Which Mobile VoIP to Choose?

Question: Which mobile VoIP client will end up the winner? Answer: What do you mean by mobile VoIP client? Is it software that lets you make VoIP calls via your cellular data service? That lets you make WiFi calls using your dual mode handset? That lets you initiate cellular calls that end up being delivered over the Internet? Or some or all of the above? You see the problem. At present, mobile VoIP is more a marketing term than a specific service or technology.

The purest form of mobile VoIP travels over IP links all the way to the handset. Usually this requires a 3G-speed cellular data service (and a cellular carrier that doesn't prohibit it). It also requires a soft client that works on the particular handset in question, which at present limits the number of phones you can use. Two obvious examples are Fring and Skype Mobile, Raketu plans to come out this month with a mobile client that will work at less than 3G data speeds. Either way, your choices are limited.

Those clients also support VoIP calls made through wifi hotspots using dual mode cellular/wifi handsets. Other clients for such handsets similarly support VoIP calls over wifi, but not over cellular data networks. In that case, all calls made out of hotspot range have to travel over the cellular voice network. Whether that qualifies as true mobile VoIP is again a matter of definition. Truphone is a high-profile example of this approach.

The possible combinations of software, service models and transport methods are almost limitless. Some services, for example, use clients running on handsets, and VoIP switching, but mainly transport their calls over the PSTN. Others do without the client, but deliver their calls over the Internet. No two contenders take exactly the same approach.

ISkoot is one that uses client software on the handset along with VoIP transport, specifically by delivering mobile calls to Skype. The client reaches out over your cellular data network to set up calls, and connects you to the Skype network via a local call from your phone using your cellular air time. You pay for SkypeOut and SkypeIn services like you would if using them from your PC. For now, iSkoot isn't charging for connecting you to Skype. (It also has a Fring-like dual mode product in beta.)

Mino Wireless also uses client software to set up calls, though you can use your handset's Web browser to go to their site and get the same result. Mino's service initiates calls to your cellphone and to the number you're trying to reach, then connects them in the middle. It uses a combination of conventional telecom carriers and IP infrastructure to carry the calls great distances at low prices.

GrandCentral Mobile, by contrast, is mainly an alternate method of accessing the main GrandCentral service. That service provides the Web-based call management features and flexibility of VoIP, but all calls start and end on the public wire line or wireless networks. The mobile version merely lets you access key features through a handset, and it requires no client software. You simply use your handset's browser to log on to the GrandCentral mobile site. Once there, you can see your voice messages listed, click to listen and call, change your forwarding number, and the like, all through your phone's tiny keypad and LCD screen.

Companies like Jajah, Rebtel, Eqo and others each mix the various ingredients in different ways. So to return to the question of which mobile VoIP will prevail in the future, the answer becomes clear. It will be the one that lets you make cheap mobile calls, with all the flexibility and convenience that VoIP offers, without having to know any of the details you’ve just read.

By Robert Poe

Windows Mobile app allows internet sharing via WiFi

Via its Internet Sharing application, Windows Mobile allows sharing a phone's internet connection with a laptop via a USB cable or Bluetooth. WiFi is not supported, but that omission has now been corrected via WMWifiRouter, a free application by programmer Jorrit Jongma.

Being able to use WiFi instead of Bluetooth is desirable for those with 3.6 or 7.2 Mbps HSDPA connections, since these outpace the former's 2 Mbit data rate. But, as this FAQ on the XDA-Developers Web forum explains, Internet Sharing was not designed to use WiFi and has been able to do so only if users installed a hacked version of the relevant DLL (dynamic link library).

Windows Mobile's Internet Sharing (left) and the WMWifiRouter application (right)
The WMWifiRouter application, though only scantily documented on the above website, corrects this problem by allowing an ad hoc WiFi network to be set up between a laptop and the phone supplying the wide area connection. Available for free, it requires Windows Mobile 5 AKU 3 or Windows Mobile 6.

