very articulate daughter, has blogged about. For Rachel and her MusicIP team associates, Skype and its IM presence/chat engine has become "our office":

I'm criticizing because up until a couple weeks ago, the MusicIP team wasis as dependent on Skype for connecting with one another as an all-in-one-office company would be dependent on the water cooler, or for that matter, chairs [modified because after I thought for a minute...we still are dependent on it - we just complain about it now where we didn't before]. Taking to each other from a number of cities (which is usually at about six, but at other times people could be spread out among up to 10 different places), brainstorming via group chats, or simply sharing an interesting link for a laugh - more than our actual office, Skype is our office.

I have it on good authority the Skype development team is looking into this issue as I write. At the same time, Rachel's experience demonstrates, as Skype becomes mission critical to virtual communities worldwide, the importance of thoroughly testing new Skype releases to ensure they are backwards-feature-compatible. It also demonstrates that Skype's presence engine is just as important as, if not more important than, the actual voice communications features.

Let's hope we don't have to wait for version 2.6 going gold to fix this problem.

Update: Rachel has received a response from Roman in Skype Customer Support. Let's just say it's one more indication that Skype employees have just as much passion for their work as Skype users have for using Skype. Quoting Rachel again:

I've done customer service on an absolutely miniscule scale compared to what he's dealing with on a daily basis; his job isn't easy. We're cranky, we're put out, and we want answers. Roman clearly takes his job seriously and is representing the company he is a part of extremely well. It's not easy sometimes to articulate the right reply to a customer inquiry. But it takes a ton more courage and time to respond to said whiny customer in this much more public format.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype is three years old today! As a special gift they also had 7 million concurrent users online. Wow!

Well done Skype.

For more on the story check out Jean Mercier's blog. and of course the Skype blog by Jaanus.

Thanks to Tony in Austria for the pic.

Posted by Bill Campbell at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

The early results are in. Wall Street frowns on the eBay/Skype side of the partnership according to the New York Times.

"Google's shares rose $7.69 yesterday, to close at $380.95, while eBay's shares rose 49 cents, to $25.79."

I think they got it wrong. But you can do the math!

What do you think? Are Skype users into family-friend communication and social networking or are Skype users a bunch of capitialist commercial buyers and sellers? What did Niklas Zennström create? Where is his new team taking Skype?

We would like to hear your views!

Posted by Bill Campbell at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype gets hooked on Google. What's all this mean?

As Jaanus Kase of Skype puts it, "What does all this mean in detail? We'll see next year, as testing of all these new joint initiatives is said to begin in early 2007. For now, one thing is sure -- great companies working together is always exciting news."

Yes, the Google-Skype story feels very upbeat. It is a tremendous opportunity to monetize their huge customer base. This is bigger than SkypeOut and very scalable.

So do we have to wait till 2007? Will there be no sex? I doubt it. The new Skype-enabled Google Tool Bar is available in the 2.6 Preview Release Jaanus blogged about here.

Big Disclaimer

The formal press release ended on what seemed to me to be an unusual disclaimer,

"At this time, eBay does not expect this agreement will have material impact on its financial statements in 2006 or 2007."

Really? No sex? Let's see later today how Wall Street votes. eBay shares should, in my opinion (just about worthless), get a big boost.

To find out I talked with Don Albert, the North America General Manager for Skype. Don told me:

'Click-to-call' is something we have not done before. It is brand new. We are really excited by it. It is a new revenue stream for eBay it is just too early to predict financial impacts.

But when I asked Don, "How do you rank this relationship as a "big deal" or a "modest deal" relative to the Google-MySpace partnership about two weeks back?" Don gave me this comment:

"I am not too familiar with the terms of the Google-MySpace deal but this deal has enormous potential."

If you are not familiar the Google-MySpace terms looks like this:

As part of the deal, Google is expected to pay Fox at least $900 million in revenue share payments based on certain traffic and other commitments promised by Fox. These payments are expected to be made from the first quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2010. Source: Reuters

And you can read what Forbes said about the Google-MySpace deal here.

If you use Google Trends you can get some comparison of MySpace and Skype:

The big picture Don sees is this:

"It's about building new revenue streams. Any other company out there who wants to get in on 'Click-to-Call' better talk to Skype. We have 113 million users they can access. Getting buyers and sellers to connect is a new business model. It is a new way to add value for Skype users."

Ad Free; Spyware Free?

So I asked Don, "Skype has always promised an ad free, spy free application. The idea of a Google Tool Bar has struck the fear of God into some of my fellow skypers. Is this the first step to a change in the Skype philosophy?"

"We have no intention to have ads to the Skype Client unless they add value."

What about brand dilution between Skype and Google Talk?

"Bill, can I walk you through how this works? Users searching using the Skype-enabled Google Tool Bar on the web will be presented with a phone icon. Depending upon the default client they use, they will be presented with a Skype icon or a Google Talk icon. If a user has both clients they may even be given a choice to select the default client they wish to use for "Click to Talk".

What is really happening here?

My answer is simple: "How else do you get to be the number one property on the Internet?"

There has been a rage of partnerships lately as the race to dominate the talking, space-sharing, auctioning and search engine markets. Today's eBay/Skype and Google event was just another.

Getting into bed is about moving up this list (from the Forbes article) of hottest Internet properties.

Is today's story just about the foreplay? Who knows for sure? Click-to-Call buyer-seller functionality has arrived! What is important is what Don Albert says, "this deal has enormous potential."

Posted by Bill Campbell at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In a press release issued this morning, Google and eBay announced an agreement which comprises "two primary components involving text-based advertising and "click-to-call" advertising functionality";.In the course of the press release there are several implications for Skype; however, let me draw attention to where Skype already has incorporated Google searches, namely, as an option in the search icon of the Skype Toolbar for Internet Explorer and Skype Toolbar for Firefox:

Other options in this Skype Toolbar's search element include Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, eBay and Shopping.com.

Lisa Leff at AP provides a good overview; combined with the press release we can see the following implications for Skype:

• Google will become the exclusive provider of text-based advertising for eBay outside the U.S. This complements the Yahoo-eBay deal last June that applies only to the U.S.
• "Click-to-call" integration involves both eBay and Google platforms worldwide "using Skype or Google Talk". It remains to be seen how this will play out but certainly with over 100 million registered users, we can see where Skype's strength lies here.
• Skype will soon offer its users an option to download the Google Toolbar to which Skype will add a custom button. Probably won't look a lot different from the Skype Toolbar for IE or FF shown above.
• The most interesting comment from a Skype observer's viewpoint is the statement: "The companies will also explore interoperability between Skype and Google Talk via open standards to enable text chat and online presence." Does this mean that Skype will execute on its opportunity for IM Federation Leadership and take up Alec Saunders' challenge issued when the Skype code cracking story broke:

Skype should take a leadership position in publishing those protocols, and encourage others to build upon them. The Skype client becomes the first, and possibly the best, way to use the Skype protocol, but not the only way.

This agreement also recognizes the "international" aspect of Skype with over 72% of all users having registered a language other than English as their primary language:

• Skype has developed a universal Phone Number Recognition API component that Skypifies any phone number recognized on a web page or in an e-mail. In fact the PNR has been incorporated not only into all the Skype Toolbars but also into the latest release of Skype (ever wonder why you now see a flag associated with phone numbers in Skype 2.5?).
• Skype has just announced a localization support utility for its third party developers comprising a list of more than 2600 phrases translated into Skype's 27 supported languages.

Today Alec hypothesized on where the money is in "Click-to-Call". Jaanus Kase, Skype's Chief Blogging Office, has commented on the interoperability item above. Andy has thrown in his perspective, including what he hears about Google's "weak" pursuit of PSTN termination. I'm sure we'll see lots of other coverage, especially given I first heard the story on various morning television shows that are viewed at my fitness club. However, the final proof of this agreement's value and impact is going to take a few years to play out.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Google and eBay are swapping spit over ex-US advertising inventory, toolbar buttons, and click-to-call ads. Maybe even bring GTalk and Skype. We'll have exclusive interviews and more later today. News releases follow, but first impressions...

• Search Engine Watch: Click to Call is U.S. only and mid-2007.
• Blogging Stocks: Google eBay deal is much ado about nothing. A promise to do something sometime ain't worth much.
• Media Buyer Planner: Google, eBay Ink Click-to-Call and Text Ad Pact
• Andy Abramson: "Google won on this deal."
• Russell Shaw: "Google Talk isn't interested in Internet telephony's full potential"

Google and eBay Sign Multi-Year Agreement to Connect Users, Merchants, and Advertisers Around the Globe

MOUNTAIN VIEW and SAN JOSE, Calif., August 28, 2006 - Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced a multi-year agreement to benefit both companies' collective communities of users, merchants and advertisers around the globe. The agreement consists of two primary components involving text-based advertising and "click-to-call" advertising functionality.

