Written on July 12, 2008 – 1:07 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
After using an oldtimer phone for too long, I feel liberated today due to my recent acquisition of the iPhone. Ok, I realize this might sound awkward, as the shiny object is one of the most lockedin devices of this era - yet some of the new phone possibilities just really turn me into an even happier guy than I normally am. The most recent example? Truphone’s latest iPhone app.
Truphone is a similar service like Nimbuzz, Fring, and a dozen of other mobile VoIP start-ups, and the first one to launch a VoIP application for the iPhone 3G. This is absolutely marvelous, as it allows you to save a stack of euros on calls abroad. Calls to any landline anywhere in the world are just 6 cents per minute, to mobile is 15 cents per minute. Note please that we’re talking about dollar cents here, so we basically get a 30 percent discount on the fare. On one condition though: you need to have access to wifi, as iPhone VoIP apps aren’t allowed to use 3G.
Screenshots from iPhone app store
After the simple activation process - confirm a call, login on the Truphone site, and validate email - I gave the app a shot. To keep it simple and clear, here’s a list of pro and cons.
Pro’s
- Truphones merges into the iPhone seamlessly, as it has almost the same UI as the iPhone’s phone application
- The sound quality is really good, sometimes crystal clear.
- Contacts are imported, so you can easily dial up your friends
- You get a four dollar credit to start with, thanks Truphone!
- A friend told me that when I called him with Truphone, he saw my regular number on the screen.
Cons
- When you receive a regular incoming call, your Truphone conversation is instantly killed
- Your elite contacts, “favorites”, aren’t imported
- No speaker phone option
Although the pro’s list is somewhat longer, the first con really sucks. I have to start every Truphone conversation with apologies, as the call might be terminated by an incoming call. Hence I won’t use the Truphone application for important calls abroad.
All in all, the Truphone iPhone app is a first good try and it will certainly help you to save money, especially when you live in Europe. Let’s hope they can find a way to stop those incoming calls, so Truphone can say they’re the iPhone 3G VoIP winner.
I hope you like that post!
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Written on July 4, 2008 – 11:32 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Every year, the European Commission carries out a study on the digital lives of the citizens in its 27 member countries: the E-Communications Household Survey. The research mainly concerns telecommunications - we’re giving up on landlines -, but also contains some interesting facts about the use of computers and Internet.
The survey of 27,000 households was carried out between November 9 and December 14, 2007. You can either download the report (2.8 MB) - which you don’t have the time for - or glance at this short fact sheet to see what your target group is up to.
- A majority of the European households - 53 percent - have access to a computer.
- Half of the European houses have access to the Internet. Although this is an increase of seven percent compared to last year, 51 percent still can’t check their email at home.
- Half of the people who don’t have Internet access just don’t really care about the web.
- Access via broadband has once again become more widespread, it increased with eight percent over the last year to 36 percent.
- 22 percent of the European households have a wireless Internet connection. An increase of eight percent.
- another 22 percent figure: this is the percentage of people who make VoIP calls. This is an increase of five percent and similar to the trend in the U.S.
We can be really satisfied with these numbers. Especially as a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that of the fifteen countries with the highest number of broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, twelve are European. Like I stated before, Europe is broadband paradise.
Written on July 1, 2008 – 1:40 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Fring, the Mobile VOIP service from Israel, has launched fringAdd-ons, a handy feature that integrates services like Facebook and Orkut into the application. From now on, users can not just call and message each other for free, but also import their friends and updates from the social networks and email services like Gmail.
Users with a Symbian phone can simply download the add-ons from Fring.com, which will integrate the app. After giving your login credentials, the Fring add-on keeps syncing your mobile with the desired service. In the press release, Fring calls the add-ons the “next generation” of their application, and I think they’re right. As soon as more add-ons will be launched, Fring can become the standard app for connecting to your online social life.
Written on May 13, 2008 – 1:44 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
The guys from Skype have a bad day today, as two mobile industry experts from a Dutch town called Rotterdam launched a mobile application that brings free mobile VoIP calling to 500 hundred different types of mobile phones. Wow! This means that users can make calls around 50 countries and just pay for their local data usage. So you’d better use a flat-rate data plan.
The new Nimbuzz mobile VoIP application works worldwide on Nokia Symbian Series 60 devices when connected using a 3G or Wifi network - with a Windows Mobile offering for release in June. For GPRS/EDGE connections, or when using Java-enabled phones, Nimbuzz also offers its “hybrid-VoIP” solution, which counts for the 50 countries.
Co-editors Boris and Patrick at Nimbuzz’s HQ in Rotterdam
Although the Skype-bashing part is the most interesting, I gladly tell you that Nimbuzz’s app also includes conference calling, instant messaging, chat and group chat, and photo and file sending across multiple IM communities, including Skype, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo!, AIM, Jabber and ICQ, plus 23 social networks, including Facebook and Myspace. Founder Evert Jaap Lugt received VC and strategic funding since 2006 by Mangrove Capital Partners (Skype investor), Naspers/MIH (Tencent, Mail.ru, Gadu-Gadu, Mweb, Sanook, Tradus) and Holtzbrinck (StudiVZ).
My expectation that for a while, this service will remain a niche thing - they now have 500,000 beta users -, yet after some enthusiastic “you gotta try this” conversations, the masses might pick it up. I know that for a lot of people downloading and installing a mobile app is still little too much to ask, but when Nimbuzz users tell them they can call for free, they’ll probably give it a shot.
The most interesting question here is: what will Skype do? Launch a similar new-and-improved service? Might Nimbuzz become really successful and Skype’s mother company eBay take the advice of their ‘Disruptive Innovator’ Rolf Skyberg - make Skype the third pillar in the eBay empire -, then an acquisition could be in sight. Don’t you also just love to speculate about the next (mobile) web?
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