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  • Google Wallet, Launch Followed by Trial

    Google faces a trial, just few hours after the launch of a free application designed to replace the classic credit cards and which turns a smartphone into an "electronic wallet".

    In the trial issued against Google in a Californian Court, the company was accused of using PayPal and eBay’s technology for the newly launched Google Wallet application. Google officials did not comment on these allegations.

    In the document filed in court states that PayPal specialists working for about three years at a technology that allows payments using smartphones with operating system and that the people at Google have mastered the technology illegally, hiring the Head of the project, Osama Bedier.

    Bedier has worked in online financial services unit owned by eBay as the Vice-President of the mobile platform until he was hired (in January) by Google. He played an important role at the official launch of Google Wallet, which took place Thursday in New York, during which he stated that the service is being tested and will be available this summer.

    What is Google Wallet?

    Google Wallet will be available initially only for Google Nexus S 4G terminals from Sprint and will be extended later to other phones equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC).

    The NFC chip embedded in mobile device allows a user, who previously entered his bank card details, to use his terminal to make purchases via the PayPass payment systems from Citi MasterCard.

    Customers can also use a Google prepaid card to pay for purchases, benefiting from Google Offers advantages – the online system of coupons of the American company, which claims that Google Wallet will be accepted by more than 124,000 U.S. merchants and more than 311,000 worldwide.

    The application will require a PIN for each transaction. Payment credentials will be encrypted and stored on a chip, the safety feature of the phone. The application itself will be free for the users.

    Stephanie Tilenius, Vice-President for Trade and Payments Division at Google, describes Google Wallet as "the next generation of mobile commerce”: “We are building an opened trading ecosystem that will bring, in premiere, the opportunity to pay with a NFC wallet and to announce the consumers all promotions – all of them with just a touch, while the user will make his shopping offline," said Tilenius, who added that the system will first expand in Europe and then Asia.

    Who and what betrayed

    PayPal says that Tilenius (who was also an employee of eBay, from 2001 until October 2009 as a consultant) helped Bedier’s recruitment by Google and quoted both company’s executives as defendants in a civil lawsuit based on the misuse of trading secrets.

    Bedier was accused that he would revealed Google certain secrets on PayPal projects. PayPal and Google have collaborated over the past three years to establish a technology developed on the PayPal platform that would serve as payment option using the mobile apps from the Android smartphones.

    NFC – the future wallet

    Mobile payments are already tested and used by several countries, notably France and Japan, but Google Wallet is the first service that brings NFC in U.S. stores. NFC technology uses short-range wireless communications action to allow the exchange of encrypted information between devices at short distance.

    Three of the largest providers of mobile communications in the U.S. – AT & T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless – have announced in November 2010 that have joined forces to establish a national network called "Isis" to allow the payments via mobile phones, the service being introduced in the next 18 months. Google executive, Eric Schmidt, said shortly before the launch of the Nexus S, in December 2010, that the NFC technology it’s expected to take the place of the classic credit cards.

  • Skype and eBay Settle with Joltid

    Skype and eBay announced they has reached a settlement agreement with Joltid and Joost N.V. that gives Skype ownership over all software previously licensed from Joltid.

    It also ends all litigation currently pending against the investor group and eBay at the closing of the acquisition (the investor group led by Silver Lake had previously entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Skype from the company).

    As part of the settlement agreement, Joltid and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis will join the investor group, contributing Joltid software and making a significant capital investment in exchange for a 14 percent stake in Skype.

    As a result, Silver Lake and other investors including Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), will together hold 56 percent of Skype and eBay will retain 30 percent.

    eBay will receive approximately $1.9 billion in cash upon the completion of the sale and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million.

    The deal, which values Skype at $2.75 billion and is not subject to a financing condition, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.

    “We will now have ownership of the software previously licensed from Joltid, so we’ll be in control of our technology future,” Josh Silverman, president of Skype, wrote at Skype’s blog.

    “All litigation against eBay, Skype and the investor group ends, so we’ll be free to concentrate all of our efforts on building the world’s greatest communications software,” he added.