Specifically, Google will become the exclusive text-based advertising provider for eBay outside the United States. In addition, eBay and Google plan to integrate and launch "click-to-call" advertising functionality that leverage both Skype and Google Talk globally in each company's respective shopping and search platforms. The companies said the financial terms for certain components of the deal involve revenue sharing, but did not disclose specific details.

"We're pleased to expand our long-standing relationship with Google to explore new market opportunities, like click-to-call advertising, that benefit both our communities of users," said Meg Whitman, President and CEO, eBay Inc. "People continue to evolve how they shop, communicate and advertise online. By combining the power of eBay in ecommerce and Skype in communications with Google's leadership in search and advertising, we can increase the usefulness of the Internet for shoppers, merchants and advertisers around the world."

"This agreement underscores how much we value eBay as a partner," said Eric Schmidt, CEO ofGoogle. "Our technologies will allow us to connect users to relevant advertising across eBay's international properties. By working together to promote click-to-call functionality through Google Talk and Skype, we are offering advertisers another innovative way to connect with customers."

The companies plan to begin testing the text-based advertising and click-to-call initiatives in early 2007 that will be evaluated over a period of several months. The specific components and timing of implementation will depend upon initial test results, and will vary by market, largely driven by local dynamics and joint capabilities.

Details of the agreement include:

Search and Advertising on eBay Sites Outside the U.S.

Google will become the exclusive provider of text-based advertising on eBay outside the United States. This agreement provides Google advertisers access to one of the Internet's most robust online communities while enhancing the shopping experience for eBay buyers by making it easier for them to find the products they seek.

"Click-to-Call" Advertising and Technology Integration

Google and eBay also plan to integrate and launch "click-to-call" advertising functionality within eBay's U.S. and international marketplaces and Google's search platform. The click-to-call capability will allow a user to click on a link or icon within a product or service advertisement to initiate an Internet voice call to participating eBay merchants or Google advertisers directly from either company's respective sites, using Skype or Google Talk.

Click-to-call advertising is an emerging e-commerce model that brings buyers and sellers together by opening up new ways for advertisers and merchants to generate customer leads using the Internet. It is particularly valuable for merchants or advertisers who may not have a website, or who currently use channels such as local directories to reach potential customers.

Starting in the near future, Skype will offer its users the option to download the Google Toolbar, to which Skype will add a custom button. The companies will also explore interoperability between Skype and Google Talk via open standards to enable text chat and online presence.

At this time, eBay does not expect this agreement will have a material impact on its financial results in 2006 or 2007.

###

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This is the first in a series going deeper into the "softer" business case for using Skype in the workplace. The series' launching point is the Squidoo Lens 8 More Reasons For You To Pick Skype At Work.

People ask "Why did Skype take off?" One reason: fabulous user experience. The time from click-to-download to your first conversation is short. And Skype outperforms expectations for ease of use and sound quality. First timers smile, laugh - you should see their faces in a class.

I contrast this with the first time I used the 1998 version of SAP. You attended a two-day class to learn how to fill out a simple invoice. Then promptly adjourned to a local bar to drown the frustration and helplessness.

Back to feelings. Great experiences stimulate adoption, indifferent and bad ones trigger abandonment. As true for industry as for consumer goods. Any IT manager will tell you it's hard to redeploy a product once users have puked on it. So happy, confident user experience curtails this risk.

Comparing Skype to other solutions, how well do they deliver on first impressions? Which indicators of customer delight fit this context?

Let's look at some steps in a new user's experience.

1. Download
2. Installation
3. Account creation 
4. Recognition of the dominant metaphor
5. Acceptance of the metaphor
6. First buddy
7. First chat
8. First call made
9. First call taken
10. First conference call
11. Restarting without logging in
12. First change of presence

Do users feel in charge? At each step, Skype provides excellent situational awareness (what you're doing now, what you're about to do, progress, and resolution - done or not done).

Can users figure things out? For core newbie tasks it is easy to discover how to do it, and to try things without fear. Lots of small design elements guide user attention to common tasks. And new contexts (like being in a call) emphasize the most relevant choices (like hanging up).

Do users feel smarter about Skype after using it? Positive and negative feedback so that a typical user learns more?

Do you trust Skype? If Skype was a person, it would be the nice, affable, helpful person next door. It gets there in part by soaking the user experience in an overwhelmingly soft, happy, fuzzy, warm, nurturing aesthetic. Conversation balloons. Light colors. Lots of white space.

More than this, Skype is the person who delivers. Trustworthy, reliable, straightforward. No hidden issues or personal baggage. Simple, fast, poised, and convenient.

Is Skype getting better at this? The trend may be the most important factor. Is today's Skype design more or less effective at creating "Aha! moments"? If it's better, how fast is it improving? Is it balancing feature creep with smooth activity escallation?

Extend this list; it's far from exhaustive. But you take my point. When comparing Skype to other messaging platforms, start with a product that delights the average person. That engages. And reinforces good behavior. How well does the average "smart phone" desk station with PBX score? Soft phones? Enterprise IM? Video conferencing tools? Are they more like old school SAP? Or like Skype?

Phil Wolff is managing editor of Skype Journal and a principal analyst of Skype Journal's professional services practice.

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

Jaanus Kase. Skype's Chief Blogging Officer who visited Phil in Oakland, is also the Chief Skype Forum Officer and has recently completed leading the transition of Skype's Forums to a new platform that provides both visible and backend improvements resulting in a much more resilient and secure forum ecosystem. Key issues included login protocol, security and anti-spam measures. So what's changed? From Jaanus' Announcement: Welcome to the new Skype Forums post:

Here are the most important changes.

• separate forum logins discontinued - you now use Skype Name
• new forum platform - means more security, less spam, new features
• layout and skin changes - you can now use the Skype Emoticons and Skype My Pictures
• admin team reorganization - see below, "Who's who"
• structure changes

The most important "first use" change is the "Identity Re-claim" process for transitioning to using your Skype login information as the login to the new forums. But it's effectively the usual Skype login web page process; you do need to think about what you want to use as your Forum Display Name (which is independent of your Skype Name and becomes your identity on Skype Forum posts). The details are on the Announcement page linked above.

Jaanus, on his personal blog, has written a much more detailed description of the more than year-long process his Skype team went through in identifying problems with the previous php-BB-s platform, determining the objectives of the "forum remake", deciding on a new platform (Invision Power Board) and then executing on the transition in as seamless a manner as possible. In addition to making the change in login protocol, the most important considerations was to not lose access to three years of user feedback and passion. Makes for an especially good read if you're involved in managing a similar user forum.

Our congratulations to Jaanus and his team for such a successful transition. And may the user passion continue to be expressed!

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You may have noticed the new banner. My photo is from Skype blogger in chief Jaanus Kase's side trip to Oakland, California, earlier this year. Jaanus and I had lunch at Everett & Jones near the water. I wasn't impressed by the barbeque that time but it was great to finally meet Jaanus and talk enterprise blogging, online community, and social software. In the photo, Jaanus is taking a picture of cargo railcars going to the Port of Oakland through the Jack London Square neighborhood. Oakland is a major cargo hub, the fourth busiest container port in the United States.

Railroad rights-of-way made it possible for the telegraph network to spread across North America in the 19th century (like Skype on top of the Internets). At some point Western Union lost its dependency on the railroads, entrenched its monopoly, and lobbied Washington to protect it (like the phone and cable companies which followed). Meanwhile, the railroads developed standards so cars from one railroad could run on all the tracks. They later worked with truck and sea shippers to standardize the cargo container (packets for atoms). Containers slashed shipping costs. Now globalization is the standard in a world economy. And a bottle of Stormhoek, South African blogging wine can be shipped to California for less than a euro.

The masthead change is part of a long list of small site improvements. One side effect: you can read SJ on many mobile phone browsers. 

Help me rotate the photo a few times every month. When you have a snapshot and a story, post it to flickr, tag it "skypejournal", and let me know via email or Skype.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jaanus, the blog marketing face of Skype, has posted details of a contest to celebrate Skype's third birthday along with some brief historia about the launch of Skype on August 29, 2003 and their efforts to get the first 100 registered users..

If you want to celebrate our 3rd birthday with us, you don't have to send us expensive gifts or flowers. But you can send a birthday card. Please e-mail your birthday card to happybirthday@skype.net. It can be a picture, photo, video, just written wishes, anything really. If it's a picture or video, you can put it on Flickr, YouTube or any other of those Internet things and just send us the link. Please include your Skype Name.

