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  • Skype Announces iPhone App,Video Calling Coming Soon?


    STORY UPDATED: see below

    Skype is now available for the iPhone – and will be coming to BlackBerry in May.

    The VoIP app on the iPhone is intended to only work over Wi-Fi and not 3G. It will allow iPhone subscribers to use phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book – without the need for duplicate lists.

    As always, it allows free calls between Skype users and charges for calls to landlines or mobiles.

    The VoIP app allows iPhone subscribers to use the phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book – without the need for duplicate lists.

    News of the VoIP client coming to the iPhone and Blackberry was first reported by Gigaom ahead of this week’s mobile-centric CTIA conference in Las Vegas.

    The application for the BlackBerry platform will work in a similar fashion to that for the iPhone.

    The iPhone and Blackberry apps are being seen as part of Skype’s efforts to expand beyond its PC stronghold.

    Skype Chief Operating Officer Scott Durchslag said getting the app onto the iPhone was the top request from customers.

    He said there was "pent-up demand" for the service on the Apple handset.

    Skype has already been announced for Nokia and Android phones, as wel as handset operating Windows Mobile.

    The service will also work on later versions of Apple’s latest iPod Touch device, which has Wi-Fi links but no cellular connection.

    While Skype video is very popular with desktop customers, Durchslag said that the company is still considering whether it will offer video for the iPhone or other phones.

    "We’re considering video carefully but we have a really high bar on the quality," and how the user interaction will work with other applications on iPhone, he said. "If we do it we will have to do it incredibly well."

    Some other pieces of functionality are missing.

    While Skype is certain its native client will provide superior audio quality – there is no need to route through another server and transcode audio – the app is missing text messaging, file transfers and integrated voice mail.

    This will undoubtedly help multi-function apps like Fring and NimBuzz maintain a healthy presence on the iPhone, which famously doesn’t allow for multiple programs running concurrently.

    UPDATE: Since being released on Tuesday it has emerged that Skype on iPhone does works over 3G, despite being intended only for use with WiFi.

    Users report it working over the 3G data connection if the beta 3.0 firmware is being run.

    Since VoIP over the 3G cellular is clearly forbidden in the SDK rules, it’s obviously due to a bug on 3.0 that it works.

    This raises the question of how long it will be before Apple closes the hole?

    But also, how did was the app "approved" and certified by for the App Store without first "testing" if Skype would work on the 3G connection?

  • Google Launches Free Voice Service


    Google today launched a free service in the US called Google Voice that gives users access to all their phones, voicemail and text messages through one phone number.

    The move is being seen as a threat to Skype – but also to telecom operators and technology firms.

    Initially Google Voice will only be available to existing users of GrandCentral, a service Google acquired in July 2007.

    But it is expected to be rolled out to the general public in the coming weeks.

    Google says the application helps users manage their voice communications better by improving the way they use their phones.

    It provides transcripts of voicemail and allows all SMS text messages sent and received to be archived and searched.

    The service can also be used to make low-priced international calls.

    Google says the new service will be similar to GrandCentral but with many new features.

    GrandCentral gives users a single number to ring their home, work, and mobile phones, a central voicemail inbox that you can be accessed on the web, and the ability to screen calls by listening in live as callers leave a voicemail.

    The service has been invite-only for nearly two years and has a sizeable waiting list.

    It’s too early to say for sure whether Google Voice is the beginning of the end for operators as a "voice pipe".

    What’s certain is that combined with Android it could begin to make life very interesting for them.

    The fact yet more data could soon be passing through Google’s hands is also making privacy activists just a little concerned.

  • TringMe Combines Voice with PHP


    TringMe has announced a method of marrying VoIP with PHP – VoicePHP.

    The Bangalore, India-based startup, describes VoicePHP as an extension of PHP that now outputs voice instead of text and also takes input as voice instead of text.

    Other approaches to combining web applications with voice include using Voice XML or Adobe’s Flash.

    TringMe said VoicePHP is intended to do the same things as VoiceXML, but by adopting the familiar PHP programming methology.

    This enables it to remain attractive to the numerous PHP-proficient developers and ensure a stream of voice applications.

    Essentially, with VoicePHP there’s no need to learn a new markup language, tags, or attributes associated with VoiceXML.

    Widely and freely available tools for developing, debugging PHP can be continued to use with VoicePHP.

    It also means that an application written in VoicePHP can be accessed via Flash, instant messenger, Mobile VoIP clients or even conventional phone lines.

    This gives TringMe an advantage over rivals.

    It should also enable the start-up to generate revenue as VoicePHP grows popular and more web-voice application developers use its VoIP platform.