Recently in Mobile Phones Category

Ribbit today announced the release of Ribbit Mobile, a free communication suite designed for mobile professionals who need to be able to easily manage all of their phone numbers, communication devices, and how & when they are contacted.

Ribbit Mobile is a cloud-based service that lets you manage calls, messages and phones. It's hard not to compare this new offering to Google Voice. One advantage of Ribbit Mobile is that it can make calls from within your browser using their Flash-based software client. Ribbit Mobile features include voicemail transcription, smart call routing, and web-based calling. During the introductory (beta) period, Ribbit is making their "Professional" package free.

Since it leverages Ribbit's open VoIP platform, it can even call your Skype, MSN or Google Talk account, as well as SIP devices. Additionally, when a new voicemail arrives, Ribbit can notify you via email, Google Talk, Skype, or SMS. Ribbit Mobile transcribes voicemail to text and sends it to you via SMS and email. It also provides a web portal inbox where messages can be managed and stored forever. No voicemail retention limit which is nice.

Ribbit Mobile also has something they like to call "Caller ID 2.0" which links your Ribbit contacts address book with your contact's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr accounts. You can see recent updates made by your contacts to their social networks and pictures of your contacts as seen here:

A fascinating if not predictable report from AdMob was just released yesterday showing explosive mobile phone web surfing growth. In their September 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report AdMob received more than 100 million ad requests from 14 countries, and more than 10 million ad requests from 64 countries. This data was collected using AdMob's network of more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications. Of course, just about everyone is now using their mobile phone to check email, surf the web, tweet via Twitter, check their Facebook, update their statuses, etc. So of course there will be a growth spurt in mobile data. I will say that if mobile manufacturers had come up with a decent browsing experience 10 years ago (i.e. the iPhone browsing experience) I think we would have seen a much earlier adoption of high-end smartphones and a much earlier spike in mobile Internet usage.

The report highlights the rapid growth in usage of mobile Web sites and applications on new devices in the past year. Surprisingly in September 2008, the Motorola RAZR still holds on as the "top device" in the US, and the iPhone was the only touchscreen device in the Top 10. Apparently, there are still a lot of legacy phones out there or lots of people just can't afford to upgrade to a smartphone.

In September 2009, the list of the top 10 devices includes five with touchscreens, six with Wi-Fi capabilities, and six with application stores.  These devices are responsible for a much higher percentage of mobile usage than their share of handsets sold. However feature phones like the Samsung R450 and Motorola RAZR V3 still represent 60 percent of ad requests in the US.  The strong mobile Web usage on these feature phones is likely driven by unlimited data plans.

Highlights from the September 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report include:
•    In September 2007 AdMob had 1.6 billion ad requests, in September 2008 5.1 billion, and in September 2009 10.2 billion.
•    Nearly every region of the world experienced immense growth in the past two years, with North America, Asia, Western Europe, Oceania and Latin America seeing a six-fold increase in traffic since September 2007.
•    Worldwide iPhone and iPod touch traffic increased 19 times from September 2008 to September 2009 in the AdMob network.
•    In September 2009 42 percent of requests in the US were made from Wi-Fi capable devices. 18 percent of actual US requests were made over a Wi-Fi connection in September 2009 compared to only 5 percent in September 2008.
•    Devices running on the Android Operating System (OS) accounted for 17 percent of smartphone traffic in AdMob's network in the US in September 2009, up from 13 percent in August 2009. The HTC Dream (G1) was the number three device and the HTC Magic was the number 10 device in September 2009 in the US. As with the iPhone OS, much of the Android traffic in AdMob's network came from applications.

The big news last week was how AT&T grants denies us mobile VoIP freedom. Just last week I wrote how AT&T had "granted" us mobile VoIP freedom by finally allowing SIP port 5060 on their 3G data network. I was able to use siphon, a SIP-based application on my jailbroken iPhone to register with TMC's IP-PBX and make/receive phone calls.