Go join the celebration of bringing together over 100 million registered users. There are prizes offered; Skype Journal editors are not eligible even if we are not Skype employees.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The secret sauce used by Skype that results in the excellent voice quality of Skype-to-Skype calls and facilitates quality in Skype-to-SkypeIn/Out calls is the Voice Engine for PC and Voice Engine for (Windows) Mobile licensed by Skype from Global IP Sound ("GIPS"). Combining codecs, echo cancellation technology and other voice and packet management features the various GIPS Voice Engines eliminate or minimize the impact of inherent (wired or WiFi) network problems and deficiencies introduced by factors such as delay, jitter, packet loss, clock-drift, acoustic and network echo.

In a press release last Monday, Global IP Sound announced the extension of this relationship to include Skype's licensing of Voice Engine for Embedded such that the GIPS features and technology can be deployed in voice-enabled hardware devices. In an interview with Wendy Toth, VP Marketing, and Dr. Jan Linden, VP Engineering at GIPS, we learned:

• This agreement will permit the incorporation of GIPS Voice Engine technology into future WiFi phone offerings. (It is not included in the recently released WiFi phones announce last month.)
• It would facilitate the offering of a Skype for Symbian phones (such as Nokia's N-Series) although no such client has yet been announced by Skype.
• In July Skype/eBay and GIPS resolved the patent dispute that Skype effectively assumed upon Skype's acquisition of Sonorit and Camano Networks.

Eleven years ago I had been close to the scene when Microsoft did an original one-time licensing of the Spyglass Mosaic web browser that formed the core of the original Internet Explorer; Spyglass then went out of business within the following year as they had no sustainable revenue stream. I asked Wendy what was different about the GIPS business model such as to sustain and grow their revenues, given that Skype has licensed GIPS but has no ongoing revenue base for basic Skype calls. She responded:

• GIPS has developed a business model that relies on both initial one-time and ongoing usage revenues.
• GIPS has built up a diversified customer base such that GIPS's success is not significantly dependent on their Skype relationship.
• GIPS has set the bar for voice quality through their unique overall methodology for voice processing, incorporating echo cancellation and their proprietary codecs.

Other questions we posed to Wendy and Jan:

• What is the status of Global IP Sound's video technology which was demonstrated at Fall VON last year? Effectively they have extended their Voice Engine into a Multimedia version that incorporates video technology. The initial licensee of Voice Engine Multimedia is AOL. To date there has been no licensing by Skype but she would not reveal whether there were any negotiations to extend Skype's license to include Voice Engine Multimedia.

• Where do you see the real push or pull for compatible hardware devices? Dual mode WiFi handsets and compatible ATA devices.

• What is the most significant trend you have seen in the past year? Asia is a market that is growing much faster than our North American and European markets. Of particular note are Korea and India.

• Where do you see the market in three years? We will see VoIP go away as a term as it becomes transparent to all voice communications infrastructure. On the other hand it will impact how we communicate as new voice applications evolve. GIPS will be a player anywhere there is voice processing on the network. As an example, have a look at GIPS Border Interface Engine, bringing GIPS technology to the carrier market at the VoIP/PSTN gateway.

In summary:

• Expect to see new Skype-Certified hardware incorporating GIPS Voice Engine Embedded in the not too distant future.
• Given that their relationship has matured to the point where they can quietly resolve potentially divisive issues such as the patent dispute, the GIPS-Skype relationship that is a key element contributing to Skype's success has become much stronger.
• Going forward GIPS will be a player in the VoIP communications ecosystem at the client, device, network and carrier level .
• Question: Will Skype take advantage of other GIPS Voice Engine technology to provide improved video as well as a Symbian Skype client?

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 03:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In a post this morning, Alec Saunders has introduced Hullo, a new calling service that allows you to control not only to which phone your calls will both originate and be received but even seamlessly hand off calls to another phone as you go from, say, your home to your car. While Alec's post provides much more detail, two key points:

hullo bills itself as a personal call manager.  The promise is that it will help you stay in touch better than ever before.  It incorporates a buddy-list style softphone with some very slick advanced telephony features. 

The company is focusing their launch on the college and high school crowd.  The features have been designed recognizing that young people are increasingly the most sophisticated users of mobile phones.  hullo's feature set makes it easy to use those phones to socialize, arrange events, or stay in touch with friends and family who might live in different cities.  It's not hard to imagine how appealing this will be for students away from home for the first time.

Easy to set up conference calls, "it will scale pretty much infinitely, because it's not peer-to-peer based, relying on Versatel Networks' EdgeIQ series hardware on the backend to handle the traffic". During the beta period, for which no time period is specified, all calls, even long distance within North America, are free. You can originate calls from either the Hullo softphone client or via any of your phones - home, office or mobile - up to seven personal numbers can be specified.

I have set up the client and made a call that was crystal clear in quality. Currently it will pick up your Outlook and MSN Messenger contacts, at your option; however, as Alec mentions, it lacks an Instant Messaging and presence capability. Eventually it may pick up presence information from other IM clients such as MSN Messenger; apparently, with the appropriate development work, an interface to Skype is feasible.

The most interesting aspect is that it provides an interface via which you can experience managing which phone you are using for a particular circumstance. You can launch a call via your PC and then walk away from the PC to continue the call's conversation.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

• Hello Kitty Headphones and Microphone. Can't wait to find these in the Skype store or in starter packs, although I'm more of a Badtz-Maru boy. long way round via shiny shiny, via spacedim, via Gizmodo.

• SKY-click's web based call center went live yesterday. Skype under the covers. Salesforce.com integration. SKY-click home.

• Six minute screencast of BuzzTopix Skype Social Networking. A pretty cool way to have structured, agenda-driven Skype conversations, especially with debates or other structured dialog. I can easily see this being rolled into eBay conversational markets.

• iSkoot should learn from EQO as EQO continues to put its new eggs in non-Skype baskets. EQO is bringing mobility to MySpace, Friendster, and Tagworld, with  Skype doesn't yet have the US brand or marketing muscle to make North American software partners successful just by sticking a Skype Certified label on your product. Skype is building that muscle, but "Skype" isn't such a household name here that co-branding guarantees uptake. A Skype deal is necessary but not sufficient. So diversification is a good move this year.

• Scary brand note. Skype calls are buggy, at least per this fake public service announcement from "Men Against Drinking and Dialing." It's only funny if you share with the commercial's director a common experience of Skype calls being unintelligible, breaking up, and cutting out. Aside from dealing with the truth about a product, how do you deal with a hostile idea that spreads? Starve a meme, man the phones? 

• Skype from your television with MediaREADY set-top boxes. Florida's Video Without Borders makes money through Skype's affiliate program when users of their Internet-connected media centers download and use Skype for Linux.   

• Step through an Ubuntu Linux installation with Skype. Courtesy of the Ubuntu London blog.
   
  # sudo apt-get install skype

should get you going.

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

Microsoft Live Contacts offers developers 400+ million active users with 12 billion contact records. That's more than Earth's population, so should we assume a bit of duplication among the 30 contacts per active user?

A peak of 20 million simultaneous online (8.7% of the Live Messenger population, or 1 in 12) is 2 to 3 times more than Skype's reported raw peak usage.

Microsoft says Messenger users make about 10 million daily video calls. Skype's decentralized conversation prevents us from knowing Skype's messaging traffic.

Microsoft is building Live into a hot software development platform, including Live Messenger tools. Live's demographics should be strong bait for Microsoft's developer, co-marketing, and distribution ecosystems. A mashup city worthy of serious phreaking.

More details from Richard MacManus's Read/WriteWeb, one of my favorite blogs, about from the Auckland Microsoft TechEd 2006 conference where George Moore, GM of Windows Live, spoke.

George Moore also told the conference attendees some stats of the current MS active audience -

• 240M Hotmail users,
• 230M Messenger,
• 72M Spaces,
• 8M mobile subscribers.

He tells the mostly developer crowd at TechEd that "this is the audience that can be reached by Windows Live services." He goes on to say that at any one moment,

• 20M people are simultaneously connected on Messenger and
• 5.7 Billion messages are sent per day.
• Also there are 300M F2F video conversations on Messenger every month.

George said Spaces is "now the largest blogging service on the planet" (RM: so it's bigger than blogger.com?) - it grew to 30M accounts in its first 6 months.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (1)

During trip earlier this month to Nova Scotia, I visited Baddeck, Alexander Graham Bell's summer refuge from the heat and humidity of Washington, DC for the last 37 years of his life. Interestingly the estate is still (privately) occupied by descendants, including his 101-year old granddaughter. However, the highlight was to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, a Parks Canada museum of his trials and experimentation.

From the era of the Voice 0.1 Manifesto and pre-Skype Certification: Just send me the voice -- not exactly your average Nokia N91! Oh, and definitely not suitable for SkypeIn or SkypeOut.

