Skype for Mac 2.5 Goes Gold
Last day for 50% discount on North American Unlimited Plan
Skype for Business Updated

Skype for Mac 2.5 went Gold this morning; download it here. It brings Skype for Mac much closer to the feature set of Skype 3.0 for Windows. Key points:

• Send SMS messages to any mobile phone worldwide
• Host conference calls with up to nine other participants
• Takes full advantage of the built in webcams on recent Macs with upgraded video (one-to-one calls only); SightSpeed remains the market leader for multi-party video conference calls.
• Added a birthday reminder feature (which requires the Pamela Call Recorder for Skype for Windows users).

Also, if you are located in the U.S. or Canada note that today is the last day to get a 50% discount on the North American Unlimited Calling Plan. So while the link will remain live, expect those US$14.95 per year sunshine spots to disappear tonight.

Monday, Skype surpassed 9 million users online for the first time. Jaanus gets kudos for tracking this milestone.

Finally, last week Skype announced new features for Skype for Business; according to the press release this includes:

• easy installation on multiple computers within an enterprise
• via Skype Control Panel, allocate SkypeOut credits to individual users while providing a consolidated overview

Partner offerings include Unyte's Desktop Sharing (more information in a story later this week), Convenos web conference and collaboration service and the ACD Call-Centre offering from On-State. These are all available for trials via Skype's Extras Gallery.

We hope to have a more in-depth review of Skype for Business shortly. I have been constantly amazed at the number of Skype "business" stories that have come to us; we certainly would be willing to share your experience to provide more real life cases. Skype has issued a press release on one case.

Other bloggers' comments on Skype for Business:

• SaundersLog
• Skype for Business Isn't Taking Messages (thanks to Andy at VoIP Watch for the link)

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype Journal is proud to sponsor the O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference for its second year.  

The speaker list and program are infinitely more cutting edge than any other VoIP conference on the calendar.

Skype Journal friends and contributors will be there.

• Martin Geddes will deliver a Wake-Up Call to Telcos.
• Lee Dryburgh on Auto-Buddies: Connecting Relevant Strangers.
• Equals' Ajay Madhok on How Consumer Identity Powers the Next Telecom Wave.
• Iotum's Alec Saunders, TalkPlus' Jeff Black and GrandCentral's Craig Walker ask is Telephone 2.0 for Real?
• Kaliya Hamlin on Empowering People and the Coming Identity Layer of Everything.
• Phil Zimmermann on encrypting live conversations.

I'll be there too.

Remember, when you register for ETel, use the code etel07fnf40 for 40% off.

Technorati tags: etel, events, skype, skypejournal, conferences, etel07, iotum, equals, voice2.0, telco2.0, digitalidentity, News,

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

24. Jack Bauer stops a world war by Skyping the President's sister with vital information he tortures from an eBay customer. Terrorists fail to crack Skype's crypto.

Lost. An Internet kiosk washes up on the beach, glowing in the night, on the Internet yet running without power or connectivity. Sadly, it only runs Skype and all calls for rescue are answered by echo123. Eerie sound effects.

Veronica Mars. Campus sleuth Veronica drops her Sidekick in favor of a Wi-Fi hybrid with Skype. Notices strange mood messages to prove a prostitution ring is running out of the drama department. Hands over the madam's Skype contacts to the inept sheriff.

Stargate SG-1. The team lands on the first planet out of hundreds where -- gasp -- none of the natives speak American English. Carter leaves behind a laptop with Skype and translation software so they can chat with Stargate Command. In French.

East Enders. Using Skype on a pub computer, the regulars take turns making prank calls, failing to make themselves understood to English speakers. Anywhere. Even with translation software.

The Sopranos. Tony's crew muscles a hacker to bling-up Skype phones for their wives. The feds force the hacker to install a wiretap plug-in, but he becomes landfill.

Monk. The obsessive compulsive detective wants to Skype but can't bring himself to touch the filthy keyboard.

When Will I Be Famous? Graham Norton announces you can get on his talent show by just Skyping in. Skype Video's high resolution, frame rate, and audio quality don't improve the quality of the performances.

Ugly Betty and Yo Soy Betty La Fea. Betty deploys Skype, saving the fashion magazine a fortune on phone bills. She quits her job as a the president's secretary and makes a fortune for her family by selling Skype tones for Armani, Ralph Lauren, Versace and Manolo Blahnik.

Seventh Heaven. The Reverends Camden Skype with God. God sends Skype credits to Darfur victims.

Footballers' Wives. Who's that sket you're Skyping?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Have you noticed Skype "growing up" its look? It's been gradual, introduced in some of this winter's local calling promotions. Co-marketing partners were told to fold new design guidelines into packaging, merchandising, and tradeshow art in the last week.

Skype's brand ranked seventh worldwide (in one unscientific study), beating out Ikea, Coca Cola and (gasp) eBay. But in the US and Canada, neither Skype nor eBay make the top ten. Skype hasn't ever made the US+Canada Brand Channel Readers' Choice rankings.

Skype needed to tinker with their winning brand. Skype is bigger at three years' old, more corporate, walks among telecom titans. Skype is also positioning itself for the workplace and the United States. It's natural to nudge the still young brand away from the adolescent. 

Skype leaves behind two visual elements from its marketing palette and adds two.

Skype is losing Akbar, the handwriting font inspired by The Simpsons cartoon. They are also retiring Skype's colorful dialog bubbles.

Skype is keeping white space, its color palette and the clean, modern, sans-serif Chalet Book typeface, developed by Rene Albert Chalét.

Skype adds clouds and line drawings of skylines, sounds, and exuberance carved into or growing from those clouds.

Beyond looks, Skype's tagline is changing to "Take a deep breath." This inches the brand away from low cost toward value add. What do you do with your saved money? Talk more, and more freely. It also emphasizes the conversation more than the network carrying it. I like this clever and appropriate reframing.

Technorati tags: skype, ebay, ebayinc, brand, brands, marketing, markets, marcom, advertising, promotion, clouds, akbar, simpsons, chalet book, chaletbook, font, fonts, type, typefaces, voip, tagline, takeadeepbreath

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Shiny Media's Susi Weaser shows Star Wars toys that double as as a USB Skype phone (the light saber even has a keypad in the handle) and a webcam (R2D2 robot). You use the light saber to control the robot's rolling around. Could be hot for next fall's holiday gift season. Reminds me of Spyke.

Ike Roelfsema thinks they're blogworthy too.

Technorati tags: video, webcam, starwars, skype, skypephone, usb, lightsaber, saber, sword, robot, r2d2, skypeout, gifts, toys, toy

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

To: Meg Whitman,
CEO, eBay

That was quite the quarterly report; lots of good news. Congratulations to the entire eBay team (including Skype, of course). But there is the Skype monetization issue to address. Following up on my other post Wednesday, I think I found one way to contribute to this while at CES. Bottom line: it can bring in more Skype registrations of eBay members (@ $0.38 Skype revenue per account per quarter), increase the fun and enthusiasm associated with participating in eBay auctions while minimizing desktop real estate and probably is the most virally intuitive way to justify the Skype acquisition.

In Wednesday's post I drew attention to the eBay Tab for Skype available for eBay U.S. members. It has significant usability issues and definitely results in a negative user experience. You mentioned in the analyst conference call Wednesday that priorities for 2007 include a focus on improving the user experience and experimenting with Skype to increase the fun and excitement associated with an auction. (BTW, Jordan Banks, Managing Director for Canada, at a presentation in Toronto last night, reinforced that theme when he talked about the importance of understanding user behavior and finding an action point within 2 clicks.)

One of your eBay and Skype developer partners, Germany-based PamConsult, has already developed a solution. (Their Pamela-Systems Call Recorder is ranked third in terms of Skype Extras Downloads.) In fact, their eBay Skype Tab has been licensed by eBay Germany and eBay France with other major eBay subsidiaries upcoming. Based on the slide show of screen shots below enhanced by an accompanying video and a discussion with one of the principles of PamConsult at CES, their eBay Tab for Skype:

• provides a positive user experience,
• allows an eBay member to carry out ALL their major eBay activities within a Skype Tab and
• basically elevates their eBay activity to the level of Skype IM activity within the Skype client both in terms of delivering real time information and creating a truly interactive experience
• has the potential to virally drive Skype subscriptions by eBay members.

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The user experience provided by this version of an eBay Skype Tab brings to the table:

• a user login that is accessible and visible -- note the same screen also shows the day's top auctions
• an eBay search capability for logged-in members
• complete item descriptions with the Tab itself (no need to open a web browser)
• a bid confirmation screen
• real time notification of the upcoming end of an auction
• options for user determined parameters
• as well as access to My eBay
• appeals directly to both buyers and sellers (whereas SkypeMe buttons are targeted at sellers to install on their listings)

To provide a more real time experience (pardon the German but you get the flavor):

Bottom line is that all eBay members can participate interactively in the full eBay auction process within the Skype client, obtain real time information and switch quickly between eBay and Skype activities. Did I mention it also saves on desktop real estate? And, most importantly, it has viral potential.

Merging and integrating acquisitions is not trivial; been there, participated in that! But, aside from generating more revenue for both Skype and eBay, this situation demonstrates: the developers of a product must be passionate about what they are doing. The Pamela team understands both eBay and Skype infrastructure as well as the Skype and eBay user cultures in a way that would take months if not years for an internal synergy between eBay and Skype to develop. (I have had experience with situations where "big" companies thought they could do a better job than a dedicated solution provider on an infrastructure task and eventually came back to the solution provider to get the job done right.) And it did not go unnoticed that this solution has been licensed by the two eBay European subsidiaries whom you highlighted in the analyst conference call Wednesday.

Let me do a calculation associated with monetization: Skype generates $0.38 per registered account per quarter (~$1.52 per year). With 97 million eBay U.S. members that represents a minimum sustainable market size of $148 million for Skype. Now, if one could just raise the revenue per registered account! Or considering the North American Unlimited Plan, at $29.95 per year, the market size to consider booms to over $1.4B!

BTW, PamConsult was participating in the AMD booth demonstrating eBay auctions (including bidding, notifications, etc.) through a set top box connected to a Windows Media Center PC. Imagine eBay auctions for the SuperBowl championship clothing immediately after the game!

Have a great Weekend-Before-SuperBowl!