Well apparently, AT&T must read my blog or something, because once again SIP port 5060 is blocked. I tried siphon on my iPhone this morning and now it won't register. I tested port 5060 and it is indeed blocked. Alas, so no more SIP calls using siphon. The AT&T Overlord giveth, and the AT&T Overlord taketh away.

Hey FCC, can you give AT&T a little smackdown for me please? Just last week AT&T announced it was allowing VoIP over 3G, so why the inconsistency? Is it because siphon is a jailbroken app and not an "official" iTunes app?  I doubt it. I doubt AT&T is able to detect what iPhone application is making an outbound connection. That would be a form of spyware if AT&T knew exactly which iPhone applications you were using. So seems to me that AT&T is still blocking VoIP calling over their 3G data connection. AT&T is talking a big game about being "open", but they aren't backing it up. I'm sure they'll blame it on some network glitch or something. AT&T could be dragging their feet on allowing VoIP over their 3G network hoping the mere "huge" announcement of support for VoIP over 3G will get the FCC off their backs. It's time for the FCC to stop AT&T's stalling tactics. I want my mobile VoIP freedom and I want it now!

Today Vonage launched Vonage Mobile for the Apple iPhone and Blackberry. I've already said this will be a killer app and could sway iPhone users to sign up with Vonage. Though, many iPhone users and wireless phone users in general have killed their landline entirely. Nevertheless, there are some cool features with Vonage Mobile, including a single-number identity for both your home and mobile number that could give Vonage an added boost.

Vonage World is not limited to just WiFi - it works over 3G!  Vonage Mobile offers low-cost international calling and Vonage claims that you can save more than 50% on calls to dozens of countries versus the rates charged by wireless carriers. Vonage Mobile will be available for download on the iPhone, BlackBerry and iPod touch at www.vonage.com and the iTunes App Store later today.

In Q42009, Vonage will enhance the app to include the popular Vonage World plan that was introduced recently. "Vonage World" includes unlimited calling across the world to over 60 countries, which covers 2/3 of the world's population (4.5 billion) all for just $24.99/month.

"Our new mobile app is an important step in establishing Vonage as a software technology company that enables high-quality voice and messaging across any device in any location, providing great value over any broadband network," said Marc Lefar, CEO of Vonage.

Vonage Mobile features:
• Rates are better than traditional wireless and landline carrier rates
• Lets you make calls while on Wi-Fi or cellular networks, providing full mobility
• Uses your existing contact list - just click and dial - no extra steps
• Utilizes your existing cell phone number so the people you call will recognize who is calling
• Real-time balance updates and the ability to automatically replenish funds in your account
• No more trips to the store to buy calling cards, no 800 numbers or access codes, and no connection charges

Rich Tehrani took xG Technology's xMax technology, a WiMAX / LTE competitor for a (literal) test drive.

Rich writes:

xG Technology proclaimed in 2005 that they have a revolutionary technology which allows wireless broadband using unlicensed and licensed frequencies. They said they could build the equivalent to a WiMAX network without the need to spend a massive amount on spectrum auctions and moreover, their technology had better range than WiMAX.

It seemed too good to be true and after some years of waiting, the communications industry got impatient. After all, this revolutionary technology had the potential to change the way wireless networks are deployed. If it was real, where was it? Again, it seemed beyond what was possible and after time, even patient old me figured the story didn't add up. I even asked the company to show us the technology so we could set the record straight.

Rich got a full demo of the xMax wireless technology by driving through Florida and talking on their SIP-based phone, which operates at 902-928 MHz. How's the range? Well, according to Rich's article, one of xG Technology's customers, Townes Tele-Communications, Inc. has a few towers and their 100 foot tower has a range of 2.5 miles while one at 350 feet in the air has 6-8 mile range and xG Technology claims it is superior in coverage area to the nearby GSM equipment. According to Rich's article, "Well for a cool $2 billion you could have 70% POP coverage for 452 metros or about 90% of the population of the US. This would include at least a megabit of bandwidth per channel."

Rich has full-on video action of this very cool test drive. Go check it out.