    Commenting on the agreement on behalf of the investor group, Silver Lake Managing Director Egon Durban said: “We are very pleased to have the litigation resolved. We remain confident in a great future for Skype, and we look forward to working with Niklas, Janus and the other investors as partners to help the company achieve its full potential.”

    The investor group will no longer include Index Ventures, which has withdrawn from participation. “Although Skype has the potential to be a great investment, the deal terms changed for Index such that it no longer matches our investment criteria and thus we have decided not to participate in the transaction,” said Danny Rimer of Index Ventures.

  • Skype Users Rise by 37m, Revenues up 25% in Q2


    Skype’s subscriber base just keeps on climbing, with another 37 million people added in the second quarter – taking the total year-to-date increase to 75 million.

    Growing subscribers also means growing revenues and the VoIP company saw Q2 revenue jump 25 per cent year-over-year to USD $170 million.

    The Skype figures were contained within parent company eBay’s financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

    Its news was not quite so good. The ecommerce company posted second quarter revenue of USD $2.10 billion, a $97.7 million year-over-year decrease.

    The year-over-year revenue growth of PayPal and Skype was offset by the effects of the stronger dollar and a modest decline in the Marketplaces business.

    Another healthy quarter of growth under its belt will do no harms to Skype’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) price as eBay prepares to take the VoIP company public in early 2010.

    Provided the P2P technology lawsuit gets settled first.

  • Positive Signs For Interoperability Between VOIP Systems


    It would appear that efforts to address problems of compatability and interoperability between the various VoIP protocols, packages and services are making some headway.

    For users – and especially small businesses – the issue has been of growing concern as the popularity of VoIP has led to a huge increase in the number of VoIP services.

    As Erica Stewart points out in her NetSquared blog, these potential users may want to adopt VoIP for their communication needs – but compatibility issues prevent them from fully entrusting their operations to such a service.

    However, she goes on to say that developments have been made since Stefan Oberg, Skype’s Vice-President for Business, announced the launch of a development program with Digium (the developers of Asterisk) last autumn.

    The partnership aims to incorporate Skype with the Asterisk system in a way that will allow the Asterisk PBX handle Skype calls more clearly and efficiently.

    Stewart says clients using this service now have the capability to make and receive Skype calls from within their existing Asterisk software and hardware systems.

    She says the partnership between the two well-known VoIP providers points to the growing interoperability between the various VoIP systems.

    "A small business owner can become more at ease in knowing that despite the multitude of both open source and proprietary voice codecs available in the market, there are efforts to be able to connect them to one another," she says.

    "These moves towards partnerships and idea and technology sharing, only bodes well for the goal of interoperability between Voice over Internet Protocol systems."

  • Skype Update With Screen Sharing – and Reinstated Extras


    Skype has released a beta version of its software for Windows which includes a screen sharing feature.

    The Skype 4.1 release also reinstates some extras that were removed in the previous update – much to the disappointment of many subscribers.

    With the screen sharing feature, which is view-only, users get the choice to record the full screen or a region.

    It is also possible to shift between full and partial screen modes. With one-way viewing, the "guest" sees only the screen selected.

    This addition moves Skype into the realm of low-cost international business communications, although it is limited to two users – host and guest.

    It would seem logical for the screen sharing function to be expanded in the future to group calls.

    Screen sharing was made available to Mac users in the last beta version of the Mac client in January – so Mac users now have the possibility of sharing screens with PC users.

    The Windows beta has also reintroduced two features dropped from the 4.0 version – birthday reminder alerts and contacts-sharing.

    The former simply send an automatic reminder on a contact’s birthday if this detail is available on their profile.

    Skype 4.1 also reinstated are a screen reader accessibility tool and a contacts import function from Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL and LinkedIn.

  • Yuuguu Extends Instant Collaboration To Include Skype


    Yuuguu has expanded its screen sharing cross network application to include Skype.

    The Yuuguu for Skype Beta enables Skype users to screen share and collaborate with one or more contacts.

    Yuuguu can also use the VOIP calling feature of Skype.