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

50% Discount for Skype North America Unlimited Plan Expires Next Thursday (Jan 31)

This morning I was reviewing my SkypeOut usage and noticed these two lines:

The phone number associated with them was my mobile phone number. SkypeOut calls to other phone numbers in North America had no charge associated with them. I am a subscriber to the Skype North American Unlimited Plan. As a result I had to conclude these two items were Call Forwarded calls for which I have been charged for both the new connection fee at C$0.059 plus one minute @C$0.024.

Skype needs to clarify its policy as to what is included within the North American Unlimited Calling Plan and how it handles Call Forwarded calls. (Update Jan. 29: finally found it way down amongst the FAQ's here; this should be given more visibility, perhaps in the text under the Call Forwarding link on the NA Plan Overview page). Obviously SMS messages still have charges; they always did during the "free North American calling" promotion last year.

Just a reminder that the 50% discount for the North American Unlimited Plan expires next Thursday, January 31, 2007. But if you sign up between now and then, ensure the 50% discount is applied to what you are paying. I had one report today of someone being charged C$35.00 vs the discounted C$17.50 I was charged back in December when I signed up. Seems like Skype's billing system is not synced to an appropriate reference atomic clock (link requires Java).

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

You don't need to know Portuguese to see this short (1:40) connectivity test using the QTEK 9100 smart phone connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and running Skype.

fernandofcastro via YouTube: "Teste de conectividade (voz sobre IP), utilizando um QTEK 9100 conectado na internet via wi-fi e o programa SKYPE." 

Technorati tags: qtek, 9100, wi-fi, skype, voip, video, demo, qtek9100, skypejournal

correction: Sorry for the "QTel" typo. Qtek Corp makes phones, while Qtel is Qatar's exclusive telecommunications provider. Sorry for the confusion.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Phil and I listened in on the eBay conference call this afternoon; obviously announcing a successful quarter and year for eBay as a company and by several measures for Skype.. Some of the highlights, especially with respect to Skype:

• If we heard it once, we heard it multiple times: the number one challenge for Skype is monetization and the associated drive to develop new sources of revenue. The one Q4-06 "downer" was the lower than expected monetization of Skype. For the full year Skype brought in $192MM revenue (against what has been thought to be a target of $200MM).

• eBay CEO Meg Whitman expressed as the major achievement for Skype during the quarter the market share lead they had built up within the VoIP competitive space and how the gap between Skype and the others was growing.

• Notice within those numbers how the quarter-to-quarter SkypeOut usage doubled in Q4 to 400 million minutes from the 200 million minute growth of the previous three quarters. Was some of this the full impact of free SkypeOut in North America resulting from increased North American subscriptions?

• They feel that SkypeMe buttons are showing success both through increased conversion rates by eBay sellers who use SkypeMe and increased SkypeMe availability for over 150 categories in 20 markets. Basically they are letting eBay sellers determine if and when they introduce SkypeMe and letting the viral feedback from successful outcomes drive adoption.

• One of eBay's overall priorities for 2007 is to improve the user experience. To this end they transferred an executive from Germany to manage the auction business. One of his goals is to increase the fun and excitement of the auction business; including "experimenting with Skype". (In my second post tomorrow on an eBay-Skype viral opportunity I'll be including one recommendation.)

• Over 25% of Skype's payments are now coming through PayPal. As an aside, in response to a question about Google CheckOut's impact, Meg mentioned how the publicity for Goolge CheckOut had actually given a bump to market leader PayPal in both users and transactions. She also mentioned how PayPal has many more ways to make payments than Google CheckOut which she described as a wrapper for Visa and MasterCard.

• In response to one question on Skype's incorporation into Google Pack, Meg described how Google had taken an agnostic view of the best features of the web in coming up with an introductory package of products and services for "newbies' to get acquainted with what one can do on the web.

Overall 2007 goals for eBay included:

• improving the user experience through a better integrated experience, simplified sites for buyers and improved ease-of-use and voice quality for Skype
• extending their leadership position in all businesses
• continue to innovate
• apply financial discipline

Two indications of eBay's financial health and confidence in the business were (i) increased guidance to investors for 2007 and (ii) expanding their share buyback program to double its initial goal of $2 billion.

Now if they would just eat their own dog food and do their next quarterly conference call using Skypecast or one of their partner's conferencing services!

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Per the pre-conference call, Skype:

164% YOY growth net revenues

• Q4-2006 $66 million (91 days)
• Q4-2005 $25 million (75 days of operations - from the acquisition date of October 14, 2005 through end of Q4-05)

129% YOY growth registered users: More than 380 thousand new users every day in Q4.

• Q4-2006 171 million, 35 million new accounts in the quarter
• Q4-2005 75 million users

Other highlights

• 32 billion minutes of Skype conversation in 2006. [Correction: an earlier version of this post read "2005" instead of "2006". 2006 is correct.]
• China growth high; try-before-you-buy promotions a hit.
• Working to improve the quality, so bought Sonorit.
• 2007 Skype goals: more users, more partners, expanding the product, ease of use, voice quality.
• eBay-wide goals: better user experience. improving security.
• Skype Me buttons now in 150 categories and in most countries. Positive feedback from sellers on sales conversion rates.

Technorati tags: skype, stats, statistics, financials, ebay, ebayinc, skypejournal, chart, minutes

Posted by Phil Wolff at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ever since eBay's acquisition of Skype sixteen months ago, speculation has abounded on why the acquisition and, more importantly, what synergies exist for integrating eBay, (PayPal) and Skype.  While we have seen stabs at eBay "SkypeMe" buttons for premium auctions and a PayPal button in the Skype Outlook Toolbar, nothing has really taken hold virally with eBay users. In fact, Ken Camp has taken issue with eBay's entire Skype strategy, stating that Skype has become just another phone company, questioning the entire deal. On the other hand I am seeing the number of Users Online, Skype's most telling statistic, increase -- to the point where this morning (EST) over 8.8 million users were online. (We should have some further guidance on North American usage from eBay's quarterly report due out this afternoon.)

At Skype's CES press conference, in response to my question about building North American awareness for Skype, Don Albert, Skype's North American General Manager, responded to the effect that Skype North America would largely be relying on "viral" activity to build out awareness:

• Will enough users tell their friends about a service that provides toll-free North American long distance for $14.95 ($29.95 effective next Thursday, Feb. 1) per year -- not month?
• Does Skype have any strategy for building usage amongst its North American eBay and/or PayPal user base?
• I do see that X10, infamous for its ongoing banner ads and daily newsletters, now offers Skype as an option for customer service; will Skype build partnerships or even awareness with other vendors that encourage the use of Skype for customer service and support?
• How will Skype make users aware that Skype is more than simply voice communications, incorporating other real time communications such as Text Chat, SMS Messaging, File Transfer and, via the Extras, Desktop Sharing (Unyte).

One direction where we thought Skype and eBay were working together was reported by Phil last June just after the eBay/Skype Developers Conference. Check out the post "Skype Gets eBay Tab; Catches up with Microsoft, Google and Yahoo". At the time I felt that, given how many eBay members track their activity in real time on mobile devices, incorporating an eBay Tab into Skype would also have the potential to drive viral adoption, given that auction activity can have a high requirement for "real time" information, especially as the end of an auction approaches.

As a result of some of my conversations at CES two weeks ago I came home and tried out Skype with an eBay tab. Don't bother trying it even though it has been upgraded to work with Skype 3.0 (but lacks the Skypecast Tab). From what I can learn it appears this "Tab" was developed somewhere within eBay U.S. by a team that obviously has little knowledge or understanding of Skype, let alone having a "gut feel" for a user interface that drives viral adoption. Succinctly put, its operation is an embarrassment to Skype (and eBay).

My career has involved many experiences involving user testing and beta testing of software. I often measure a company's ability to manage a software-based business not only on the quality of the software but also by observing their process for quality assurance. We certainly know, as reinforced by the experience with Skype 3.0 Beta, that Skype appears to have not only well above average Quality Assurance processes and, again from experience -- I was a beta tester for the Skype Email and Skype Web Toolbars -- that Skype seeks out a positive, simple customer experience. Unfortunately it appears that eBay brings a different QA culture to the table, at least when building Skype mashups. Here is what I found:

The initial screen on the Tab has no obvious way to do a user login; in addition, one of the graphics simply will not come up.(Also note that the eBay logo is not appropriately sized and positioned within the Tab itself.) And I am certainly not "new to eBay"; having used eBay several times over the past five years. But there is a Search bar so let's try it; I am interested in the Canon Rebel series SLR cameras so I enter a Search request. I do get the listing page within the eBay tab but it all goes downhill from here. If I click on View Item, it opens the relevant eBay page in my default web browser (Firefox 2 in my case), not in the eBay Tab; If I ask to "Watch" the item I am asked (in the web browser) to log in and the item is added to my eBay Watch List. Then I can click on "Watching" in the eBay Tab to see the item. Other circumstances may bring up the Login screen in the eBay Tab.

However, it gets interesting when I am logged in and trigger a new Search. In this instance I have now asked for another Canon camera but I simply get "0 items found ...." as shown on the right; check on the eBay via a web browser and it finds the requested item. No matter what I search for I get the same result. Sort of defeats the whole purpose of the Tab in that if I am logged into eBay I cannot do a search. If I log out and do a search I can get a result. Recall that graphic in the initial screen above: it fails to come up beyond a place holder in any of the Bidding, Won or Selling sub-tabs.

Bottom Line: this version of an eBay Tab in Skype is not going to drive any viral adoption of Skype by eBay members. If anything, it will be a discouragement to try out Skype (even though Skype had little, if any, control over its development).

But at CES I learned that there is a solution available for accessing eBay through the Skype client; in fact, eBay members in Germany, France and, soon, the U.K. have access to it. More to come in a post Friday. But, most importantly, they have a solution that will help drive viral adoption of Skype amongst eBay members.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This is a win for Skype, eBay, and others named in StreamCast's lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper found StreamCast failed to make its case. StreamCast seeks justice for what they see as ill treatment by Skype's founders when they worked at KaZaa. StreamCast may take the case to a state court.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Guest post by Taran Rampersad of KnowProse.

Via this press release:

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Centric today announced Second Talk, an easy-to-use voice communication system for Second Life. Second Talk "headsets" automatically scan for other Second Talk users nearby, and offer instant voice chat for groups of up to 10 users through Skype, a popular Voice over IP communication platform.