To download WMWifiRouter, visit Jorrit Jongma's website, here. For more information on Windows Mobile's Internet Sharing capability -- termed its "most underutilized/unknown feature" by Microsoft's Enterprise Mobile Solution Specialist Jason Langridge -- see Langridge's blog, here.

Internet Muscles In on Cell Phone Turf

Having emerged as a popular technology for making phone calls—often free of charge—via one's PC, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is set to stake its claim on the mobile market. Mobile VoIP may not replace cell phones in the immediate future, but it will give callers the ability to bypass cellular networks wherever they have access to a Wi-Fi network.

Luxembourg-based Skype, Ltd., a division of online auctioneer eBay, has been pushing over the past year to deliver more of its VoIP services to mobile callers through a partnership with wireless network equipment maker NETGEAR, Inc. A year ago, the two companies teamed up to offer the Skype Wi-Fi mobile phone, which lets callers make free Internet calls to anyone who also has a Skype account and access to a Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection. The phone does not require a cellular network but it must be within range of a Wi-Fi access point to operate.

Skype is now reportedly planning to expand mobile VoIP technology through a partnership with Hutchison 3G UK, headquartered in London and more commonly known simply as 3. A Skype spokesperson confirmed that the company is "working with 3 to make Skype completely mobile," but refused to give details of the deal.

Mobile VoIP phones have thus far made sense in relatively stationary wireless environments, such as homes, offices or Internet cafés. The emergence of mobile VoIP phones changes the dynamic in the communications-provider market, taking away some of the cell phone carriers' power to charge by the minute. Still, mobile VoIP phones are not in a position to render cell phones obsolete, particularly because Wi-Fi signals cannot provide outdoor coverage as well as powerful cell towers do.

There are cordless phones that offer dual access to phone and Ethernet lines, but Skype's model poses the greatest threat to phone carriers such as Verizon and Sprint. This is because it takes customers completely away from using cell networks, which bring in a substantial chunk of carriers' profits. "Skype is the most disruptive model for the carriers," says Bill Kish, chief technical officer and co-founder of Ruckus Wireless, a Wi-Fi hardware and software maker in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The emergence of sophisticated mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone will further drive the demand for more comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage. "The iPhone has a proper browser, but you don't want to be surfing over a cellular network," Kish says. "Wi-Fi was designed from the start to handle data, whereas cellular networks were built for voice."

Some carriers have begun to recognize the disruptive nature of mobile VoIP. In late June, T-Mobile USA launched its HotSpot @Home service that works with new Samsung and Nokia mobile phones to let customers use a single phone for both Wi-Fi and cellular calls. This allows T-Mobile HotSpot @Home customers to switch to the company's cellular network when they leave the range of their home Wi-Fi hookup.

The price is right, says Michael Gartenberg, a wireless technology analyst for JupiterResearch, although he notes that ultimately it comes down to service and quality: "If you can't hear the other person," he says, "it doesn't matter how cheap it is."

Motorola progress on mobile operations

Motorola managed to climb back into profit in the third quarter – its first quarterly profit this year - and signalled progress in its efforts to turn around its struggling mobile phone operations despite continuing market share losses.

Third-quarter profits fell by 94 per cent to $60m, or 3 cents a share, compared with $968m, or 39 cents a share a year earlier. Revenue fell by 17 per cent to $8.81bn. But Motorola's shares gained about 5 per cent in early trading as investors took comfort from a more positive outlook that beat Wall Street expectations.

The company said it now expected earnings from continuing operations of 12 cents to 14 cents a share in the fourth quarter compared with the 10 cents a share that analysts were expecting. "The third quarter was about progress," Ed Zander, Motorola’s chief executive, told analysts in a conference call but added, "we also recognise there's a lot of work to do."

The Illinois-based company and Mr Zander have been under pressure after misreading the market and relying too heavily on sales of the ageing Razr phone for too long. Since the start of the year Motorola has cut costs aggressively and has rolled out a series of new handsets in an effort to turn the mobile phone operations around amid heightened competition.