Definitely worth a visit for anyone keen on the history of the telephone; Alexander Graham Bell was the original technogeek often working late into the night, applying his curiosity and energy to not only telephony but also avionics, air conditioning, marine engineering and structural design. Some interesting notes that we can relate to in this era of telephony's evolution into the VoIP age:

• He was effectively trained as a speech therapist following in his father's and grandfather's profession of teaching the deaf; his father's work with a phonetic alphabet, where each sound is represented by a character, triggered his interest in developing the telephone. But what are codecs and Internet packets but ad hoc "phonetic" codes for the coding/decoding and transmission of sound?
• While applying for his original telephone concept patent in 1875, a year prior to the first actual telephone call, he spent a good part of the next 18 years in the courts defending his patents -- successfully.
• In all his homes he had a separate office/laboratory room where he could be a night owl geek writing, experimenting and thinking. But he never had a telephone installed in any of his offices/labs.
• He was a meticulous note taker and recorder of all his activities and observations, no doubt contributing to his night owl behavior. His (deaf) wife even painted a "surprise gift" picture of an owl with his visage worked into the owl's body to express her frustration; the painting is in the museum. But he most wanted to be reputed for his efforts in teaching the deaf.
• While his wedding gift to his wife were all but 10 of his shares in Bell Telephone Company; several of the museum exhibits leave the overall impression that she financed many of his subsequent activities. While there were three other original BTC shareholders, including "Watson" and his father-in-law, no mention is made of the actual share size of the original company. One has to assume these were the days before the concept of market capitalization appeared.
• The original photophone was developed in the 1880's but did not take pictures; in fact it was a communications experiment that had nothing to do with photography. However, the methodology was effectively a laser short of today's fibre optic technology. Aided by mirrors and a selenium substrate he demonstrated that voice could be transmitted very short distances over sunlight. It would simply require a laser;'s monochromatic, coherent light source to transmit over the long distances characteristic of today's fibre optic lines.
• He was a founder of the publisher of that coffee table magazine that became a cable channel: the National Geographic Society.

The AGB timline and some more pictures:

This album is powered by BubbleShare.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Om says all the money in VoIP will go to device makers. Aswath agrees, saying the VoIP carriers and directories will be frozen out of value adds. Andy Abramson says "it's in add on applications and new services. The infrastructure costs have to be revenue neutral. Look to areas like access, identity/directory and new apps..." Kevin Delaney says "Value-Added services such as content delivery maybe, but that's not going to be the big winner. It's going to end up like cell phones. People want the pretty ones with all the extra features. It will become like computers where you buy addons to improve your service and what you can do with it."

Don't miss what Skype's doing. Forget about SkypeOut and SkypeIn revenue. That's piddly, and Om's picking the right industrial analogy for carriage, at least. The value in VoIP is in doing what JyvePro is doing now, what eBay/Skype/PayPal are building now, and where everyone else will follow. The money is in operating markets for conversation. eBay is the right analogy.

eBay knows how to bring buyers and sellers together, Skype knows how to conduct the conversation, and PayPal knows how to get sellers paid. As they shift to conversation markets, all three will be learning new skills and tweaking their services, but that's the deal. Bringing language tutors, babysitters, medical advisors, divorce lawyers, stock advisors, personal trainers together with clients. Assuring a safe, high quality service delivery. And payment as promised.

There will be modest markets in third-party:

• authentication (the Kentucky Bar says you really are a lawyer and in good standing),
• obfuscation (yes, this person can pay you but doesn't want you to know her name because she doesn't want her employees to know she's learning French),
  
• profiling (we can tell you that this person has an eBay score of 2507, a Technorati score of 352, got a 1430 on the SAT, has a valid California drivers licence with two moving violations),
  
• social proximity ranking (you have 33 close contacts, 2 friends, and one family member in common), and
  
• integration with personal management tools, a la Getting Things Done, and business applications, like QuickBooks and Salesforce.com.
  

The huge market will be the small tax you pay to SkypeBayPal or its rivals for hosting conversations that pay. 

After all, the money isn't in the bits, it's in the message.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm at a business mixer when a guy comes up to me, sees my Skype Journal name tag and introduces himself. Hey, he says, did you hear that Skype's founders made Skype by accident? After Kazaa, Janus and Niklas were working on a Fon-like Wi-Fi network. They needed to add loads to the network, to stress it, maybe even stream media to test for bottlenecks.

He sips from a cocktail and continues... So they wrote a utility, a small tool that grabbed sound from a microphone and streamed it to another copy on the LAN. It didn't take much for them to get even more excited about that, they dropped the hotspot biz, and that's how Skype started. It even explains why they bought into Fon. He disappeared into the crowd.

While a lovely story, it's not true. Utter balderdash. Thanks for the fact check, Skype PR.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hum along, Neil Diamond's music while you read about 3 G coming to America.

Somewhere in the Southern States. By a Skype buddy who can't be named. I had the chance to test the first real 3 G network using Skype Video and voice. I got the screen shots. They won't let me share.

Telco's are so secret.

But it was a two-thumbs up moment. The video was as good as any I have seen. Download bandwidth at my buddies end was 384 kilobits. Upload was in excess of 80 kilobits. Clearly this is the level of 3 G technology required to take advantage of the new multimedia phones such as the Nokia N 80.

Suck it up Euroland, America is right behind you. (Grin)

Posted by Bill Campbell at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

One new cool new feature in the Skype Preview version (2.6.0.44) of August 9th. is live (clickable) URLs inside a mood message.

Here is how my fellow Skype beta tester Don enhanced his mood message:

This is a great way to share web content (think video on UTube) with your buddies or to just simply direct them to your web site.

Thanks Don. Just think how many new readers we would have if everyone was as kind as you. A "love-in" for Skype Journal. (grin)

It is also a great time to learn about TinyUrls. TinyURLs work like a trash-compacter. They take a hugely long URL and make them shorter.

This URL:
http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/2006/08/stealth_re
lease_of_skype_26.php

equals this:

http://tinyurl.com/r29o5

when compacted.

Go get in the mood!

Posted by Bill Campbell at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomi Henning, CV Romania

Sticker shock or not I bought a Nokia N80! I want to be ready for Skype Symbian.

I had the opportunity to buy one, and the first thing that astonished me was the price of the phone, which is very high even for a multimedia phone. The prices vary from 550€ to 620€ (without VAT!). Of course if you bought it with a subscription the price dropped to about 350€-400€ which is a good thing.

The first thing that surprised me was the thickness of the phone, it is a bit thick, but the big screen and the 3MP camera compensates for it without a doubt. Also the metallic touch of it is very well finished giving it a fashionable look, and also a style which shows that it is indeed a Nokia phone, without even having to know the exact type. The slider of the phones works really smooth and if you open it when it is ringing and if closed during a call it puts the call down. The buttons are relatively small so quiet un comfortable if you have large fingers but respond on the first press easily.

Starting up the phone takes a rather long time as to what I was used to with my former Nokia 6230, but all Smartphone's or Symbian phones need to boot up properly so it is understandable it took a long time.

A positive thing was that it accepted my pin code very fast, and the UI came right up and it was usable from the second I pressed OK. On first start-up you get the default Nokia Theme. When you first go into the contact list, the phone's asks you whether you want to copy your contacts from your SIM card to the phone. After completing everything I started to wonder around with the Contact Groups where I was a little disappointed when I didn't find any predefined groups, so I had to make them my self.

The Nokia N80 was presented by Nokia not as a simple phone, but as a multimedia platform capable of never met before multimedia features. I have to agree with this totally. To start off the phone has a 3MP camera with normal and macro modes possible and also 20x digital zoom. The camera has a separate button on the side of the phone, which starts the camera and also makes the photo while in camera mode. But don't sell your digital camera yet because the quality is still not the same as one made with a normal camera. The second impressive multimedia feature is the media player which comes with the phone. Finally Nokia made such a media player which searches for music files within directories as well. This phone can be turned into an mp3 player with an ease since it supports hot-swappable miniSD memory cards up to 2 Gb, which means almost 500 mp3 on your phone and at your finger tips. But you will have to buy a separate card since Nokia only ships 128 Mb cards within the package. Also the loudspeakers which are embedded in the phone are pretty loud so if you're in the office or just at home relaxing you can listen to high quality music without a headset right off your phone. The third feature which is not that new in latest Nokia phones is the Visual Radio. I can't say much about it because the service is unavailable for me to test. The forth and most interesting multimedia feature allows you to view made pictures as Slide shows in full screen view but not only. If you have a compatible device you can view the photos in real time via Bluetooth on your TV set as well, pretty neat.