"We feel that easily accessible voice chat brings a new dimension to Second Life," said Jason Stoddard, Centric's Managing Partner, Interactive. "Whether you're coordinating a business meeting or talking to a new friend, voice is faster and more immediate than text."

Second Talk offers significant benefits in terms of convenience and cost. Since voice chat is facilitated by Skype, use of the system is free and virtually unlimited. In addition, Second Talk does not require the installation of proprietary software or SIP server setup. Finally, Second Talk does not require a base station to designate a chat area or manage chats - the headset is wearable and fully portable.

Second Talk launches with a free public beta...

So I headed over to SecondTalk, read the blog announcement and hopped into SecondLife through the SecondTalk locations. Guess who beat me to it? Tateru Nino (You can read her piece here).

While this isn't the first attempt at voice communication within SecondLife, it is probably the first that works with Skype. I know quite a few people who use Skype and SecondLife at the same time (myself included now and then), but not quite like this.

From the notecard received inworld with the headset - the SecondTalk FAQ:

Q: What do I need to use Second Talk?
A: 1) A Skype account. You can get one free at http://www.skype.com.
2) A microphone headset. Even your laptop has a built-in microphone, you'll still want to wear headphones so other people don't hear echoes.

Q: I'm hearing echoes on my conversations.
A: See above. You just need some cheap headphones. Otherwise, your speakers will feed back to your microphone, and, presto, echoes!

Q: How does this thing work?
A: By using LSL to scan for other users, place them in a potential chat queue, and using an external server with some code on it to facilitate a Skype call.

Q: Why's it asking me to load a web page?
A: That's how we talk to the external server.

Q: Is there any way to get around loading the web page?
A: Sorry, no. This is a limitation of both SL and Skype. We're working on some new ideas that offer better integration.

Q: So can you listen in on my calls?
A: No, we're just connecting you via Skype. Your connection is as secure as any other Skype call.

Q: Is this good enough to use for business conversations?
A: If you're comfortable with using Skype to do business, you bet.

Please join the Second Talk group for updates and information!

Interestingly, since the Skype connection is not part of the grid... it is more secure to talk about business on Skype than it is to chat in world, in cases where you are dealing with sensitive material.

Time will tell how successful this will be, but I'm betting that it will see some success.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just a few observations after reflecting back on CES two weeks ago:

Most visible PDA in real use: Blackberry by far - every time I turned around somebody had their Blackberry out checking messages, etc. I swear one couple was messaging between each other via their respective Blackberries even though they were beside each other. Sure there were lots of other mobile phones stuck to people's ears but Blackberry had by far the most visibility. And lots of Blackberry Pearls out there. I think the fact you have to hold it out to read the display has become a marketing feature. We were told at the Skype press conference that a third party would have to develop a Blackberry client for Skype.

Flat panel displays: walking through the main hall especially one becomes overwhelmed by the quantity of flat panel displays. Sharp, with its newly announced 108" LCD at the base, had a "mountain" of their various sizes. Now if they all had a Skype voice and personal video channel for personal communication between remote TV sets. I was made aware of a Skype client that will allow one to make calls within the Windows Media shell in Windows Vista. (More to follow once Windows Vista is available.)

Memory keys are popping up in many form factors and have become the favored medium for handing out press collateral. The Trendnet device shown on the left includes a laser pointer, an LED flashlight and, of course, a pen in addition to the 512MB USB memory key. Unfortunately it was one of those that requires a reboot after it is installed on your PC -- but still very handy (and it was one of the more practical handouts.). As an aside, Skype missed an opportunity to add the U3 version of Skype to its handout.

However, the major impressions and questions arising out of CES were:

1. Will the consumer world adopt to multi-media multi-function home entertainment installations that combine all your entertainment modes into one system: television, audio, radio, photography, video, even telephony. If so, it will take one highly ergonomically engineered remote -- along the lines of Logitech's Harmony series remotes -- to simplify operation for the average consumer. Does every home need a SmartTouch PC running Windows Vista's Media shell?
2. How will we handle our mobile/portable requirements? Can one device optimally converge our requirements for telephony, audio and video? Even though iPhone's introduction at MacWorld stole Day 2 from CES, is it really that revolutionary or has it simplified operation of a converged mobile product? Can we really see an economic business model for mobile VoIP incorporating, say, Skype?
3. Certainly Skype is building a partner ecosystem, delivering hardware capable of seamlessly transitioning consumers from traditional PSTN telephony into VoIP telephony with its many additional "smart" features. But will consumers take up the technology when Skype is relying almost totally on viral marketing?

Bottom line question: Can the vendors bring simplicity to the complexity of technology?

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Download hotfixes here. Details on the changes are below the fold...

Update Jan. 25: The latest release has now become Skype for Windows 3.0.0.209 to make minor fixes including the ability to send SMS messages from Chat windows. Full Release Notes here

From Skype:

It's recommended to update your Skype client to latest version.

Released version, 3.0.0.205, has following changes compared to previous:

• bugfix: 'Add SkypeOut Contact' opens wrong dialogue
• bugfix: API: FOCUSED notifications missing
• bugfix: Hotkeys did not work correctly
• bugfix: Upgrade from client crashed on some rare cases
• bugfix: Skypecasts host is always shown as connected
• bugfix: Skypecasts incorrect number of participants showed
• bugfix: Skypecasts buttons are out of align for host
• bugfix: Rare error when joining conf call and 1:1 call simultaneously
• bugfix: Closing chat with non-authorized contact results an error message
• bugfix: Cancelling file transfer causes crash
• bugfix: File Transfer notification not formatted correctly
• bugfix: Sound Setting Widget: Mic indicator shouldn't move, if microphone is muted
• bugfix: Sound Setting Widget layout design is messed up due to resize under Vista
• bugfix: Update Extras Manager menus to remove 2nd line of text
• bugfix: Issue in Finnish and Hungarian language files caused an error message when adding a friend

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype is in a war for customers. 

The company with the largest active, loyal, and paying social network wins.

Skype's user population grows by a million new accounts every four days, per Skype.

That adoption rate seems to be pretty flat over time. That's a big problem. Because if you rely on word of mouth marketing, this means your current users aren't telling many more friends. Skype is actually getting less viral over time, if you consider the new user accounts per 1000 previous user accounts.

90 million new accounts a year is handsome, especially for a startup only three-and-a-half years' old. But Skype's rivals are huge (think AT&T, T-Mobile, Microsoft, et al), have existing relationships with paying customers, and spend more on marketing daily than Skype is likely to spend in the next three years. The rivals are waking up, bundling voice with broadband or their house VoIP brand. The market windows to get people to try and switch to Skype are closing.

So Skype must reinvigorate their word of mouth. Skype needs to fuel virality. Give it a kick in the pants.

Local calling is a strategy.

For most people, most of our phone calls are within our metro area. We use it doing our personal business, like calling our kids' teachers or checking that our dry cleaning is ready. More important for Skype, we use the phone to keep in touch with our friends, with our family, with our neighbors; people on speed dial or in our mobile's address book.

Skype wants you to bring these people into your Skype world.

Flat rates for local calling is the tactic.

People call more on a flat rate plan. True for Skypeland as it is with landlines and mobile services.

People talk longer on a flat rate plan. No worries about "using up minutes" or racking up scary bills.

And, chances are, out of a hundred people using Skype, some will want the value added features. Presence. File transfer. Conferencing. Video calls. Games and other extras.

And they will tell their friends.

And drag them into Skypeland where the sun shines brightly, the birds sing sweetly, and the presence is fine.

Thus kickstarting the penetration of rich, local, social networks.

This can work.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

In spite of the recent pricing announcements, Skype has always been known for its free Skype-to-Skype calls. This not only covers calls between two parties who are simply using Skype but also to those parties in a conference call who are on Skype. And international borders do not exist for these calls.

Seems like the larger telcos and cablecos are starting to catch on:

Andy at VoIP Watch reports on AT&T's announcement of Unity, a plan where any AT&T cellular customer can call any AT&T landline customer without incurring additional usage fees or using their wireless minutes. This extends AT&T's program for its wireless customers who apparently can already call each other free. Andy makes the bigger point:

For all the VC's and investors who thought the idea of minute stealing and the prospect of millions of customers flocking to cheaper calling by VoIP services like Packet 8 and Vonage making their investments the next Amazon, Google, Yahoo, eBay or even Microsoft  what may be their worst possible nightmare is now unfolding before their eyes.

To quote AT&T's press release:

The AT&T Unity^SM plan, which is available beginning Sunday, Jan. 21, brings together home, business and wireless calling, creating a calling community of more than 100 million AT&T wireless and wireline phone numbers.

At home here in Canada, Rogers, which has dominate cable and wireless services within the Canadian consumer market, is starting down a similar path with its Home Phone service. From their website:

With My Home Connections, Rogers Home Phone customers get FREE Long Distance calling to all Rogers Home Phone or Rogers Wireless customers, anywhere in Canada. Talk for as long as you want, whenever you want without any Long Distance charges.

Call over 5 million people for FREE!

When it comes to long distance to non-Rogers (Bell Canada and Telus) customers within Canada or to the U.S., Skype's North American plan still wins out at C$17.50 per year vs Rogers C$19.95 per month. More justification for those USB dual phone products, such as the VoIPvoice UConnect and RTX Dual Phone, as well as the PC-Free dual phones that were announced at CES to be entering the market. Now if Rogers could just figure out how to make calls amongst their wireless customers across Canada free!

However, overall, combined with 3 Group's new X-Series services in the U.K., it appears that Skype's concept of creating calling communities is becoming infectious. But Skype remains the only fully featured voice service with a truly international calling community of any significant size.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Andy Abramson on Unity: "So lets take stock in what AT&T now has. Lower price. More customers. Millions of mobile customers under contract. Millions of homes already reached." A direct attack on minute stealers with new types of Lock-In.

• Meebo gets more VC money for connecting Google, MSN, Yahoo! and AIM messengers in the browser. $9 Million without a Skype connection.

• MobileCrunch: Nokia N800; A Real World Review After One Month's Use. May be lower octane than iPhone but more immediately and broadly useful.

• Current.tv: video journalism training.

• Spyke: the French WiFi Spy Robot; does Skype voice and video calls. Small stairs too.

  

• VoIP News: VoIP semiconductor market massively leaving network plumbing (routers, gateways) for network edge (mobile and desktop phones)

• New German antiterrorism law gives authorities easier access to telecom records. Skype included?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Business Week's Olga Kharif blogged Skype's prices are creeping up in reference to the coming Skype Pro pricing plans. What is your breakeven point on the new plans?

