Jeff Pulver announces the impending the release of another "Communicator" sometime late this summer. Does that mean the current Communicator is toast? Will Jeff still support SIP? How will this fit with his current center staging of Skype in VON programs? Will P.C emerge as a HGC like deal? Would Jeff like to get his hands on Skype USA? He's already got influence seemingly on the legal side.

I'm looking at doing a new release of p.C before the end of the summer that is unlocked from the start and I hope to offer a new build sometime after that which supports the GIPS wideband codec. I just have some business and technology issues to work out in between.

I'm also working on a re-launch of the FWD website. I've decided to take a "Geek Approach" - I'm not exactly sure what this will evolve into but it will be different than what we currently have, and what we had before. Aswath Weblog

A pointer in Om's blog took me to karnellKNOWLEDGE. It's a great rant on how Vonage strategy for customer aquisition just doesn't stack up. Maybe Vonage should offer a free softphone? It looks at Skype mentions in the blogosphere and contrasts the impact with Vonage spending on advertising.

The report also quotes Sandvine data which appears to me to be a little suspect. I think getting a useful sample on VoIP users remains difficult. I think James Enck also questioned the same figures.

Last night I posted on Gizmo and wasn't able to log on and try it. Today it offered up a software update and it's working. My Gizmo name is stuart_henshall. So I tested with my buddy bill_campbell. After testing, these remain my questions.

Questions:

• What would be the compelling reason to switch? From Skype to Gizmo?
  
• How and what opportunities does this provide for PBX integration, something many Skypers want?
  
• Is the fragmentation of the VON VoIP market only going to affect other SIP players and have no impact on Skype?
  
• Why aren't the "rates" for CallOut or CallIn competitive?

In October 2003 Michael Robertson of Sipphone (Linspire and MP3 fame) said "So Skype is a nice little experiment but it will get quickly run over by SIP.". It took him until now and Project Gizmo to try and address the Skype desktop challenge. So today yet another softphone client emerged. As expected from the founder of Sipphone he's positioning Gizmo as "giving" you your SIP number, open source and plenty of other claims. Still the core story that Project Gizmo hopes to hook consumers on is below. It's the open versus closed argument again. It won't be enough and I'll tell you why.

Net calling software Skype has exploded onto the scene. Its ease of use and robustness have quickly built an enormous user base and introduced many to the power of net calling. But Internet users should be wary of Skype because its strategy is a throwback to the '80s built on proprietary standards that locks out all others. This week, a product called Gizmo is being unveiled - the first viable Skype alternative built on open source that pledges to connect to all. Michael Robertson . com

Serial killer on the loose? The story on Skype reads like a Stephen King thriller. Today, the plot thickened with a Tom Online and Skype story in ETNet News. This story’s operative word: “content”.

“Content” + “Skype” in any story should send chills up the spines of exec’s at AOL’s TimeWarner or in any other firm in the media and advertising game. Terrifying.

Could I be missing something when others query Niklas's cash flow claim? Is it too simple to look to the invoice numbers we quoted and looked at the other day. The chart is here.

Although subscribers only pay a few euros, these revenues would help to make the 2-year-old start-up cash-flow positive this year, he said.

"That's the case," he said, when asked if his company would be cash flow positive in 2005. The company has not yet given any indication about its profitability. Politics News Article | Reuters.com

My lastest order number on May 24th was 6523135 for an additional SkypeIn line. The day before my order number was 6515443 for a Euro 25 SkypeOut credit. Not 24 hours apart.

I had previously purchased a SkypeOut credit for 10 euros exactly one month earlier on April 23. That's 931508 orders in a month. Or some 30000+ orders per day.

Yesterday was headset day at Yahoo. Every employee got a new headset. That's a sea change and real statement that Yahoo is serious about VoIP and the challenge posed by Skype. Certainly they are trying to condition some new behavior with the headsets. Yahoo made their latest beta Yahoo! Messenger available yesterday for downloading and I spent yesterday morning playing with it. Inside Yahoo you hope they all have their headsets on.

While this beta was generally panned in some quarters as too little too late I'm of the opinion that Yahoo is serious about what they are trying to do. Unlike recent versions of MSN7.0 and AIM-Triton they have embraced a radical change in architecting how to make a voice call. In giving more prominence to calls in Yahoo Messenger they are recognizing both the opportunity that their partners require (think Japan, Britain (BT communicator) and deals like SBC broadband). They've also made an interesting decision to remain text/chat centric. (illustrations below). However it's clear they sat down, played and operated with Skype before issuing this edition. I'll not rave about it as a replacement for Skype it has a long way to go. However despite what I saw commented upon in the Skype Forum this is the one messenger program team I'd currently have a sleepless night on.