The star feature of the phone is however the implemented WiFi chip. The WiFi is only activated when it is needed so it doesn't consume too much battery. So when browsing the net or simply checking your emails from your phone, you can select from which Internet connection profiles to use (called Access Points, AP for short.) However there is a big downside with these profiles. If you are connecting to a secured, protected network then you will need to memorize the access key since until this point I haven't found a possibility to store the key within the AP profile. Pretty annoying but for free Internet connection on my phone it is not a biggie to remember another password. Also you can select a Home Network which is basically an AP profile you select for default, on which if you connect your phone's internal file memory, and memory card are shared. So you can upload and download files from your phone via WiFi without needing to connect the phone to your PC. All Internet connections from either a browser or by a third party application can be routed through WiFi, which is a big plus for this phone. Hopefully soon VoIP programs like Skype will appear for Symbian phones as well will basically mean free calls if you are in a WiFi hot spot from your phone. But can't forget to mention that the phone is a 3G/UMTS phone so video calls are possible with the phone. The phone is equipped with a frontal camera with 640x480 resolution mainly used for video calls or self portraits. Making a video call is a bit hard with the phone, though. Since after selecting the contact you want to call you have to go to the Options and select Video call instead of Voice call. But to compensate this Nokia allowed you to set a different ring tone for Video calls.

The package I received contained several items which to be honest surprised me. Besides the standard content (phone, battery, charger, manual) you also get: a charger adapter (for old type chargers), a USB cable, a pop-port to jack converter, a headset, the 128Mb miniSD card, a leather wrist strap, a leather cleaning cloth, and a CD containing the necessary software for your PC.

Sticker shock or not, I love my Nokia N80!

Posted by Guest Blogger at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (1)

Both Alec Saunders and Jon Arnold have commented on a KTVU news item video where Andy is interviewed about dual mode WiFi/GSM phones. Andy points out that he could not demonstrate on his Nokia E61 in the hotel where he was interviewed because of the requirement for a login page. A week ago I commented on the need for a simple login page that was "mobile" optimized until an automated authorization-authentication protocol is worked out for mobile WiFi access.

Turns out that Montreal-based provider of hotel-based WiFi services, Intello (formerly iHotel), has taken one step in the right direction by "mobile optimizing" their initial user page. I have often used my evaluation Nokia N91 Personal Entertainment Assistant to simply and discretely detect the presence of a WiFi signal in a hotel lobby or coffee shop. When you start up the N91's web browser at a location serviced by iHotel, you get the mobile-optimized page shown on the right; simply enter the access code given by the front desk attendant and "Voilà"! Not a totally seamless switchover but the entire form fits within one screen. Were this my Dell Axim I could start using Skype Mobile. (Is Skype developing a Skype for Symbian?)

According to the AT&T spokesperson in the video, we can expect to see a seamless dual mode carrier operation at some time in 2007.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A friend of mine, metablogger and social media scholar Lilia Efimova, is from Russia, lives in the Netherlands, and is married to Robert. This so you can follow her post which I'm lifting in its entirety from her Mathemagenic blog.

A few weeks ago we had a very special incident. My mom thought that I was around home computer with Skype logged in as Robert and started a chat. In Russian.

Of course, it wasn't me next to it, but Robert himself. He went to an online translator, figured out what my mom was saying, got his reply translated and posted back. First my mom thought I was making fun of her typing strange Russian, but then she had to believe that she was chatting with Robert. Both of them were very happy and very proud that they found a mode for direct communication despite of speaking different languages.

Thinking of opportunities that this discovery could bring (=not having to translate back and forth between family members :) I thought that it would be great to find an automatic translator for Skype chat. I found one - ULRTMT - Universal Language Real-Time Message Translator, which is in difficult to install beta. Haven't tried it yet, but already happy since these times things develop fast.

On a side note - it took ages to get my mom on Skype and she is still learning ins and outs, but I'm so much happier now. Between other small victories is having my grandma talking to me (wearing "I look like those guys from Spaceship control center" headset) and giving her a video tour of our house in real time.

Now, there are a few more things before my familyskyping project brings real fruits: get other family members on Skype, make sure my mom finds their webcam and my brother installs it, configure properly for my new Bluetooth headset so I don't have to change the settings manually...

A few of my closing observations:

• Note the Skype infection spreading through the family vector. Not just within her household (Lilia to Robert, I think) but also across households, to her mother. Someday genealogists will be mining Skype social networks to discover family ties.
  

• It's still true that ease of setup and ease of use are barriers to adoption and use. Despite this, early adopters bet their time, attention, and money on a developer's future stream of improvements and innovation. This stream is the Skype developer ecosystem's brand.
  

• Language remains a solid barrier for social network growth. While Skype breaks down barriers of distance, only realtime human interpreters (now) or machine interpreters (later, slashing the price of just-good-enough translation) can blow open the markets for conversations.
  

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The emerging proliferation of WiFi-enabled personal assistant devices, such as Nokia's N-series and Mobile Windows phones, and PC's requires a complementary build-out of WiFi infrastructure. During our current road trip to Atlantic Canada we have passed many "local" hotels where the main promotional feature is "Wireless High Speed Internet", sometimes along with free continental breakfast and a couple of other amenities. We have been staying at a low cost hotels that meets our need for a clean room and an overnight bed; their services include free WiFi usually without even a login screen. So my question is: "Why do several multi-national chains, such as Hilton, still feel they have to charge a premium surcharge for high speed Internet?" when it has become critical not only to traditional business travel but also to tourists keeping in touch with their families and truckers keeping in touch with their dispatchers.

The Good News, however, is that market demand for high speed Internet is rapidly building infrastructure for Skype WiFi phones at travel destinations. Reminds me of the 1960's when Color TV was the big differentiator in the lodging business, featured on highway signage.. (While available in the US from the late 50's, color TV only came to Canada in 1967.)

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill Campbell says U.S. business isn't motivated by cost savings, at least not enough to switch or try Skype. I generally agree. So I described selection criteria aimed at effectiveness, productivity, risk avoidance, and cultural fit. I think many of us are working in wirearchies and adhocracies. And that Skype's multimodal, extensible, digitization of many of forms of conversation is a great fit. So I posted a Squidoo Lens: Knowledge Management selection criteria for Skype. Please give it a once over, break out your red pen (especially to give it a new title), and leave your comments.

• How good do people feel using this software?

• Do people use it more and more over time, or less and less?

• Which ones help individuals build social capital with less effort and to better effect?

• How well do these tools support easy group forming and other elements of adhocracy?

• How well are they adapted in support of your cultural norms?

• Do they help people with different communication styles and preferred modes to interact and engage well with each other?

• Do they provoke the shift from talk to action?

• How well do they help you build and apply personal, team and institutional memory?

Too many softphones, IM's+voice, and enterprise VoIP solutions focus on simple telephone replacement. IT leaders will step up from commodity technology to picking communication tools strategically aligned to get the most out of people, teams, projects, and alliances.

Thanks for the critique. I'll build on it.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 06:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype did a stealth release of a "Preview" version of Skype 2.6 today.

Read about the details from Jaanus at Skype.

If you do Skypecasting you will really want to test drive this new release. If you have never tried Skypecasting start today!

The new client features this tab, "Live"

This new "Preview" version tells a silent story about the future of Skype. It is a story worth reading.

Go play with 2.6.0.44.

Build 2.6.0.44 9th August

• There may be some problems or incompatibility with specific audio devices, which have been working on earlier versions of Skype. Please report all these problems.

• User may experience errors with Internet Explorer Beta 2 installed, we recommend to upgrade to Internet Explorer Beta 3.

• Video is not enabled when plugging in camera while on a call.

• There may be echo problems when using 2 sound devices.

• Firefox plugin will be reinstalled on next Skype installion, even if user has uninstalled it.

New Features:

• New Sound Audio Lirary

• Voice access API

• IE and FF plugins integrated (phone number recognition on web pages)

• Clickable links in mood messages

• Avatars clickable in chat windows

• Added "Clear all missed events" in events panel rightclick menu

Changes:

• quickfilter searches from beginning of words only

• avatar drag and drop ability

Bugfixes:

• country list was not sorted in search window

• Shared Groups: when contact leaves group the text is overlapping with moodmessage

• Mute text should be "unmute" when muted

• answering conference from conf calltab did not cancel traynotification

• Call tab: video start/stop button dissapeared when used during a held call

• Conf call: participant on hold was shown only to host

• Country select list doesn't disappear when clicking somewhere else

• Localized country names in search window did not change, if you changed languages

• Start Video via context menu did not change video button text

• Ending video call did not show avatar again

• There was no way to bookmark chats without a mouse

• FT dialog opened in DND mode

• "011" area code disabled country selection

• Chat message is might have got lost when other party uses embedded device

• Mousewheel scroll did not work when chat memberlist hidden

• notification parameters did not support unicode

• Call tab info was wrong when Skype contact's PSTN number called

• Import Contacts: some text in Russian was not displayed on last dialog in import contacts flow

API changes:

• feature: USER property NROF_AUTHED_BUDDIES

• feature: CALL properties FORWARDED_BY and VAA_INPUT_STATUS

• change: API: moved PONG reply to PING into library thread - now asyncronous

Posted by Bill Campbell at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (2)

Watching blogpulse's chart of Skype's blogshare, I can't help noticing how closely the line of the term "VoIP" follows the incidence of Skype-related terms. It's almost as if VoIP is mostly getting mentioned as an explanation or echo of Skype. Has VoIP become redundant as a consumer marketing term? If you're a rival, are you better off saying your product is "like Skype" than "a VoIP tool"? If you're Skype, why would you even mention the term to consumers?