Skype says the plans will be around two euro a month. That puts it about $31 for 12 months, a touch more than the US+Canada Unlimited Calling Plan. At the global SkypeOut rate of 2 cents a minute (1.7 eurocents), Skype Pro pays if you're SkypingOut [SkypeOuting? or is SkypeOuting admitting to your friends and family that you use Skype and are proud of it?] for 1553 minutes per year, 129 per month (about two hours), or average 4.3 SkypeOut minutes per day.

Maybe you don't SkypeOut four minutes a day. With a free plan, would you switch from landlines or mobile to Skype for a few calls a week?

How about that long call? That two hour, long-distance but in-country call to your true love ("You hang up." "No, you hang up." "I'm still here." "Hang up, honey." "No, you hang up, dear." "I love you so much.")? To your family? Infinite call waiting with your local phone company's customer service line?

Skype in the workplace may be the big winner. Fixed per-capita rates fit nicely into annual budgets, so Skype Pro is more convenient to buy than wading through phone bills for each office each month. Customer-facing jobs (eBay sellers? Call centers?) can be on the phone for 20 to 30 hours a week, paying off 52 weeks of Skype Pro service in the first 2 weeks.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I love wicked publicists! Here's small-guy VoipBuster making fun of big corporate Skype just hours after Skype's announcement on its home page and in a news release sent through the same channels Skype uses.

Skype increases all prices!

(Full text of a statement. Contact details follow below.)

Cologne (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - They kept millions of users waiting for more than a month, but today Skype (eBay) finally announced their new "pricing strategy"....

VoipBuster could not believe it: instead of lowering their prices they decided to put a new charge of 3,9 eurocents on all calls!! For almost all Skype users this means a price increase of over 50%!

Time to switch, because VoipBuster, the biggest rival of Skype, announced today more new countries can be called for FREE. Making the price difference even bigger!

VoipBuster a service of Betamax GmbH & Co.

KG Postfach 19 04 25
50501 Koln
press@voipbuster.com

Technorati tags: skypeout, skype, voipbuster, voip, minutestealer, skypepro, voim

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday I was discussing the Skypecast tab with someone in Germany; went to the tab and got the text shown on the right. Seems like Skypecast is going into support server overload mode. The German colleague with whom I was talking was also receiving the same message. Over the evening this tab's panel would revert between the normal Skypecast listing and the above message from time-to-time. And, in Skype's search for new revenue sources, will souvenir SkypeHammers be offered at the Skype Store?

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

1. Skype:speakablogblog
2. Speak your message in a voice mail
3. Hang up
4. Go to Simon Crowfoot's LiveJournal blog
5. See how SpinVox converted your voice to text and posted it

What do you think?

• Should Skype build this as a feature into the clients? Yes, especially Skype for Business.
• Would you pay, say an extra euro a year for a voice-mail-to-text service that sends the text to you via blog, email, RSS feed, IRC, and/or SMS? Yes. Until everyone else includes it for free.
• Right now it is just for English and works best with UK standard; what spoken languages would you like? The 10 most common flavors of Chinese, Estonian, the several Spanish and Portuguese, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic.
• Once in text form, languages I don't speak could be run through a translation machine.

Could be huge for asocial eBay sellers. Or anyone else in business who values a missed a call.

Technorati tags: multilingualcomputing, translation, x8n, spinvox, voicemail, crm, speechtotext, simoncrowfoot, skype, skypejournal, voip, voim

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype made three changes to its rate plan.

1. New PSTN connection charge (3.9 eurocents per call)
2. Skype Pro annual domestic calling plan for some countries
3. More regions now get 1.7 eurocent global calling rate

More details in the slideshare below.

These are aggressive marketing moves. Skype Pro should boost Skype's viral spread, and make it harder to leave the Skype community.

skype rates prices pricing plans callingplan skypejournal

A version of the Skype news release below the fold.

SKYPE TAKES INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS ONE STEP FURTHER WITH NEW PRICING STRATEGY

Disruptive pricing gives Skype users more value and choice

LUXEMBOURG, January 18, 2007 - Skype, the global Internet communications company, today announced its new global pricing structure which offers a simple, convenient and cost-effective way for consumers worldwide to call landlines and mobiles over the Internet. The new pricing structure complements the foundation of Skype's success in letting anyone in the world talk for free, from one Skype software account to another.

The pricing structure is the latest in a series of new steps Skype is taking to give consumers a choice of easy-to-understand, value-based Internet communications packages. Initially focused on Europe, Skype's new pricing strategy will roll out worldwide during 2007.

When launched in full, the pricing strategy consists of a premium subscription package (Skype Pro), one feature of which removes per-minute charges for SkypeOut™ calls to domestic landlines and includes a small connection fee. This will be available in the following countries:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

"People like using Skype to make free calls from one Skype account to another, but more and more they are choosing our paid for products that offer excellent value. As a result of this, we're introducing a new pricing strategy today that will include a premium package. This premium package builds on the success we've had in North America and the UK with subscription-based calling promotions. It offers our users more for less because they can buy additional Skype paid for products but for a smaller cost," said Stefan Öberg, General Manager, Skype Telecoms.

As a part of Skype's premium package the global dialing rate to a number of countries is also reduced. The first phase of the SkypeOut pricing structure, effective from 13.00 CET on Thursday January 18th 2007, includes a reduction in global dialing rates to 0.017 € per minute for:

Czech Republic (including Prague), Guam, Hungary (including Budapest), Israel (including Jerusalem), Luxembourg, Malaysia (including Kuala Lumpur), Puerto Rico and both Alaska and Hawaii in the United States.

For some countries, this represents a reduction of up to 65 per cent.

Skype also confirmed today that its previously announced connection fee rates, applicable worldwide, are now effective. The connection fee is a straightforward set-up charge per call. The Skype Unlimited Calling plan in the U.S. and Canada and the Talk for Britain campaign in the UK do not include a connection fee for national calls.

The connection fee is 0.039 Euro, excl VAT or the equivalent in local currency.

Today Skype users around the world can make free voice and video calls to any other registered Skype users as well as send instant messages, transfer files and participate in Skypecasts which are live moderated conversations with up to 100 people.

Skype users can also take advantage of Skype's premium calling features, including SkypeOut™ (calls from Skype to traditional landlines or mobiles), SkypeIn™ (a number which can be called from a normal phone anywhere in the world) and Skype Voicemail (takes calls when users are busy or offline).

As the world's largest Internet communications community, Skype is committed to giving its users the ability to set their conversations free at home, at work and on the move. It is focused on further developing its ecosystem of more than 50 hardware partners and more than 150 Skype-certified devices to broaden the appeal of Skype to a wider base of users who want to use Skype away from the PC, no matter where they happen to be. This is especially true for Skype users who want to take advantage of the mobile Skype experience, which is already accessible to more than 5 million Skype users on over 120 different Windows Mobile Smartphones and pocket PC devices.

For more information, please go to http://www.skype.com/products/skypepro/

Connection Fee Rates

Applicable Connection Fee Rates Based on Currency (ex VAT)*

Australian Dollar (AUD) 0.059

Brazilian Real (BRL) 0.09

British Pound (GBP) 0.029

Canadian Dollar (CAD) 0.059

Danish Krone (DKK) 0.29

Euro (EUR) 0.039

Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) 0.39

Japanese Yen (JPY) 4.9

Norwegian Krone (NOK) 0.29

Polish Zloty (PLN) 0.149

Korean Won (KRW) 49

Swedish Krona (SEK) 0.39

Swiss Franc (CHF) 0.059

Taiwan Dollar (TWD) 1.6

US Dollar (USD) 0.039

*If your currency is not listed, the Euro rate is applicable

About Skype Skype is the world's fastest-growing Internet communication offering, allowing unlimited free voice, video and instant messaging communication between users of Skype Software. With over 136 million registered users, Skype is available in 28 languages and is used in almost every country around the world. Skype generates revenue through its premium offerings such as making and receiving calls to and from landline and mobile phones, voicemail, call forwarding and personalization including ringtones and avatars. Skype also has relationships with a growing network of hardware and software providers. Visit Skype at www.skype.com.

Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). To learn more visit skype.com.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required for Skype and all Skype Certified devices and accessories. Skype is not a replacement for your traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the "S" symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Ian McG says: hello phil wolff can you help me i need to have skpe in english i accidentaly pressed the wrong button and i dont know how to retun it to english

Dear Ian,

I'm assuming you are using Skype 3.0.

In the Skype main menu: File, View, Contacts, Tools, Call, Help. Pick Tools (or the fourth from the left).

The "Change Language >" menu command is second from the bottom. You should see a list of languages and English should be readable in English.

Good luck.  

Technorati tags: i8n, localization, skype, skypeltd, ebay, skype3.0

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We always love guest posts, but this is a call for reviewers. Readers want SJ Labs to advise on software and hardware and web services. Vendors want their products covered. 

• What should go into a great review?
• What makes a great reviewer?
• What are review no-no's?
• Which editorial policies should we adopt?
• How should we organize a review site?
• Which sites are best at hosting and offering reviews?
• How important is feedback from customers?
• How do you keep the fun in?
• How should we qualify new reviewers?

Let's keep this chat open until month end. Thanks and see you online.

Technorati tags: reviews, sjlabs, skypejournal, reviewers, criticism, recruiting

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype announced a rate structure change to take effect Thursday. From an 18 December 2006 news release:

Luxembourg, December 19th, 2006 -- Skype is to announce a new pricing structure for SkypeOut worldwide. Further details will be available from January 18th, 2007.
The new pricing strategy will provide over 136 million registered Skype users with more exciting and cost-effective ways of keeping in touch with their friends and family across the world.
[... text describing the U.S.+Canada subscription plan...]
Skype's new pricing structure includes a connection fee of 0 - 0.039 € per call (exclusive of VAT) effective from 13.00 CET [Central Europe Time], January 18th, 2007.

Questions:

• Does this exclude Skype-to-Skype calls?
• Does this exclude SkypeOut in one of the all-you-can-call plans like the U.S.+Canada one year subscription plan?
• Does this apply to hardware buyers told that all SkypeOut calls were free for a year with purchase? 
• Why is this tiny charge worth complicating the complete and utter simplicity of the Skype bill? 
• Who gets to skip the fee while others pay for two minutes?
• How long before this charge shows in your Skype client?
• Is this the start of Skype becoming more like eBay with annual rate increases? 