Scrolling the buddylist better than Skype?
When you click on the call icon Yahoo opens the chat window, begins ringing. When you click traditionally on the buddylist the chat window just opens. Closing the chat window kills any call in progress.

Jonathan Clark of The Herald Mexico reports "Users decry decline in service." We've seen posts on this in the Skype developer forum, and elsewhere for a few months. Is this a rumor? Or is Telmex's Mexican subsidiary squelching perceived competition? Could the Vonage blocking be from defective, incompatible or poorly configured modems? Or from non-VoIP-specific traffic management that hurts VoIP users as a side effect?

Can you suggest a trustworthy, repeatable test for complete blockage and for intentional downgrading of VoIP service? Do you have first hand observations about Skype over Telmex? Please comment.

Can Skype users switch? Brough Turner thinks so. He makes the case that, unlike an operating system, users can easily download clients for other messaging networks.

There is a fundamental difference between operating systems and IP-communications. You only run one operating system on your computer. You can easy run multiple IP-Communications clients on the same computer at the same time.

Today I run three instant messenger clients at all times, because there are groups I participate in who happen to use different instant messenger networks. It doesn't matter. The services are all free. The user interfaces are very similar. The overhead to install an additional IM client is very small. The same will apply to Skype competitors, when they emerge.

For now, Skype is building a brand. Their product works better than anything else in the market, they're making good use of the viral marketing inherently available to any communications product, and their open APIs foster 3rd party developers who are extending their eco-system in myriad directions. I use Skype and I look forward to their success. But there is nothing to prevent me from running Skype and a new competitor's software at the same time on the same PC and the same Internet connection.

Aim Triton Beta is the next generation Messenger client from AOL. I saw it on Stowe Boyd's blog and went over to InfoWorld where there is a detailed summary. So the question here is --- Will AIM Triton (in beta and a summer replacement for the current AIM) keep Niklas awake at nights? While the questions for AOL is Why do you think that this is a world beater? Plus: Do we (AOL) now have a Skype strategy?

I'm apparently an outspoken zealot evangelising Skype at times, so when the big "incumbents" come out with a new product and I want to dismiss it almost instantly - caution says.. hold back don't tell them what you really think. Infoworld makes an important point that the thrust of this was thinking about how to organize multiple chat messages into a multi-purpose window.

What happens when Podcasts become Vlogs? It's great to see Erik Lagerway showing the potential for next generation video communications software by using his latest at Ineen to go Vlogging. This is the positive angle I'm prepared to put on my recent Ineen experiments. I received a comment the other day asking if we were testing any Skype competitors. I try and test them all and have to answer yes. Including MSN 7.0 which does deserve a separate post. On Ineen I'm just going to leave my thoughts up to Geek blog below. If you need any more insights see this post too. Ineen demonstrates potential, it is just failing the customer test.

Om notes that the iPod phone is held up. I'm inclined to believe there is another opportunity.

Who really prevented the iTunes phone from being released? Motorola blamed the finicky Steve Jobs and his marketing approach for the delay. Business Week says it was the carriers who might be behind the delay. “Behind the clash are two very different views of the future of music on mobile phones. Om Malik

Consider combining iChat for Tiger with the iPod, currently looking like a Skype on steriods. Then launch the capability along with a next generation iPod that makes it backward compatible. The installed base makes it interesting. The demographics make it neat and who's going to upgrade their cell when Wi-Fi an iPod and an iChat dongle and software upgrade via iTunes will make those call for free? Perfect for the campus.

The iPod photo can even do color iChat video with an upgrade. the iPod dial is perfect too. Too far fetched?

While Skype is generating a millions of new users and being chased by PC knock-offs, their professed strategy is to go mobile. Outside the mobile phone market at the moment the hotest device is not the PDA, it's an iPod. The right price and millions could be calling.

Which company can hack it first. iSkypePod or iChatPod? iTunes provides a platform that with todays music lists.. could also extend into the social arena. Let's face it most iPod users have PC's. iChat on an iPod provides a good reason to have iChat on a PC too. How long will it take?

Anyone who is interested in video conferencing with Skype will want to view this demo of Apple's iChat it is truly an wow moment.

I can't wait to test iChat to measure the bandwidth consumed. I would suggest this sets a high bar for Skype as a entrant to video conferencing. This is clearly both cool and "best-in-class".

Is TelTel a Skype wannabe or something more. Teltel announced at VON that they were now the largest SIP based user community. I don't see anything in Teltel that suggests they will give you your SIP number and without it you are locked to their hardware and software just like arrangements with Vonage or CallVantage.

