Ian Bell the VP of marketing over at eqo (like echo) has spearheaded the launch of their new mobile-centric Skype app. It's orange, it's Skype-ish, it's mobile and it's cool. In this interview we talk about the fund raising strategy, the history and the innovation that is eqo.
http://sipthat.com/mp3/skype/Skype-loves-eqo.mp3
“Too many people are disconnected from their online buddies when they leave the PC behind,” said Bill Tam, CEO of EQO Communications, “Our goal is to allow the countless number of online communities worldwide to stay connected using mobile handsets and for users to, virtually, take their buddies with them.” Using a combination of a phone-resident J2ME client and a carrier-grade standards-based signaling network, EQO bridges Skype to more than 150 million J2ME-capable mobile phones already in use worldwide.
With more than 227 million downloads and tens of millions of active users, Skype? is the dominant player in VoIP and Instant Messaging communications services worldwide. While the company has developed its technology to first work with Skype?, EQO intends to extend peer-to-peer communications to mobile devices with other high-profile providers in the near future.
"Carrier-grade" refers to wireless carrier networks. The signaling takes place over the wireless carrier's data network, and when the voice call is connected, that is routed over the carriers voice network. Thus, what happens is a SkypeOut call to the handset. The other side of the call, presuming that it's to a PC, is carried over the Skype network. If the call is connected handset to handset, both calls are SkypeOut. Also true if it's a handset to PSTN number.