I'm sure we'll know more tomorrow. Thanks to fellow blogger Fu Shiguang for the tip.

Technorati tags: skypeout, skype, ebayinc, ebay, skypeltd, phones, voip, rates, fees, charges, bill

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

In a previous post I presented several of the "PC Free" Skype dual mode cordless phones that were announced and/or exhibited at CES 2007. In this post I will cover other Skype appliance hardware that I encountered as I walked the show floor. (Note: click on the slide show to get the complete slide show in a larger format.)

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At one presentation I was able to hear about the TrendNet ClearSky VoIP Conference Phone Kit. With its Bluetooth connection, this speaker phone can be freely moved about the office within a range of 100 meter (328 feet). More to follow once I have received an evaluation unit.

A new category introduced at the press conference was the Desktop Internet Phone - again a "PC Free" phone. Belgian vendor Topcom's Webt@lker 5000 features a crisp LCD display accessing many Skype features via a menu and a large button touch keypad. Their forthcoming Topcom Wirless Expansion Kit will allow this "PC Free" phone to be connected to your local network via WiFi. The Webt@lker 5000 will provide an interesting user interface that I look forward to investigating further in a few weeks. Phil has reported more details here. From a market perspective I see the Desktop Internet phones more as a business phone while the Dual Mode Cordless phones will serve as residential phones linking friends and family.

A rather interesting concept was the QOOL Labs SkyQube GSM Voice Adapter. This was first reported in Skype Journal last spring but appeared to be operational at CES. The primary benefit we see for this is mobile phone roaming charge arbitrage using a combination of SkypeOut and SMS messaging.

Monday morning we heard about Skype's being embedded in the future on the new Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. Another Tablet vendor who had embedded Skype (not yet certified) was the Pepper Pad 3 Handheld Web Computer. One interesting aspect about these non-Windows Internet Tablets is ":who is the target market demographic" given all the mobile smartphones and other Windows Mobile platforms; I could not get any answer beyond "maybe the geek community".

My last visit of the show late Thursday afternoon was to the Gennum booth where they were displaying the Skype Certified nXZEN 5000 VoIP heaset (which I had been using with my Blackberry during the show). My next step is to install their Dongle Manager software and dongle itself to check out its Skype functionality. Certainly on my Blackberry it provided excellent voice quality provided you don't lose the rubber grommet that assists in the isolation of your ear canal from surrounding sound. But they gave me a lifetime supply of grommets.

Finally one product that was not certified. Certainly an interesting concept but also demonstrates the need for Skype to protect the intellectual property associated with their brand. The Y5 World Hand Device (yes, that is the name on the brochure) incorporates not only Skype but also an embedded Windows Media Player and IE7 without a full Windows Mobile implementation. From the stickers attached to their demonstration unit display panels (shown in the photo), you can see an attempt to trade on the Skype name. This will be an interesting case more for the intellectual property issues than any feature issues.

Note to Qool Labs and Y5 World -- forget the fancy Flash Player content that has to download to even access your website. Shows you do not understand marketing and the website 10 second rule ... if I can't get it in 10 to 15 seconds, I'm out of there, man!

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Combining what was presented at the Skype press conference, vendor and ODM interviews and simply walking the show floor, it became evident that Skype has become "the" brand for VoIP phone hardware. Much like the iPod has done, Skype is rapidly developing an ecosystem of partners who are eager to trade on Skype's popularity. While several of the devices were Skype certified, many others stated they are going through the certification process. And, as evidenced in the photo montage for the second of these posts, one just simply was trading on the Skype name. What follows is a quick summary based on press releases or other collateral, if available; I expect to be reviewing many of the items individually as I receive evaluation units. (Note: click on the slide show to get the complete slide show in a larger format.)

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PC-Free Phones -- first, from the press conference press release:

• NETGEAR's Dual-Mode Cordless Phone with Skype (SPH200D) - This dualmode DECT cordless phone simultaneously connects to a user's home network router and phone line wall jack, enabling users to place and receive both traditional phone calls and Skype Internet calls from a single cordless handset without needing to be tethered to a PC.
• Philips' VoIP841 Cordless Phone - This advanced DECT cordless phone harnesses the power of Internet calling via Skype without requiring a PC. Winner of a CES Innovation Award for its outstanding design and best-in-class feature set, the VoIP841 allows users to make and receive both free Skype Internet calls and traditional landline calls simply by connecting an Ethernet cable and phone line to the phone's base.

Found on the floor: Thomson's newly announced GE DECT 6.0 Embedded Skype Residential Phone (no information link available; model no.28310EE1) which won a CES Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Showcase award. Auvi Technologies was displaying its PHIP65 Dual Mode Cordless phone for which certification has been sought. Auvi was also displaying a prototype phone that combined traditional "dual phone" features with an iPod dock. On the competitive front I also came across Cordless CallVantage Telephones.

Yesterday RTX officially announced its new "PC-Free" DUALphone 3088 Cordless Platform which was displayed at the RTX booth; the operative word here is "platform". While the Dualphone 3088 will be available via direct retail channels in Europe, the DUALphone 3088 platform will be sold via OEM/ODM arrangements for the North American market. From today's press release quoting RTX CEO Tage Rasmussen:

"We have secured our first OEM engagement with a Tier 1 brand for our embedded Skype platform, and we plan to enable additional major brand names with the DUALphone concept on both OEM/ODM products as well as embedded technology licensing in devices such as routers, modems, multi-function printers, etc."

Keep in mind that for all these "PC Free" phones only the voice and presence functionality of Skype are available; they may also incorporate use of the Skype Contact list, voice mail, call divert and call history features. Text chat, file transfer and access to other Skype features still require a dual mode USB phone.

In the second follow up post in this series I will talk about various Skype hardware appliances that I encountered on the show floor.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You need two pop-culture references to make sense of Evan Sims' screenshot.

The first is Heroes, an NBC television series. The face in the corner is a character named Hiro Nakamura, able to teleport and manipulate the space-time continuum. His face scrunches up when concentrates.

The other is an online typing speed test.

Where else but a Skype moodie would you brag about your typing speed?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Joost is The Venice Project's new brand and home page, per CNET's Greg Sandoval. Makes as much sense as "Skype." I still don't have a beta account. How do you pronounce it? Yoost like boost? Yoost like toast? Yoost like must? Or is the J pronounced like in latin languages, as an H? Hoost? via.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

DynaD repacked his old digicam LCD into this little box. From flickr's MAKE community. Hooking up to Skype:

Just set up a new Skype account for the cam, set it to ignore anyone not on your contact list and auto-send video when a call starts. Then add it as a contact from your regular Skype account. I also set audo input to "line in" which has nothing connected - simply so I doesn't send sound from the built in mic on my iMac.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Call me crazy, but I think Apple have overdone the technology innovation, and undercooked the business model innovation.

A truly Machiavellian strategy would have been to create a cheaper mass-market iPhone whose features like Visual Voice would only work on a carrier who had licensed the complementary back-end from Apple (first carrier in each market gets a 90% discount).

So a really disruptive device would have cost under $200 retail; and done voice, SMS, photos and music.

And nothing else.

OK, I'll let you have an alarm clock and a few games, if you insist.

Browsing and information services would be omitted -- except to the extent needed to display WAP push messages etc. (We're going to abandon the Japanese and Korean markets, there's no growth left there anyway.)

The innovation in the UI would be in making those core communications functions as simple as possible; and improving the voice and messaging experience. This doesn't need a massive screen, but it does invite improvements in navigating address books and message stores. Feature like Visual Voice would come from a canned Apple back end you'd co-develop with each of Lucent, Nortel and Ericsson to integrate with their existing voice switches, plus the usual suspects like Comverse for voicemail.

Everything else would be left out. All of it. Really. No wifi. No downloads. No Java. (I might even do a deal with the devil and license Qualcomm's BREW under the hood.) 3G only for voice spectral efficiency. Especially leave out video and TV -- they're going to be important, but not launch-critical, and are battery-killers. SMS is the killer app outside the USA.

You'd then eat your way up into the higher-end features over time. Oh, and you'd gun to make every developing country where PC and broadband penetration is low Apple-centric. They'd make the progression path one that cuts out Microsoft. New low-end Macs would complete the range -- basically a Mac Mini welded into an LCD screen. The real long-term threat to Apple is what Nokia is doing in India, but you can't see that driving along Highway 101.

Oh, and I'm going to be contrarian and say that the closed nature of the iPhone is a feature, not a bug. Makes support costs manageable, and ensures feature integration is flawless. The iPhone as launched is not a smartphone, it's a featurephone and fashion accessory. But the touch screen will turn out to be a liability: like programming a computer with only a 5V battery and piece of wire, in being able to do everything, you end up being excellent at nothing.

Martin turns the world on its head at Telepocalypse.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

People who just read blogs rarely get how intensely social blogging is. Readers get to know people, their ideas, attitudes, styles, lives. But it is so much more when you engage in conversation, through comments or on your own blog. Bloggers get to know each other, and they become a part of your daily life, albeit virtually.

So it was positively brilliant to make an offline place for bloggers at CES. While it met our physical needs (comfy chairs, bandwidth, food, power outlets), meeting our social needs was so much more important. More than faces, name tags trigger recognition. At the bloghaus, nametags were less for introductions than for reunions, seeing people for the first time offline. I ran into people I've only known through newsfeeds, listservs, twitter; each a burst of happy connection.

The BlogHaus was so not a press room. Trade show press rooms are cordial, not collegial. Everyone is there for snacks, the interview space, the connectivity, or a relatively quiet place to sit and write. The BlogHaus was full of conversation, live and immediate. Only a few bloggers worry about scoops since the real power is having the best news metaphors, analysis, and interpretation. So bloggers share ideas, build on them, in ways that reporters rarely do.

Let me add my thanks to Jim Courtney's. The Furriers, Scobles and friends were great hosts. I can't wait for BlogHausen at the next Golden Globes, Superbowl, and Presidential Inauguration.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Announced more than a year ago, a Google staffer blogs Google and AOL are still making progress on federating their text instant messaging networks. via Google Operating System.