So if Skype is driving the public perception of VoIP, how much is Vonage affecting the "VoIP meme" with their massive US ad campaigns?

Skype is more than VoIP, of course, and the company has a real chance to define its brand on its own terms, and not just on this last-millenium bit of jargon. Careful framing may put all the traditional VoIP people at a disadvantage. For example, Skype adds value with secure phone calls; does your VoIP do that? Since "free" isn't enough to justify North American mass adoption, Skype marcom will explore all the other offers it can make. Its choice of offers may not only redefine VoIP, but set expectations (privacy, presence, collaboration, picture sharing, voice quality, ease of use, video, it just works) competitors may find challenging to match.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype did a great job packaging Skype into the new Mylo. And I'm desparate for a device like this that lets me carry Skype around. But Sony's Mylo doesn't deserve this moment of love. Like the T-Mobile Sidekick, Mylo:

• is a closed device and platform when we need open platforms;
• only has Wi-Fi when we need the ubiquity of wireless edge networks; and
• lacks authoring tools when everyone creates, mashes up, and publishes photos, sound, and video.

Definitely not for the MySpace generation, despite the great job at embedding Skype, Yahoo! and Google IM clients.

Save Mylo, Sony.

1. Add a good still and video camera. We're sharing our work and our lives. I want this to replace my mobile camera phone, but you are betting it won't, at least for now. Please try! 
2. Add audio, video and photo recording software. Surely Adobe is ready to come out with pocket versions of ImageReady, Audition and Premiere.
3. Add authoring (or at least uploading) tools for blogs, vlogs and podcasts. A browser can only do so much, even with Web 2.0 goodies.
4. Publish developer tools and seed an open ecosystem. I want to code rich clients (feedreader, please) to run on Mylo, especially apps that work offline.
5. Open the device to third-party apps, without prior Sony approval. So I can buy Mylo editions of Quicken, Flight Simulator, QQ, and embedded Firefox (with extensions). It's much easier to be closed, but a Sony bizdev tax is a barrier to user adoption.
6. Add AIM. Still being used by millions, even adults.
7. Let me use Skype without a plug-in earbud (built in noise-cancelling microphone). Just one thing to carry, please.
8. Support the U3 flashdrive standard for better desktop integration.
9. Bundle more memory. 1 GB is too small to do the job needed, and an insult at this price point.
10. Support IMAP and POP3 email servers. How can Sony segment work from life when work and life are blended for most people?
11. Talk through GSM and EDGE data networks. Wi-Fi-only is premature in most places for most people.
12. Add bluetooth. The better to play with desktops, cameras, and mobile phone.
13. Lose the big orange and blue lights (or at least make them optional). Nobody around me needs to know when I'm using Mylo or I'm online.
14. Add batteries. So you can do all that and sustain the long battery life you offer now.

Mylo represents a great stab in the right direction. Product managers trade off time, features, cost, quality, risk and prices. Here's hoping Mylo continues to evolve and expand into a development platform to rival the Playstation, Windows Mobile, the Palm OS, and Symbian.

P.S. Good luck to the musician Mylo, who's had no Google juice competition until now.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

Sony saves Skype users who feel tethered to their PC. Sony announced an agreement with Skype to integrate Skype software into Sony's first WiFi broadband communication and entertainment device, the mylo (My Life Online) personal communicator.

It looks like an awe-inspiring product. I can't wait to test drive it.

The mylo personal communicator will offer a rich array of Skype features, including

• Skype to Skype, SkypeOut, and SkypeIn calling
  
• Call history and voicemail
  
• Skype chat and multi chat with animated emoticons
  
• Contact add and search
  
• Full profile viewing and automatic Skype sign-in

The Skype Certified Sony mylo personal communicator will be available in September at Sony Style stores, sonystyle.com and at retail outlets across the United States. Price point is about $350. Read more about it here.

• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
• Large 2.4 LCD colour screen
• Internet Browser and e-mail client (Opera)
• Three-hours continuous talk time on Skype
• Small: Approx. 4 7/8 × 31/32 × 2 1/2 inches (123 × 23.9 × 63 mm)

"The mylo personal communicator puts the fun parts of a computer in the palm of your hand,"

The Sony mylo ranks as a "must have product"!

Posted by Bill Campbell at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night I ordered a whole bunch of components to upgrade our main PC and satisfy my wife's Warcraft addiction. Today I got a text message as follows:

There is a problem authorising the payment for your order E123456 . Please ring us on 0870 0123 4567 to resolve this. Thank you for your custom.

Of course, you call the number and have to re-dictate your order code to the agent.

There was also an email with the same message. Now, with a URL, you can add in parameters at the end. Just tag on "?param=value". But the telephone system doesn't understand URLs, and there's no standard way of encoding phone numbers in SMS messages and emails to be able to extend the system just in case you do have a click-to-call capability. (Yes, I know about SIP URIs. The potential is there; a standardised deployed system is not.) There's no way of me pressing the "call" button on my mobile and the order code being passed straight back to their system.

The whole point of VoIP is not arbitrage, price or regulatory bypass. It's doing things you can't do on the set-in-stone circuit networks. The phone companies don't seem to have a vision to sell you anything other than minutes, even if the objective/value/revenue potential of the call is enabling a transaction. What's even scarier is that architectures like IMS are likely to rob the end user of any chance of unilaterally deciding to extend the system. What if I want to participate in some data-exchange that the operator hasn't pre-approved or tariffed in some way? The other part of IP is empowering the user to go out and buy some nifty new talk gadget and have it work without having to worry what their telco, ISP or "IMS-SP" might be compatible with.

In user-to-user Skype calls, we've cracked the exchange of text, URLs, files and desktops. In user-to-business calls, we've made no progress in several decades. This is where I think the opportunity is for Skype and eBay to disrupt telephony the most. Sadly, I think their marketing focus on "free" rather than "better" will come to bite them.

It turned out that the vendor's payment system was down and had automatically spat out the rejection message, and they re-tried and payment went through. At least I got a blog post out of it, for my effort...

Transact with Martin Geddes' Telepocalypse.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Skype video is fantastic. I had three video IP surveillance cameras installed in my retail store to monitor the cash counter and they just did not have a useful frame rate. I need Skype. It will work great but I need it to operate without popping up when I call the remote Skype Client. What can I do?"

I understood this man's problem instantly. I met a woman who ran a cappuccino shop a few years back who was losing a ton of money by staff pocketing the money instead of ringing it in the cash register. Her profit was back the moment she installed a video cam surveillance unit.

However, you cannot eliminate the pop up of the Skype Application when the call comes in. So how did this man solve his problem and get Skype working in stealth mode?

Easy. Set the Skype Application to run under another account in XP while the computer runs in the normal log-in account. Do not use the "Right Click and select, Run As... to set up the second Skype Client. Insead set up the surveillance Skype Client using "Log-in" command at the Start Menu.

Skype now has a happy retailer somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Posted by Bill Campbell at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

eBay recently launched a service providing users with SMS and IM alerts for when monitored auctions change status or they are outbid. When I first clicked the link to sign up for an alert, I expected Skype to be the first thing I saw. Maybe this was to be the first real use that eBay's had for Skype. However I was disappointed with what I saw.

Skype was missing. Does eBay not trust their own product enough to use it themselves? What are their limitations? What do other IM networks have that Skype doesn't? I have an answer. Reliabilty.

Skype's P2P architecture makes having a reliable server-side client next to impossible. Messages aren't always delievered, voicemails pile up, and supernode traffic bogs down servers. What the developer community needs is a stripped-down cross-platform client for connecting to the Skype network. This client could get rid of Skype's colorful GUI bloat and perform core tasks such as handling chat messages and calls. Combined with a Call Forwarding API, Skype would have the business market hands-down if they just took this one little step.

Hey Skype, if you need a developer for it, you know my number.

More on Skype and alerting:

• Some public Skype events and why Skype should embed calendaring. Phil Wolff, Skype Journal.
• Skype Heartbeat is a good second step, but we need more. Phil Wolff, Skype Journal.
• Skype RemindMe. Uri Levanon, Skype Journal.