I blogged about Skype clones some months back. TelTel was not alone then and while they have made progress (yes I did download it then) Teltel is still doesn't better Skype. The audio quality is not to the same standard despite GIPS being a partner. I didn't find quickly a directory search function and you must have three users before you can begin dialing. They have built in two "different" features; "Call-me" requests and "Notify-me" updates. These are useful and add a new angle to personalizing presence. The callers icon gets a personal addition. So scanning your buddy list can quickly show who you should call. Skype should look at adding this capability although VM serves a similar purpose.

I like seeing a business built as well as the next guy. I know Mr Vonage will be speaking at Von Spring and yet I can't get too excited about 500000 Vonage customers. (Do I need to do the disclaimer thing. I am a Vonage customer I have a super cheap account). Is Vonage the largest of the VoIP plays?

Where it intrigues me is in the pricing model. While Skype claims 785,000 SkypeOut users they aren't all spending even $10 per month. So there is still a large gap in the revenue between these two companies. Then there must be an even bigger gap on the loss line.

I missed the announcement on Feb 9 about Damaka. Damaka is ostensible another SkypeKiller, (the last one I checked out was Teleo) according to the Press. Like Teleo it is using the GIPS Voice engine and it claims it is SIP. After installing it, having a "crash" and my testing buddy two reboots we finally both managed to add each other as a buddy. It probably a bug but until we both rebooted we couldn't even connect. Then we had an uneventful and clear call.

What did I learn?

Ross Mayfield reports from Demo@15 how you can use ASAP Express from Convoq to create video and IM alternatives to WebEx and integrate them in a common workspace. It's good to see this example working. Presence dashboards are coming and important to implementing more efficient work practices. As Ross points out in his blog you can make this work for AIM, Yahoo!, Messenger and Skype.

People use Socialtext and Convoq in tandem. When working on a document within Socialtext, you can escalate to real-time with a shared view of what you are editing. While in Convoq, when the meeting ends, you can de-escalate to asynchronous and more persistent collaboration.

With similar support for AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and Skype, you can also do simple things like a presence dashboard for a team or simply make your contact information richer.

Ross Mayfield

My solution is Skype with TightVNC for simple desktop sharing.

IDC has a report for sale on Skype via Amazon. $500 seems to cheap to get valuable infomation. You pay for what you get.

This IDC Insight offers a short overview of the Skype initiative. It will look at the functionality of the program, the potential implications the program could have for the VoIP market, and how the program is most likely to develop in the future. Skype is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and its program is based on the P2P technology used for the Kazaa file-sharing program. In Europe, several companies are offering VoIP services to consumers, using traditional fixed-line telephones connected to VoIP adapters; one example is Pilmo.com. Amazon.com: e-Books & Docs: Skype: Threat or Thrust? [DOWNLOAD: PDF]

In principle Teleo (launched at Demo@15) should be on to a real winner. Its SIP compatible, claims a GIPS audio engine and offers very competitive calling rates. In my book they should be very close to what I want. I get an inbound Oakland 510 number on my laptop, and I can forward it to my cellphone. The rates are cheap $4.95/month for an inbound line and 250 minutes. After that you have to add minutes. They also have a Teleo Lite program which is similar to SkypeOut. Some functionality is claimed but not working yet. This includes conference calling (how many is unknown) and voice mail. Currently limited numbers are available for the US and Canada only. It is only available for Windows. Still I've played with it and it is at best a Vonage substitute. Apparently it is not a mega-million dollar idea.

Mr Blog posts on the current crop of VoIP offerings. In a thoughtful post he draws a parallel between CompuServe and current VoIP providers. He notes some people are just inventing a new game. He concludes that Vonage is dead.

The current trends in VoIP sure look familiar. To me, the current VoIP "gorillas" look like the future CompuServes of VoIP. They are to the future of real-time communications what CompuServe was to email and online communications. Mr Blog

I'd like to learn some more about this product. It's just what I want to do.

PCTel's new product permits users to make and get calls using the same number on cellular and IP networks. InformationWeek > VoIP > New VoIP-Enabled Roaming Client

Vonage intends to bring out a Wi-Fi phone. What we will have is a merging of numbers across the mobile, home and business.... all into one... so makes increasing sense for tele cos to compete for the one number.

TODAY people take laptops to wireless hot spots in coffee bars and airports to check their e-mail messages and to explore the Internet. Soon they may pack a new type of telephone and take it along, too, to make inexpensive calls using those wireless connections The New York Times > Technology > Circuits >New York Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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