Moving text across an xmpp gateway is easy. Areas they are sure to work on (or ignore):

• Avatar sharing
• Alias sharing
• Emoticon interop (and the over-the-top extensions)
• Presence sharing
• Privacy policy harmonization
• Dispute resolution policy and procedures
• SPIM (Spam over instant messaging) and SPIT (Spam over Internet telephony) prevention
• Directory lookup and user discovery interop
• Web link integration (can an AIM link launch GTalk, and vice versa)
• Encryption interop

Voice and video interop are likely out of scope in the first stage.

When the first stages of Microsoft+Yahoo! and GTalk+AIM IM interops reach completion, we'll see how important interop is to users. If it is, there will be huge pressure on Skype to open up gateways.

The other point of pressure on Skype to open: success of click-to-Skype advertising. eBay won't want to walk away from sales generated by AIM, GTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, QQ, Live Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Office Communicator users who want to talk to an eBay seller who uses Skype.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My legs are just recovering from walking miles on Wednesday and Thursday in an attempt to see all the exhibits involving Skype. A full post outlining what I found will follow in the next day or so. Am taking the weekend off in Las Vegas where we have seen some interesting country outside Las Vegas (Valley of Fire and drove the Virgin River Gorge - aka I-15 in northwest corner of Arizona).

Today I want to acknowledge the contribution to our efforts at CES made by the BlogHaus team who set new benchmarks for hosting bloggers at a conference. With 24/7 access, a 20Mbps pipe, over a dozen work locations, laptops for those without their own along with free food and drink (and occasionally some entertainment), I would like to acknowledge the support of Seagate, AMD and Microsoft as sponsors and the Podtech team's resources in organizing and managing BlogHaus. Just a tremendous effort. Kudos to Robert and Maryam Scoble and John and Linda Furrier for coming up with the idea and providing the execution leadership.

Highlights included:

• Meeting for the first time many fellow bloggers, including Robert Scoble, photoblogger Thomas Hawk, Podcast Voice Guy Joe Klein and AximSite/MobilitySite's Chris Leckness.
• The bear pit conversations that spontaneously combusted, especially a very animated discussion that occurred the evening of the Apple iPhone announcement.
• Watching Bill Gates keynote in an atmosphere that permitted immediate blogging as well as seeing one of the new Windows Vista hardware platforms appear at the time in the speech when these platforms were announced. (Much more effective than being in the physical location of the keynote presentation.)
• Having a chance to get informal feedback on Skype usage by bloggers. While many use it (including some who record for podcasts), others still have their hangups such as voice quality issues on SkypeOut calls.

Here are a few photos taken at various times (requires Flash player) over the four days. But I do need some names to round them out; please use the Comments to get them right.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The good:

• Visual voicemail will raise the bar. "Wireless data" will finally be about improving the core voice and messaging product. Everyone will have to match this, although the timescale will be 2-3 years, if not more.
• The touch UI will enable new experiments in navigating social networks and personal data.
• Easy conferencing for consumers will also become the norm (as it is with Skype).

The bad:

• Battery life will suck. 5 hours talk or 16 of music sounds good... until you really do your sums. You always need a healthy amount of power left at close of play every day in your phone, because you never know when your day will unravel and you unexpectedly need every ounce of charge. This device cannot replace the iPod due to "charge anxiety".
• Same mistake as Microsoft -- taking the PC to the handset, not growing a simple feature set upwards. Result: unaffordable to the mass market, because of the cost of finessing all the technology constraints with state-of-the-art components.
• Doesn't look robust enough for the hammering most mobiles take.
• Insufficiently "disposable" for what ultimately is a fashion statement, and too expensive for an impulse buy. Nokia's N800 at $399 could become $199 in 2 years, and that's a gift buy for the couch web surfer.
• Lack of keypad and haptic feedback will be a major turn-off to many users who aren't impressed by technology for the sole sake of preserving sleekness.

The ugly:

• The member has been inserted into an orifice, and it looks messy when you pull it out. (You go look it up.)

Overall:

Will sell well enough as a style statement, 1% market share will be tough. The thing to watch is how well the price holds up in retail. Also, basic execution issues of logistics, distribution and support will be harder than the iPod, and will test Apple severely. I don't think Nokia or Morotola will be losing too much sleep on this -- it'll do everyone good to have the customer expectations and demand raised.

Maybe we need to wait for "iPhone Nano" for something usable and affordable to the mass market?

The real product story is Apple TV, which does end-run the carrier IPTV offerings, and ultimately could be far more significant (but only if the in-building wireless really screams along, and the carriers don't reserve all the bandwidth for their proprietary TV).

Martin blogs even more at Telepocalypse.

Posted by Martin Geddes at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Belgian retailer Topcom.net pitched their Webt@lker 5000 desktop phone.

• Embedded Skype.
• Plugs into your Ethernet connection.
• 3.4 inch color display.
• Handsfree speaker/microphone.
• Echo cancellation for the handset.
• Skype Certified (although there is no Skype web page listing officially certified products for confirmation.)
• Coming to some markets in April 2007, followed by a wi-fi expansion kit in Q2.

Like most of these desktop units, the software is all Skype. So they compete on fashion, price, physical design, packaging, convenience, reliability, and distribution. I haven't tested one yet, but it looks very easy to set up and use.

Can you compare Skype desktop phones to other desktop phones? Common, simple tasks are hard or impossible to do with the Skype phones:

• Multiple lines
• Transferring a call
• One button redial
• Intercom
• On-The-Phone status shared within an office
• Speed dial buttons

Some common Skype tasks (like presence controls or directory search) aren't showing up in hardware. And touch-screens might be a natural for a desktop phone.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Finally got to do some floor visits Tuesday over lunchtime and spent Wednesday afternoon visiting Skype hardware partner booths in the Sands Expo Center. Items that may become posts:

• Will the Skype-eBay integration become much more viral with an eBay tab in your Skype client?
• Will any Skype hardware vendors figure out how to get their Skype hardware into North American retail channels?
• How can you have a mobile platform (that includes Skype) that has Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer but no Windows Mobile 5 OS?
• How can you have phone numbers in several cities that all come back to your favorite mobile phone.
• What is the market positioning for (i) Dual Mode Internet phones and (ii) Desktop Internet phones? Target markets, demographics, key features, etc.
• What role Skype plays (and can play) in Windows Vista? (All BlogHaus participants had an opportunity to obtain a copy of the forthcoming Vista release.)
• What is the most popular mobile communications platform actually in use by CES attendees? How can you text message without paying for carrier data plans?

What I can say briefly is that Skype is permeating the offerings of many more vendors that I had anticipated. Off to another day visiting exhibits in the Las Vegas Convention Center and our more detailed reporting will start tomorrow when we are giving some weary legs a rest.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 06:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Cute Vonage promotion. People lined up to make free phone calls. Vonage attendants in go-go boots helped out or explained things if asked.

A mobile phone charging station would have put them out of business, I think.

Payoff: getting retailers to sample the product.

Not sure any of this goodwill can overcome their mythic failure at Target (1 unit sold per store in 8 months).

Technorati tags: voip, vonage, skypejournal, skype, ces2007, ces, marketing, marcom, publicity, pr

Posted by Phil Wolff at 04:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The OQO (pronounced by spelling it out) model 02 is a small laptop. Smaller than a bottle of beer, 1G memory, 60G disk, 1 pound, comfy keyboard, ultrabright screen, Windows XP until Vista is released. Started shipping on Tuesday, five month waiting list.

This is the stylish ammunition bag, available in army surplus stores. Five ways to attach to your backpack, belt, etc. Really hard to lose the valuable contents (think ammunition, or your oqo).  

Easy to open.

Here's how you celebrate a successful product launch, including demonstrating Skype 3.0 running on Windows Vista. One of the OQO staffer's phone's failed and happily got by with Skype, OQO, and a bluetooth headset.  

Technorati tags: oqo, skype, vista, bloghaus, party, ces, ces2007

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sitting here in the Bloghaus with a few Nokia bloggers. They are slamming the iPhone. Can't expand memory. Can't update battery. Closed software environment. Two years of "selling your soul to Cingular." Glass keyboard sans tactile feedback. Scoble says iPhone OSX is as much OSX as WinMobile is Vista. Scoble also points out that it's vaporware, and a lot can change between slideware and the reality of manufacturing.

I'm sure they are all correct. 

And it doesn't matter.

The iPhone will overcome these limitations.

Think of it as a statement of intent: Apple is moving into consumer electronics.

This iPhone is a 1.0.

Compare it to the first, clunky, underfeatured, overpriced iPod. Sold well.

Obsolete almost before it shipped.

Archaic just a few years' later.

And a bellwether of consumers embracing a new category.

Apple knows how to iterate, to adapt, to refine.

And the charismatic Steve Jobs can sell ice cubes to Inuit.

So, 24 months from now...

• Apple's released its fifth iPhone
• The Apple consumer electronics campus is adding buildings faster than the Mac campus is being abandoned.
• Microsoft shows Vista Mobile vaporware
• Dell and HP announce phones running on OSX-mobile

Competition at the OS level should drive phone makers to differentiate in the application layer. This will, in turn, push interoperability and standards, good for consumers, hard for manufacturers.

>Technorati tags: skype, skypejournal, scoble, apple, dell, iphone, ces, bloghaus, ces2007, ebay, microsoft

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Drool.

The new iPhone is about pouring OSX into a handheld.

With the OSX operating system, everything else is configurable, updatable or marketing.

This Apple's platform play in mobile phone clothing.

Technically, it's like squeezing Windows Vista into the space WinMobile takes now. Just two to three years ahead of Microsoft.

As for Skype...

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

About a year ago, Yahoo!'s programmers rearchitected Messenger. They identified capabilities common to all platforms, and built a core body of code. This freed their designers to adapt Messenger's user interface to each operating system. So the Mac client is more Mac-like, and so on.

With WinVista coming out soon, their team is working to finish the native version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista (Mv). Yahoo! expects a release to market in Q2 this year. Here are some of the coming features (if the creeks don't rise):

Profile-generated buddy groups. Your Mv user profile link to your other Yahoo! profiles. Yahoo! knows you've signed up for their sports, checkers, job search, mailing lists, investment forums, dating services. Mv puts that connection to use: Mv dynamically creates lists of your buddies based on common attributes. So you can see that five of your friends are on the Burning Man mailing list, three play bridge, and seven are watching the Sopranos marathon on HBO at the same time you are. Powerful lock-in. Privacy issues need work before release: you may not want your boss to see you are both looking for the same job, or that you've joined a cancer support group or that you're also in a dating club for submissives.