Posted by Kevin Delaney at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Hats off to the PBwiki team; we love and use your tools. Rematch coming soon. Can you name the Skype bowlers? Brush up on your 7-10 split if you're applying for a Bay Area Skype job. Perhaps the coolest thing about this is there are enough Skype employees in California to field a team. Vid by Ryan Is Hungry, via Bowling 2.0.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 04:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the past few days, Katie at GigaOm has been trekking down to Mountain View on hot days to try out the new Google-Fi network. Most recently she went with a Mac and Nokia 770 and tried out Skype and GizmoProject respectively to determine the feasibility and quality of the call.. She concludes:

• If your call is critical and you're in a big hurry, and not willing to tinker with new technology, stick to your cellular handset. and
• if you're willing to give up the ease-of-use of your mobile handset, then, Google's Mountain View network is not bad

Alec Saunders has referenced Katie's post, commented on his experience and concludes:

The biggest problem, identified in the comments area, is the ubiquitous authentication screens that nearly all public WiFi access points have now.  For all intents and purposes, these make the use of non-PC based VoIP (such as dual-mode handsets) impossible.

I have had some recent experience using the VoIPvoice Cyberphone W while visiting clients and prospects, doing demonstrations for an unrelated service on a consulting project. Simply set up the PC, plug in the Ethernet cable, plug in the Cyberphone W, lift up the handset, look up the contact in Outlook, click on the number via Skype's Outlook Toolbar and make a SkypeOut call -- a lot easier than asking what is the number to access a long distance service, dialing the number and entering some form of calling card number. Effectively it was a pleasure to have total control over my long distance setup, as well as the discrete simplicity of making the connection, to bring in audio for a remote portion of the demonstration.

So the question becomes how reasonable is it to expect to be able to control the situation where mobile wireless is the only option while maintaining and/or improving the simplicity of the process? With both my previous Nokia 6310i or my current Nokia N70 evaluation unit I can simply select a name in the Contact list, select which phone number for the selected Contact to call, and click on the Call or Send button to initiate a call. The SIM chip provides the authorization and authentication and the billable minutes start to add up if it is a long distance call.

All the recent posts (Om, Andy) generated by last Sunday's New York Times article "The WiFi in Your Handset" piqued my curiosity as to what could be accomplished today vs what is required to have a fully operational WiFi phone service. So I went out with my Skype-enabled Dell Axim X50v (624MHz processor - not designed for WiFi Phone service but, as you will see, it proves the concept) to a couple of local coffee shops and my long term Volvo dealer during a routine service visit to try out Skype Mobile for Windows. (Note that an inter-carrier Canadian HotSpot program has been set up so that, regardless of your wireless carrier, you can use the Hotspot of an otherwise competitive carrier.)

• Starbucks' WiFi, serviced by Bell Mobility, came up with a login screen that wanted an email address and a Starbucks "partner number" to trigger access. The store personnel knew nothing about a "partner number" for the service. Gave up trying to use it - I had had an earlier experience the same day at another location where the "Home Page" came up in French whereas there is usually an option to select one of our two official languages on a Canadian service's Home Page. It went downhill from there; the latte was good..
• Went to a Second Cup across the street where Rogers, my wireless carrier, provides the HotSpot service; I could retrieve my password on my N70 via an SMS response to a login request via the Axim's browser. Once logged in the billing was building at 15 cents/ per minute. (Is there something wrong with this picture of a packet-based service being billed by the minute?) Went to the Skype for Windows Mobile client and connected with Phil Wolff who picked up the phone and we had a short, reasonable quality conversation under conditions of some ambient noise (outside a coffee shop and an adjacent ice cream parlor on a 35C/95F degree plus evening) and a Dell Axim speaker that did not have a large volume range. Workable for the patient geek user but a proper headset for the Axim's non-standard speaker/mic plug would have helped. (Had I made the call via my Rogers GSM service, the billing would also have netted out at 15 cents a minute, so no financial advantage here.)
• Went to my Volvo dealer the following morning for a service visit; they have "Guest" WiFi available and desks for their customers to use the WiFi while waiting. Once I had assisted the dealer personnel get their WiFi operational again after the impact of power blackout during the previous night's thunderstorm, I was able to call up an acquaintance in Victoria using the Skype Mobile on the Axim. Being in a quiet room, we were able to hold a very normal phone conversation for 11 minutes. No login, no noticeable lag and Ralph was able to bring me up to date on his business activity.. This call was the closest to a normal wireless call in terms of both the connection and the actual conversation experience.

Yesterday Bill reported on the success an Australian acquaintance was having with the first available WiFi Phone for Skype: "the current software is fantastic, extremely easy to use, contacts, forward settings, etc., all downloaded to the phone, no need entering all your contacts again" However, one caveat: "This is good if you're logging onto a network which you have the security details however for hotspots, etc., requiring web based authentication, this phone isn't going to work."

When I make a phone call, I want to go into a directory, select the callee, click on an icon and have the call commence -- similar to how I make calls on my recent Nokia 6310i and N70 phone sets. And not have the delays and hassles associated with logging in to get authentication. There has to be a more user friendly way to use WiFi phones at Hotspots.

GSM/GPRS has its SIM chip; the 3G UMTS protocol is coming out on both Cingular and Rogers with a U-SIM chip supposedly later this fall. Both of these not only store information but also provide an authorization and authentication capability. Seems to be it would be reasonable to suggest that WiFi-enabled phone vendors, working with the WiFi hotspot carriers, be asked to come out with some form of WiFi-SIM chip to overcome this authorization-authentication hassle. (Someone is already using the most obvious term, W-SIM) Of course there is always the question of whether such a proposal would be in the carriers' business interest but good marketing, including pricing, programs can overcome that.

In the interim the WiFi hotspot carriers can facilitate the login process. Simply. make unique mobile device (WAP ore whatever) login screens that are easy to access and to enter login information within the confines of a mobile display instead of trying to gloss over with a PC screen's SVGA resolution pages for this purpose and hoping the device can manipulate ribbon bars. This ability alone would probably put a significant increase into the revenue potential for HotSpot carriers. Check out http://mobile.google.com or http://wap.mlb.com to experience the simplicity I am talking about.

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Hostel stay comes with Skype.
• Free Comverse Klonie avatars for Skype. One more erased barrier to adoption. It's good that Skype continues to experiment with offers and prices in eCommerce.
• McAfee security products get Skype Certified. Co-marketing, revenue sharing, hoping McAfee's saftey brand notes wash off Skype's piracy brand notes.
• Live video special effects. ManyCam works with Skype, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo!
• Bob Crabtree reviews the D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter DPH-50U. "Judging by our experiences, a more honest strategy for D-Link would be to pull the product completely off the UK market until it is able to introduce a version that works with modern DECT phones in something approaching a reliable fashion." Ouch.
• Windows Live Spaces launches with gadgets and social networking. Microsoft's blending of their blog and voice social spaces brings their slow and fast worlds closer together. Personal digital identity is the common thread, something shared by eBay/Skype, Yahoo!, Google, and AOL. They build strength by (a) having more places to use your own ID, (b) the convenience of managing contacts in one place, and (c) the large directories that improve your chances of finding someone the first time you look. Stand-alone VoIP networks are at a disadvantage, so I expect lots of M&A activity by this time next year.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The 2006 O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference was the best gathering of VoIP revolutionaries ever. Next year's ETel starts February 28, 2007, and I hope to see you there. If you have a topic or product to present, submit your proposals by September 26. Topic requests, email etelchair at oreilly dot com.

From Skype Journal's coverage of ETel06:

• FON - Your Community Wi-Fi Provider
• Day One Reflections - Emerging Telephony
• ETel: Disappearing telephony
• Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo!
• Sean Egan, Google ETel
• Phil Wolff, Skype Journal at ETel
• David Isenberg - Fat Pipes
• Brad Templeton - EFF
• PayPal at ETel
• Phillip Zimmermann at ETEL

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was recently provided with a Nokia N70, which I've been watching my wife play with. (You're only getting my N90 out of my sweaty hands by swapping it for one of these.) [Disclosure: Riddled with conflict. Get over it.]

Firstly, some unexpected praise. Since the included manuals were encrypted in Finnish, I downloaded the N70 PDF manual off the Web. I'd really urge all tech writers to drop what they're doing and go take a look. It's stunning. The shortcuts and stuff you really need are all at the front. It's based around the user and their scenarios ("how do I..."), not the phone and its menus and navigation structure. The layout is crystal clear. The language is simple. The corporate BS is hidden near the back. The important bits use bold and colour to let your eye flit about and find the facts you want. Someone's put as much -- if not more -- effort into this than has gone into the phone UI. Bravo!