    The application also allows users to combine their contacts on a variety of instant messaging services such as Google Talk, MSN, AOL, Yahoo and AIM into one place.

    Each month, Yuuguu is free for 100 minutes with a maximum of five participants in a session.

    Users can upgrade to Yuuguu Plus for USD $15 per month, which includes unlimited screen sharing and web conferencing usage.

    Co-founder and CEO of Yuuguu, Anish Kapoor said the Yuuguu for Skype Beta is the simplest and quickest way for Skype users to instantly screen share, and collaborate in real time with one or more of their contacts on Skype.

    "Our product developments over the last 18 months have been geared to strong customer demand for instant real-time collaboration tightly integrated with their instant messaging services," he said.

  • Skype Gets its Own Oprah Show


    Skype president Josh Silverman’s invitation to appear as a guest on ‘Oprah’ may not come as much of a surprise to fans of the show.

    The VoIP giant has already been featured on the program and Oprah Winfrey often uses it for interviews.

    But while Oprah is well known for promoting Skype, Kindle and Twitter, she doesn’t usually give over whole shows to them.

    What was the excuse for Thursday’s episode-long commercial for Skype?

    Josh Silverman Skype President

    Well the show was billed as an opportunity to discuss the features the technology offers to its subscribers.

    Titled "Where the Skype Are You?", it features people calling in from exotic locations around the world, with video chats on an airplane, a submarine, Antarctica, and London’s Harrods department store.

    It might have been interesting to have included a slot discussing Skype’s troubled relationship with eBay, would it not?

  • Skype For iPhone App Offers 3G Calls


    A new app is offering iPhone users a way of making Skype calls using 3G by turning outgoing calls into incoming ones.

    Appropriately called Incoming, it connects to any landline or mobile phone over Edge, 3G, and WiFi – whereas the official Skype for iPhone app is limited to WiFi.

    Calls made on the iPhone using the Incoming app are routed through a user’s home PC’s Skype software and turned into an incoming call.

    This means users don’t eat into wireless dialplan minutes if they have unlimited inbound minutes.

    There’s obviously a cost if SkypeOut credits are required but that can be limited by signing up for one of Skype’s unlimited call plans.

    How it works:
    1. Open the Incoming app and enter a phone number and press CALL.
    2. Receive an incoming call, once answered, the dialled number is called
    3. Wait to be connected

    The app costs USD $4.99 on the iTunes store.

    Other features include:

    • Make a visual favorites list for fast dialing.
    • Access contacts from your address book.
    • Conference Calling supporting up to nine callers.
    • International Calling

  • PayPal App Introduced To Android


    Making payments just got a little easier for owners of an Android phone with the news that PayPal has introduced its app in the Android Market.

    The e-commerce business says that the app gives users easy access to many of its popular features.

    The eBay subsidiary also stresses that for those worried about security, it uses the same technology and safeguards that they have for the web client.

    Some of the features include:

    • Direct integration with the contact list – Users select a name from contacts to make a payment
    • Recent history – A smartphone can be used to look at transactions over the last couple of months
    • Balance checks – balances in any of the currencies held can be shown

  • Truphone Improves iPhone Mobile VoIP App


    Truphone has launched a major upgrade to its free mobile VoIP application for the iPhone.

    The latest version of the Apple handset’s first-ever VoIP app boasts increased ease of use, speed of function response, intuitiveness and simplicity – along with improved voice quality.

    Truphone 3.0 also offers an integrated IM client which ties MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and Skype compatibility into a single page.

    Calls to users of Truphone, Skype and Google Talk are free over Wi-Fi.

    Use over cellular data is also possible.

    Similar improvements to Truphone for the Apple iPod touch are expected soon.

    Geraldine Wilson, CEO of Truphone, said the upgrade dramatically has also improved its UI and account management tools.

    "We’ve eliminated the need for compression by utilizing new advances in signal processing, making calls crystal clear," she said.

    All in all, Wilson claims competitors will have a "tough time" matching Truphone 3.0 in terms of quality and performance.

    The improvements certainly make Truphone a viable alternative to Skype, which also faces competition in the form of Vopium on the iPhone.