Behavior-generated buddy groups. Bringing relevance to buddy lists. I'd find it useful to show people you talk to often, or just once, or for long talks, or on some regular schedule. Mv may use it's own logs to better bring buddies to your attention. It would be interesting to see this informed by your other Yahoo! contact vectors, like email and blog feeds.

Sidebar buddies. Since not all friends are equal, Mv comes with a gadget that lives in the sidebar. You can drag your frequently called buddies from your list to the gadget, and always see their presence or one-click-to-call/chat as part of your desktop.

VoIP. PhoneIn, PhoneOut, and PC to PC. Free voicemail. p2p where possible, else relay/server. Still no multiparty video soon. Nor conference calling.

Visualizations are new; something to look at (distract you?) while you talk to someone. The example above shows a rotating planet with pulsing "radio waves." In a video call, Mv replaces the visualization with the live vid feed. Note the mode ribbon (text, call, video, share) is multiple choice; and that the window contains all elements of the conversation.

When you make a Yahoo! PhoneOut call and it is connected to regular phones by a Yahoo! partner with retail telecom operations (like AT&T or BT), Mv may show the carrier's logo.

Flexible orientation and layout. Think wide. The average Vista sale will be for a wide screen aspect ratio, 16:10, suitable for playing hi-def movies. Messenger for Vista (Mv for short) lets you reshape your main window from the traditional skinny vertical column to a wide display. As you stretch it, its contents (buddy lists, groups, history, etc.) adapt to the new layout.

Text vs. Visual Buddy Displays. The version I saw had a slider that let you shift the presentation inside the window from a face-focused view to one with smaller persona icons, increased textual detail, and more people visible at the same time. A great distinction between normal social vs. workplace contexts.

Theme tweaking exposed. They are building affordances (the parts of the UI you can touch and manipulate) that let you change Mv's skin color and texture by picking from a wheel type of style palette launched from a button on the front. Like the resizing, this enables direct manipulation, making tweaking more immediate, less abstract, and fun.

Animated emoticons. Emoticons are the little pictures you can include in a chat message, like a happy face. They are visual shorthand for feelings and ideas. Mv's "super emoticons" are little bundles of animation that jump out of the IM context to make a point. A little over the top for my taste, they are sure to be a hit among anyone using emoticons now. Frankly, I'd love to see an emoticon plug-in creation and sharing framework, so designers can create and spread their own unique aesthetics and notions.

Windowing. We saw a user combine open Mv windows by dragging them on top of one another, leaving you with one window with tabs (see picture below). Again, letting people manage their cognitive burdens.

The rearchitecture is as much an innovation management decision as a technical one. With three teams bouncing designs off of three different user communities, Yahoo! multiplies their opportunities for deep learning and to discover compelling experiences.

On a side note, their Realtime Communications organization is now part of the Audiences Group.

Technorati tags: skype, skypejournal, yahoo!, yahoo, realtimecommunications, voip, messenger, yahoomessenger, design, ui, ue, ux

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

At Skype's CES 2007 press conference this morning, there were three major announcements:

• Confirmation of the partnership with Nokia whereby the initial offering will result in Skype as the centerpiece for handling Internet-enabled conversations on the new Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. While the N800 is available today, the Skype participation will be an upgrade expected in the early summer timeframe.
• Initial availability via retail channels of the first "PC-free" Skype Dual Mode Cordless Phones which require a direct broadband Internet connection (and the traditional PSTN connection) while handling both Skype and PSTN calls.
• A new line of Desktop Internet Phones with a larger LCD display that again can be directly connected to a broadband router to make calls.

The Skype Dual Mode Cordless phones comprise a base station that supports up to four remote handsets via DECT technology to avoid interference from WiFi networks while providing enhanced sound quality. Participating at this morning's press conference were representatives of both NetGear and Phillips but we can expect to see similar products from additional hardware partners over the next few months.

With these phones one can place handsets around the home, providing both presence information and Skype access from any location within the home. They have the potential to significantly change the calling dynamics within the family or a group of friends. One U.K.-based Skype employee had already provided these phones to his brother in the U.S. and his mother in Denmark such that mom could see the availability of either of her sons at any time and just pick up any handset in the house to make a call.

Since they operate independently of any PC, both the Dual Mode Cordless Phones and the Desktop Internet Phones eliminate any interference during Skype calls caused by using Skype on a Windows-based PC where other applications, such as Outlook, have the potential to disrupt a call while carrying some activity such as downloading email.

When asked how they would differentiate their products the NetGear representative referred to their user ergonomics and compatibility with other NetGear products to provide a positive customer experience while the Phillips representative talked about how they had incorporated Phillips' experience with voice quality enhancement using sealed acoustic chamber technology and unique DSP (digital signal processing) algorithms.

With suggested retail pricing of US$229 (NetGear) and US$169 (Phillips) these two products will soon be available at the Skype store as well as via their traditional retail channel partners.

(Once the Skype press releases are available on the Skype website, links to the various announcements will be added to this post.)

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier today Nokia, with over 850 million wireless handsets sold, announced a new partnership with Skype: From a Business Week report this morning:

Nokia said it will cooperate with eBay Inc.'s Skype telecommunications subsidiary to enable cell phone users to make calls over the Internet, particularly with its new N800 Internet Tablet, which allows wireless Skype connections.

The initial product resulting from this partnership is Skype integration into the new N800 which appears to be already available in the U.S. but will need an upgrade later this spring:

Skype said it will team up with Nokia with the N800, which is already commercially available in the U.S. and selected European countries. The updated version of the device with Skype features will be available by the end of first half of 2007, Nokia said.

It seems that pictures of the N800 have leaked out. We expect to hear more information about this device at the Skype press conference later this morning.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill Gates keynote this evening of course introduced Windows Vista; however, it is not simply an operating system "upgrade" but rather a transformational product that brings media management and storage to the consumer audience. You can find more details in the multiple posts that will flow out; however, at the Bloghaus we were able to not only see but work with the forthcoming HP TouchSmart PC -- representative of the many new types of hardware platforms that will be introduced with the Windows Vista launch. Two pictures: a side view ....

....and your morning weather report.

Features include:

• touch screen
• full support of TV, music, radio, photography, video and other home entertainment media
• Sports Lounge to manage your professional sports fan activities
• XBox controller support to fly around 3D images in Windows Live Local.

They seem to have left out any voice communications hardware, leaving an opening for Skype phones and related add-ons. One thing is certain: devices such as this will accelerate, but converge, the trend mentioned in this evening's keynote where the younger demographic spends more time on the Internet than watching conventional TV.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Joe Klein does voice overs for vlogs and podcasts. He sounds like God, if your God has a sense of humor. Business problem: he'd get a script, record it in his home studio in Laughlin, Nevada, ship off the mp3 and the invoice. Then clients would ask for a second take, for free, something Joe usually charges for. Joe, already into his next gig, would face irritated clients.

Skype was his solution. He'd bring the client right into his recording studio, piping his high end recording into Skype. The client would hear Joe's takes and, when they were satisfied, approve the reading on the spot. The sessions run a little longer but the clients are getting exactly what they expect, Joe doesn't spread one small fee over two or three studio sessions, and the clients are bringing repeat business. The clients get to be the session director, the person in the glass booth guiding Joe's inflection and interpretation. That sense of control, and the high fidelity, leave them very happy. And builds Joe's bottom line. 

Technorati tags: skype, skypejournal, bloghaus, joeklein, podcast, vlog, voiceover, podcastvoiceguys, podcasting, vlogging, production, skypeforbusiness.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 07:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just a few pictures as Phil and I have wandered around a couple of CES venues.

Skype is embedded into the eBay promotions at CES (Skype is in the eBay booth); these banners greet attendees at the main entrance to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

With no more Comdex, Microsoft dominates CES with the Windows Vista launch; this banner covers one wall of a parking building; they also taken over all the Las Vegas taxi rooftop signs.

Phil and I have joined Podtech's Bloghaus where WiFi and associated services (like power access) are readily available. Thanks to Robert and Maryam Scoble and the Podtech team for their lead in organizing this activity. John Furrier, Podtech's CEO, Phil Wolff and Michael Sprague, President of Wavexpress, engage in a discussion about the challenges of hosting IP-based video services.

Bloggers united:

Robert prepares his post about his Bill Gates interview earlier today as well as Bloghaus activity:

Next up: Bill Gates keynote.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

During our absence in December I did have the opportunity to evaluate and, more importantly, "experience" three relatively new ways of making voice calls:

• Skype 3.0 Gold Release with its ability to create "Click-to-Call" for any phone number in an Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser. (Complementing the latest release of the Skype Email Toolbar)
• a Nokia N80i (i = Internet edition) with its ability to work on both WiFi and GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (including support for the 850MHz band used in North America) enhanced with the Truphone service.
• a Blackberry 8700

As one more complement to this scenario, I use the VoIPvoice Cyberphone or UConnect as my Skype USB Phone on my laptop. (I have the original RTX Dualphone on my desktop PC.) The key feature with the VoIPvoice products is their ability to handle Windows sound devices in a user friendly manner.

As a result I have found that, for over 90% of my phone calls, I am no longer dialing phone numbers:

First, the Skype experience: If you read my initial post-absence post, you will know why I had to make many phone calls to family friends across Canada last month. With the Skype Web Toolbar (optionally) embedded into my IE 7 or Firefox 2.0 by the Skype 3.0 installation, I simply used Canada411 to look up a phone number, clicked on the resulting Skype-enhanced phone number, clicked again to confirm that I was making a SkypeOut call and made my connections. If the called party was already in my Outlook Contacts I could look the party up, find the appropriate number in the Skype Email Toolbar and click to initiate the call. What really hits home, given my age, is that when we lived in western Canada in the 50's calls back to Toronto would cost about $1.00 to $3.00 per minute, and given the value of the dollar then, one would rarely make personal long distance calls of any significant duration. Yet last month I was able to make all those calls at no cost. The only concern as to the length of the call was the called party's availability.

(Note re the Skype Email Toolbar: this product is finally rock solid stable. As I have mentioned previously I have been a beta tester for this utility since its initial development activity almost two years ago. I had uncovered some relatively "deep", but critical bugs (that, for instance, resulted in fixing a bug involving a third party dll) but Peter Kalmstrom's Toolbar team at Skype worked diligently to ensure these bugs were addressed. The same can be said for the Web Toolbars where they finally were able to address a persistent bug that occurred only on certain sites, such as my bank website (where for confidentiality reasons I could not supply complete information). Kudos to the Skype Toolbar team for all their efforts and the resulting success. If you have not installed these Toolbars or previously experienced problems, I recommend you give them a try.)