Today, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowsk said that wireless carriers shouldn't be allowed to block certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their networks. This has huge implications for the VoIP industry, since as I wrote last week, AT&T blocks port 5060 (SIP) on their 3G data network, thus blocking VoIP applications. If the FCC mandates that the wireless carriers can no longer block applications on their data network, this opens up the entire 3G/4G wireless network to game-changing VoIP applications!

This will no doubt cause a firestorm of protests from the wireless industry which has invested billions in their wireless infrastructure and they see VoIP as something that will cannibalize their revenue stream. According to Yahoo, "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said wireless carriers should be subject to the same "open Internet" rules that the agency has begun to apply to home broadband providers."

Genachowski wants to take the same principles the FCC has already been applying to wired Internet trafficand extend them to wireless. Comcast ran afoul of the FCC last year when they started blocking Bittorrent traffic and even slowing down packets to VoIP service provider Vonage.

The Commission previously embraced four open Internet principles affirming that consumers must be able to access the lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice, and attach non-harmful devices to the network. These four principles guide the FCC's existing case-by-case enforcement of communications law.

"The Internet is an extraordinary platform for innovation, job creation, investment, and opportunity. It has unleashed the potential of entrepreneurs and enabled the launch and growth of small businesses across America," said Chairman Genachowski.  "It is vital that we safeguard the free and open Internet."

In today's speech, Chairman Genachowski proposed the addition of two new principles. The first would prevent Internet access providers from discriminating against particular Internet content or applications, while allowing for reasonable network management. The second principle would ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement. The Chairman also proposed clarifying that all six principles apply to all platforms that access the Internet. This is HUGE! This basically means "net neutrality" rules would apply not just to landline Internet access, but wireless Internet (3G, EDGE, 4G) access as well.

Chairman Genachowski will seek to begin the process of codifying the Commission's existing four open Internet principles, along with the two additional principles, through a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) at the October meeting. The NPRM will ask for input and feedback on the proposed rules and their application, such as how to determine whether network management practices are reasonable, what information broadband providers should disclose about their network management practices and how the rules apply to differing platforms, including mobile Internet access services.

"I look forward to working with my Commission colleagues on this important initiative," Chairman Genachowski said.  "Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn, and Baker each bring a unique and important perspective to the complex issues at stake and I look forward to getting their input and insight when we kick-off the rulemaking process next month."

As part of Chairman Genachowski's commitment to openness and transparency, the FCC launched a new website, www.openInternet.gov to encourage public participation. I vote 'yes' on net neutrality applying to wireless carriers' networks. Then I can run VoIP over 3G on my iPhone and life will be good!

JAJAH, today announced the beta‐launch of its Twitter calling solution, JAJAH@call. JAJAH users with a Twitter account can make phone calls via Twitter free of charge. @calls are made without revealing your number and without needing to know the number of the person you wish to call - all you need is their Twitter username. The key caveat being BOTH users must be JAJAH users (to do the mapping between Twitter and your phone number)

So how does it work?

To make a call you simply send a Twitter message (tweet) with "@call @username" where the 'username' is the Twitter name of the person you wish to call. According to JAJAH, "If that person follows you on Twitter, a free two‐minute call - the verbal equivalent of a tweet ‐ will be initiated. Both Twitter users need to be JAJAH users as well."

JAJAH@Call works no matter how you use Twitter, whether it's on a computer or mobile phone, at Twitter directly or using a Twitter‐client such as Seesmic (web and desktop), TwitterBerry (BlackBerry), Tweetie and Twitterfon (iPhone), and Twidroid (Android).

Not sure how widespread the usage of this will be. It is limited to 2 minutes and both users have to be on Jajah. How many possible workarounds can we come up with to save a few cents? A cool novelty I guess. I'll probably try it once and then never use it again.

TomTom for the iPhone is finally here! The $99 app can be purchased on the Apple App store as of today.

TomTom for the iPhone comes with turn-by-turn voice guided directions and full maps of the U.S. and Canada. Maps for Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are available separately to buy.