Speaking of which, it's a bit of a curate's egg. My wife misses the simplicity and obviousness of the icons on her T630. She finds it hilarious that the top-end smartphone competed with our PC in boot and shutdown time. The navigation pad isn't up to the same ease as the Sony Ericsson joystick. Text entry isn't quite as intuitive, particularly dealing with dictionary words (you even need to turn the feature on). She misses being able to re-order the address book. There's a slight sluggishness to a smartphone. The standby screen without the backlight is almost illegible with tiny writing, making it a poor convergence substitute for a watch. The latch to undo the back and access the battery and SIM will require 3 weeks of intensive emergency manicure therapy to recover from the trauma. The contacts application doesn't seem to work well with multiple numbers for one person -- it's impossible to work out which entry is which without digging down a menu level. The 'on' button's a bit picky.

The Series 60 UI has a number of peculiarities. Text notes are treated differently from all other media, for some unknown reason. Recording a quick voice note requires too many key presses. Some of the network config is split between different places for no real gain.

That said, there's promise that she'll actually take some pictures with it. The results with the traditional VGA camera phone are just too awful to contemplate bothering. It's still a tour-de-force of design and technology. Just needs to go on a cost and size diet before the girlies will be getting them.

My conclusion: Smartphones aren't ready to break out into mass market yet, but some of the form factors, screens and imaging sensors are so damn good you'll buy one anyway and ignore the "smart" and get on with the "phone".

One thing I noticed sat in the park at the weekend was several teenage girls co-listening to iPods, one earbud each. I've seen it before. Sounds like music players are screaming to become social. Now imagine Bluetooth was built more like Sun's Jini technology, and it was easy to discover new devices and services over a generic packet transport. We'd all be downloading little Bluetooth adapters to broadcast personal radio from our mobile music players, the operators would be making good cash from vending them, lots of new services would be created, and I'm sure some billable network traffic would result from the ecosystem. Plus the record industry lawyers would be out in force -- you know you're reached the future when a lawyer is the only barrier to progress. Ah, dream on...

I also saw one girl who didn't have her earphones lying on the grass, head to one size, phone balanced on ear, presumably listening to music. Maybe Tomi's right on this one! (although I still think he's a year-or-so off. But that comes with his being an optimist.)

Oh, and a few last disjointed smartphone thoughts.

I've found Bluetooth becoming utterly central to the use of a smartphone. Just plonk it next to my laptop, do nothing, everything syncs automatically. It's not that reliable, though -- I sometimes need to reboot the phone to get the laptop to talk to it. Life's to short to go debugging Bluetooth stacks, so I'm not too upset. I also tried sending the whole address book from my wife's old phone to the new one. Got one contact card over, and that's it. Perhaps the transfer of an address book is rather too ambitous a use case...

PS - Nokia's Lifeblog 2.0 is fab. Digital imaging takes away the "click anxiety", and Lifeblog's removed the fear of filing.

Recapture your click anxiety at Martin's telepocalypse.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rick and his family operate one of the most prestigious home furniture stores in Australia. They have been using Skype in their business since almost day one. (Reminder: Skype's 3rd birthday is less than 27 days away... what gift will you give Skype?) Rick buys everything Skype so I value his feedback on the new SMC Networks Wi-Fi Phone and asked him to share his experience with our Skype Journal readers. Here is what he had to say...

I've been wanting a easier method to make Skype calls for a along time. Have tried Wireless adapters, Cyberphone K, SkypePhone.com Phones, all have there good points but never quiet easy or reliable enough for my wife and I to use as a day to day telephone.

The SMC Wi Fi phone I picked up today could be the solution we have been looking for. Out of the box you get the wi fi b/g compatible phone, gloss white plastic cover, color screen and all the keys you would find on a typical mobile phone. As well as the phone you get basic hands free which plugs into the bottom of the phone, manual and Documentation CD and a printed Quick Start Guide.

When you turn the phone on you select your language, only English was an option, then an agreement that you understand Skype is not a replacement for your ordinary phone as it does not make emergency calls.

It then searches for a network; if your network has security you can manually enter the Network Key via the number keys on the phone.

This is good if you're logging onto a network which you have the security details however for hotspots, etc., requiring web based authentication, this phone isn't going to work.

Signing in process is just as easy; entering your username and password then the phone makes the usual logged on sound the pc software makes.

As soon as I was logged on the phone said there was a later version of the software and click ok to install (phone came with version 0.9.0.11), this always brought up an error "The download could not be completed. Please try again."

Nevertheless the current software is fantastic, extremely easy to use, contacts, forward settings, etc., all downloaded to the phone, no need entering all your contacts again. Turn the phone on and off and it remembers your preferred networks and their settings. Great! Contacts are one button away and are sorted from online, SkypeOut, and offline. For dialing SkypeOut numbers without entering as a contact just dial the number directly from the main menu as you work with a mobile phone.

Menu system is very simple and easy to use with pretty much all the configuration options you would find on the pc version.

Plenty of network options, including selecting your own incoming port number.

Call quality within 20 meters of a router is great, no difference than the Cyberphone K, distance calls I will try as time goes on, but so far, it's the solution we have been waiting for!

Rick.

Thanks for the story Rick. I wonder if that phone would work in Canada?

Posted by Bill Campbell at 08:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

True or false? You decide.

There will be three desktop clients through which you conduct your life. Browser wars ("Episode 1" ... or was that 4?) was only the beginning.

• The browser. "Their stuff" -- your lens on the outside world -- discover, read, and transact.
• The messenger. "Our stuff" -- your lens into your social world -- connect and converse.
• The manager. "My stuff" -- your lens onto your own digital artifacts -- search, edit and view.

Skype is/was the "new Netscape". Perhaps a few billion dollars was cheap...

Having played with Nokia Lifeblog 2.0 for a while, I think this is kind of a transformative moment for how we interact with the last category. It's still at the Mosaic-like stage of development (go read your browser wars history), but it's useable. I look forward to the Windows Explorer paradigm going the way of MS-DOS.

No time to blog further on this one. Time to let the idea stew and simmer.

Stew and simmer through the telepocalypse.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

"The Skype API is the envy of Yahoo" (yes that's an inside quote, and no I will not disclose the source). Programmers get to do sexy things; users get imagination explosion.

A few weeks back Don, TheUberOverLord (Skype ID), did his magic using the Skype API and the CPU between his ears and came up with a real-time language translator for Chat Messages. Don is now trying to out distance his last run.

Here is Don's Skype Application for getting Skype's Chat Messages to talk to you.

It is fun to play with.

"Now you can watch TV, go to the bathroom, cook dinner and still not miss out what your Skype buddies are saying",

Go download it and install. You can even hear yourself talk. That is what I like best!

Posted by Bill Campbell at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Does Skype exist? Most of us handle a similar, but personal question about God quite early on in life. We all come to some conclusion. A couple of weeks back while traveling with Linda I asked myself, "Does Skype exist?" Not for myself, but I was wondering about the 5.5 billion non-Skype Users out there, or at least the 3 million non-Skype users in British Columbia, Canada. How would they know if Skype exists?

Most people are shoppers. So I followed the shoppers.

So I checked out a national computer store (London Drugs) and two international giant retailers Staples and Office Depot. It was clear form looking at mechanizing areas for Headsets like Plantronics and web cams like Logitech one could easily find the existence of MSN, but it would be a miracle if someone could determine Skype exists. Only one logo for Skype appeared on all the shelves I looked at.

My Skype buddy Bill Hodgson did a survey for me in the US. Bill lives in Berkeley, California. No one in Berkeley believes that God exists (Grin). Bill checked out Best Buy and Radio Shack. Best Buy had two Skype Certified products: Logitech headset and a Logitech standing microphone. Radio Shack had five Skype Certified products: Moto Bluetooth, Logitech USB 250 Headset, Skype Starter Pack, VoIP Voice Phone and a Linksys cordless handset.

As Phil Wolff pointed out here last week evangelism about Skype is now heard on many radio stations across America.

So, "Does Skype exist?" To the shoppers in North America the jury is still out.

Posted by Bill Campbell at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

One Skype brand is "sharing is good". And after close to three years on Skype I would agree. You can share friends, files, and feelings. You can train, troubleshot and translate. You can laugh or languish.
Last Thursday, John Richards from Jakarta who is a Skype buddy of two-years showed me what you can't share on Skype.

A face to face conversation. It beats Video everytime. With a great chicken rollup and a plate of French Fries on a patio pub next to Lake Okanagan. And two bottles of fine local Merlot.

John is not the first Skyper from the far east to knock on my door here in Kelowna with his hand stuck out and a big smile on his face. Brian from Japan was here earlier this year.

Both visits were a treat. Thanks for dropping by John. Thanks for letting me share some sites around my town. It was simply wonderful.

I guess we can both thank Skype for a chance to share something different; something special.

Posted by Bill Campbell at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)