During this period I received my evaluation Nokia N80i as a participant in Andy's Nokia Blogger program. Around that time also came out the announcement that Truphone supported the N80i. So my first download was the Truphone Wizard and I was able to make calls to landlines anywhere in the world at no cost provided I had a WiFi connection. In fact, I ended up talking one evening for close to an hour with Andy while he enjoyed his post dinner culinary treasures at a Paris café. Once again, one simply needs to select the called party from the Nokia's Contacts directory and select which phone to call. No "dialing".

Finally the Blackberry 8700. I had reason to use it quite heavily during December. In addition to clicking to call parties in the Contacts directory; it also makes any phone number appearing in an email, Blackberry Messenger conversation, Note, Task or any other Blackberry application clickable. Once again a minimum of dialing.

Finally, when using the VoIPvoice products (Cyberphone and UConnect) not only can I access my Skype Contacts via a speech recognition routine but I am also able to use any of the Skype Toolbar features to initiate a call without dialing.

So the ability to avoid dialing phone numbers is rapidly becoming one of my key criteria in evaluating all phone products. Probably one more "nail-in-the-coffin" for Skype WiFi phones that simply do not have this capability. I simply don't want to "dial" phone numbers.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A few thoughts as I prepare to head out to Las Vegas this evening. While a 15-year veteran of the former Comdex, this is only my second CES show. But interesting to note how it is approaching the size and popularity that Comdex had in its heyday. While Bill Gates continues to give keynotes, there is, however, one major difference - the news comes out and is propagated worldwide instantly -- not primarily by the mainstream press but via independent bloggers who can take a much more vertical approach to presenting a range of perspectives on all the announcements and new offerings. Andy at VoIP Watch talks more extensively on this subject.

As for Skype and VoIP (where V = voice and video), I will be watching for:

• the evolution of Skype phones, including cordless phones, to devices that allow Skype to operate independent of a base PC platform but rather directly via an Ethernet connection to a home router.
• how will Skype migrate to mobile platforms? Can we expect a Skype for Symbian announcement? Has Skype overcome the latency issues that have delayed the introduction of Skype over GSM-associated networks? Have wireless Skype phones addressed some basic product issues? Can they convince more carriers (beyond UK's 3) that unlimited usage data plans are desirable?
• what is the future for Skype video? is multi-party video conferencing on the road map?
• will we start to see significant numbers of Voice 2.0 applications? will their introduction come as a revolution or evolution?

On the first subject, a few comments: over the past few years we have seen home-based routers go from PC-based "applications" (remember WinGate?) to independent devices such as those supplied by Linksys, D-Link and NetGear; we have seen the access to our TV cable box served best via a dedicated device such as the SlingBox. Is the Skype phone the next major consumer device to operate over IP independent of a multi-tasking PC? Recently I have been able to use Truphone to make low cost international calls over my WiFi connection. What other dedicated-function devices that simply attach to an Ethernet port on the router or connect via WiFi can we expect to see?

P.S. - the latest version of SlingPlayer is giving me superb quality over my home network (with speeds up to 3Mbps) even when full screen on a 1650 x 1080 display. Update: At a hotel in LV I'm getting over 700 kpbs with good picture quality over a hotel WkFi connection. A little fuzzier than on the home network but certainly usable

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

MicrosoftatCES.com launched their trade show home page Friday. Blog up front, of course. The place to go for Bill Gates' keynote Sunday night at 6:30pm. Things I probably won't see at their booth:

• A way to collaborate live in the new Office without buying a server.
• Multiparty videoconferencing in Live Messenger
• The Zune Phone
• Zune music sharing software for Windows Mobile
• Skype for Xbox360
• Skype shipping in Windows Vista

Vista with Live Messenger ships to consumers in a few weeks. And they'll Remember when Netscape sued Microsoft to have their browser ship on Windows PCs? How successful have Yahoo!, AOL, Google and Skype been at getting their messaging clients baked in to Vista by Dell? How much is Dell charging for Vista desktop product placement?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 02:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TalQer version 1.0.0.1 is out of beta with a few surprises. It's a plug-in to GoogleTalk, and now to Skype, that lets you dial out on TalQer's network using your existing address book.

UPDATE: Let me explain the "minute-stealer" term since I didn't use it in the body of the article. I've heard it used for the last six months to refer to  companies whose primary marketing strategy is getting customers to switch to their lower cost service. For example, Vonage is a minute-stealer relative to AT&T and TalQer is a minute-stealer relative to Skype. Skype is trying to have it both ways, of course, pricing services low enough to get people to switch but with features that get them to use Skype for more than cheap phone calls. Back to TalQer...

You won't see TalQer applying for Skype certification any time soon. TalQer inserts a big yellow dial button into the Skype UI, driving users to bypass SkypeOut in favor of their own prepaid service. Cash-flow-interruptus.

In and out is everything here. TalQer isn't about its own social network, it's about beating Skype's rate arbitrage, further cutting the cost of getting and making PSTN calls. When you're using Skype to save a buck on international calls, TalQer offers better rates: € 0.012 (1.5¢) per minute for some countries and matching Skype's 2 cent per minute global rate in many others.

Since TalQer isn't based in the EU (Fremont, California, apparently), no EU value added tax.

TalQer is also trying to outperform SkypeOut audio quality. They didn't go for termination partners (the companies who connect Skype or TalQer to the regular phone system) that move your bits over the Internet. TalQer's CEO, Charlie Paglee, says they signed up with services that move bits over leased lines, less affected by the latest YouTube downloads or peak net traffic. It costs them a little more, but Paglee says they don't have Skype's scale or overhead expenses.

I've been getting an earful from post-Christmas newbies frustrated to tears by SkypeOut call quality and Skype's not having someone they can call. TalQer may work for them.

Still waiting for SkypeIn to come to your country? SkypeIn is available in 14 countries, but TalQer phone numbers are available in 38. Neither offer numbers for China or India. The first TalqIn number is free, but you can rent more starting at €2.40 ($3.00) monthly, about the same as SkypeIn. 

I can't say it works, or doesn't work. I wasn't prepared to buy the minimum $10 credit to try it. I can't imagine other reviewers paying for the privilege. If you do take the leap, let me know how this subversive little number works for you.  

Technorati tags: skype, skyepjournal, voip, talqer, phones, charliepaglee, competitors, ebayinc, skypeltd, skypein, skypeout

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It's a new year and I'm happy to report Skype Journal is back online, although funny looking for a few days. We've moved to a new technical setup (hosting, software, template structure) that should be much more stable and convenient.

Meanwhile, any of you going to the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas next week? Jim Courtney will be there. Join the CES backchannel if you're using Skype 3.0.

If not CES, how about MacWorld in San Francisco? If you're blogging on Apple's new iPhone (or its absence) or updates to iChat, Skype me.

2007 is the year we move Skype Journal from a full-time hobby to a thriving business. More on that soon.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been a while and lots has happened over the past five weeks. When I left for a week's vacation on the WiFi-depleted island of Cozumel immediately after US Thanksgiving I did not expect to be off the air so long. However, our previous hosting provider (whose identity is unknown to me) ran out of the resources required to scale up a growing Moveable Type weblog. It got to a point where we could not even post new entries.

Phil has worked to move all our archive data over to the new host and yesterday he linked up with Stuart to point skypejournal.com to the new hosting location. Bottom line: with the Christmas/New Year's holidays and associated family commitments it was only today that Phil and Stuart could link up to move the pointer.

But, first a brief tribute to my mother. A few days after I returned from Cozumel she had another heart attack and passed away three weeks ago. As our minister mentioned at the memorial service, he had never visited a senior who was so technically equipped in her new digs For the past seven or eight years she had used the Internet to communicate with her family (especially valuable when my sons completed their medical studies in California and eastern Ontario while my daughter taught ESL in Taiwan and my nephew spent six months in Malawi), to do most of her banking (she lived in a location that was about 30 minutes from the nearest bank) and to even research and locate her recently inhabited retirement home. Due to the space limitations of her new apartment she even had a new flat panel LCD TV. Not bad for a lady who spent the first eight years of her life in a home with no electricity (gas lighting), a central oil burning stove in the living room for heating and no telephone -- I was expecting to give her a Skype phone for Christmas. She was one of my best consumer test cases for simplicity in the use of technology.

Back to the IP Communications world: lots has been happening during December and I have been fortunate enough to be gaining experience with several new devices:

• making no-cost WiFi-enabled cell phone calls from a Nokia N80i via Truphone. The Friday before Christmas I had a half hour conversation with Andy at a cafe in Paris that had no cost to either of us. And the voice quality was as good as our mylo-to-mylo Skype-to-Skype call a couple of months ago. (The N80i was supplied via Nokia's Blogger program managed by Andy and his team.)
• using the Gennum nXZEN VoIP "extreme noise canceling wireless headset to listen to calls on my Blackberry 8700 - and still have to test it as a Skype device for my laptop. Bottom line: who should know better about how to build a Bluetooth headset than a long time manufacturer of hearing aid components. This headset has voice quality that approaches that of an excellent Skype-to-Skype call.
• building up use of my evaluation Blackberry 8700 - Google has it right for supporting mobile devices - they get the user interface issues for mobile platforms - running Google Search, Maps and News as applications. It's their secret weapon to gain dominance on mobile platforms. Also using Blackberry Maps - can be installed on an 8700 but is included in the Blackberry Pearl application suite.- with a GPS unit to get driving directions and current location. BTW, the Blackberry was a godsend during my mother's time in hospital - I had to access her medical records stored as a "Memo" on it several times and even found ways to use it as both a phone and email device in an environment that supposes cell phones should be banned anywhere in the building (more progressive healthcare facilities realize that wireless devices only need to be kept about 10 meters from any other medical equipment).
• and Rogers Cable is doing a Canadian preview run of Mark Cuban's HDNet - great for experiencing the full potential of both HD and the associated technologies such as surround sound.

And, of course, there have been changes at Skype. I hope to learn more about them and Skype's direction while attending CES in Las Vegas next week.

Enough for now - I will do more complete reviews of these and other devices over the next few weeks. In the meantime, accept my best wishes for a Happy New Year.

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Posted by Jim Courtney at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)