The TomTom app uses their IQ Routes technology, a sort of peer-to-peer (P2P) GPS routing functionality I predicted one day would happen . Instead of recommending the quickest route based on travel time, IQ Routes analyzes the actual experiences of other TomTom drivers to determine the fastest route to take. According to TomTom, this technology lets people reach their destinations quicker up to 35 percent of the time.

The new app runs on the iPhone 3G or 3GS and requires iPhone OS 3.0. Support for the iPod Touch and older iPhone models is coming soon according to TomTom. If you buy the cradle from TomTom then it will work with the iPod Touch and first generation iPhones because it includes a GPS chip. Competitors include AT&T's $9.99/month Navigator, Navigon MobileNavigator, and xGPS, a free app leveraging Google Maps & TTS, but it only works on jailbroken iPhones.

You can download the TomTom app from the iTunes App Store here.

Wonder how long before a cracked version appears on Installous for use on jailbroken iPhones? I'm guessing by the end of the day.

Microsoft just published the latest and greatest version of their OCS 2007 R2 documentation. I asked the official Microsoft OCS MVP mailing list, "Is there anything new about the OCS 2007 R2 docs contained on this page or is this just a centralized repository of all the Word docs and the single .chm help file?" I added, "Perhaps this is the first "official" 1.0 release of ALL the documentation?"

All you know-it-all techies out here are probably thinking, "Documentation? We don't need no stinkin' documentation!"

Yeah, in most cases I'm right there with ya, but not something as complicated as OCS 2007 R2. I often tell users who come to me repeatedly with the same IT question to go RTFM. So I suppose if I tell users to 'Read The "Friggin" Manual', I should read the manual as well. But I digress...

In any event, Jeff Schertz from Pointbridge, a consulting firm (including OCS) commented, "I hope that is really not the case. IMO if there is going to be three different formats of the same content (online, .CHM, .DOC) then they really need to be consistent across all three. I'd assume the .CHM will fall behind and require periodic updates, online content should be updated in parallel to downloadable docs. Forum questions regarding 'confusing OCS documentation' is a daily occurrence.

My sentiments exactly! I should mention that the .chm (Compiled HTML Help file) is a nice quick searchable index of the help content, but updates often lag behind other forms of documentation.

Elan Shudnow from CDW (I buy most of TMC's computer equipment @CDW by the way) also responded when he wrote, "This is one of the issues I saw with R1.. I saw a ton of inconsistencies with information on Technet and the Word files. Now there's Word files, CHM, and Technet with probably additional inconsistencies because now there's 3 places for information instead of 2 like with R1."

Microsoft's Patricia (Trish) Anderson responded, "In OCS R2, we are now single sourcing all docs. The chm were updated 5 hours after the online update for this refresh and will generally follow that same model. All three deliverables have been refreshed with the latest info and are inline with each other."

A few people, including myself all reacted to the good news of consistent and updated documentation. Getting Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployed is a fairly complicated task so good documentation is crucial for OCS resellers & installers, as well as customers' IT departments that install and maintain OCS deployments. We don't need no stinkin documentation!

Download the docs

Some interesting news from D2 Technologies about them showcasing their mCUE™ converged communications client with embedded VoIP for Android at OESF Japan. I should point out that D2's mCUE mobile convergence software solution combines a communications user interface with the company's vPort MP VoIP software platform and is targeted towards OEMs and service providers to help deliver integrated Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) and Unified Communications (UC) functionality.

At OESF they will demo how mCUE can enable VoIP, video chat and other IP communications capabilities in stationary Android-based embedded equipment and consumer electronics devices. With mCUE, these devices can offer premium multi-service unified communications capabilities and deliver simultaneous interoperability with any communication service provider, Instant Messaging (IM) community or social networking platform. All popular communication modes are converged to a single communications user interface (UI), including circuit switched voice (PSTN or cellular), VoIP, Instant Messaging (IM), SMS and video chat.

Full release after the jump...