The latest results which included slight gains in profitability and average handset selling prices, coupled with a rosier fourth-quarter forecast, should ease pressure on Mr Zander who has faced calls from some shareholders for his resignation despite surviving a proxy battle launched by Carl Icahn, the Wall Street investor.

In the third quarter, Motorola shipped 37.2m handsets and revenues in the mobile-device unit fell by 36 per cent to $4.45bn. The segment lost $248m, compared with year-earlier earnings of $843m. Motorola said in July that it did not expect the unit to be profitable by year-end, although it did expect financial results to improve during the second half of the year and has said it will be profitable again next year.

Motorola's share of the global handset market is estimated to be 13 per cent, down 50 basis points from the second quarter, ranking Motorola number three behind Finland”s Nokia which has widened its lead and Korea’s Samsung Electronics which has also been growing its market share. In the latest quarter Motorola continued to lose market share in the Asia Pacific region, including India, but it regained its lead in Latin America and kept its lead in North America.

"We see the industry growing in the double-digit-plus range," said Greg Brown, Motorola's president and chief operating officer. He added the company would be pushing more third-generation, or 3G, phones, as demand increases.

Mobile Business Expo: Microsoft's New Mobile Platform May Be WinMo's Tipping Point

Microsoft has tried to make Windows Mobile the default standard for business mobility for over four years now. Yet, Microsoft is only on track for 20 million phone units worldwide. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the global market of 1.2 billion handsets that are expected to ship this year.

Initially, almost all the market analysts I knew thought long ago Windows Mobile would kill its competitors, especially in the business market. And while Windows Mobile has taken off with vertical markets, it's still far from the global gold standard.

I noticed with the last upgrade of Windows Mobile that Microsoft stopped talking about mobile e-mail and started stressing its platform. This indicates Microsoft's strategic shift. And despite some amusing confusion with branding, Microsoft is no longer trying up sell Windows Mobile on the back of Exchange. It's trying to offer Windows Mobile as a part of a comprehensive device management solution.

Microsoft's new platform, called System Center Mobile Device Manager (OK, so it won't win any awards for creative naming), takes the emphasis off e-mail and puts in on three areas: device management, transport, and security. Guess what, these are areas that Microsoft can win in.

It also recasts smartphones and mobile devices in the mode of laptops and not wireless handsets. Why is this important? It allows Microsoft to sell to CIOs on terms with which both IT managers and Microsoft are comfortable. In short, Microsoft isn't trying to replace RIM. It's trying to recast mobile as an IT issue, not a carrier issue that IT managers pay others to manage for them.

It also shows that Microsoft is serious about winning the device management sector. Device agnostic mobility platforms like Sybase iAnywhere, Smith Micro, and Odyssey Software should be scared. Startups like Mformation should be really, really scared.

As I have pointed out on this blog before, device management has emerged as the next competitive battleground for business mobility. While services like mobile e-mail become a commodity, device management will be the differentiator.

Can Microsoft use device management to win the business mobility market? Or will Windows Mobile continue to limp to mediocrity?

Mobile TV draws billions

Global annual consumer spend on mobile broadcast TV services is expected to exceed �3.28 billion by 2012, according to Juniper Research. Nearly 120 million mobile users in more than 40 countries are expected to receive broadcast TV services by 2012, compared to less than 12 million in 2007, with
DVB-H the dominant transmission standard.

However, the Juniper report cautions that services face significant technological and regulatory hurdles, both
prior to launch and as they attempt to build a mass of subscribers.

Report author Windsor Holden stressed the need for broadcast TV chipsets to be rapidly introduced into a wide range of mass-market handsets to increase take up of the service.

Holden said: “If companies are serious about achieving widespread adoption of mobile TV, it is essential for chipsets to filter down very rapidly from top of the range
Handsets into the mass market models so that everyone has the opportunity to sample mobile TV services.”

Samsung, Giorgio Armani team up to develop TVs and mobile phones

Samsung Electronics said it agreed Sunday to develop new premium electronic products with Italian luxury goods designer Giorgio Armani.

Under the business tie-up the two firms would jointly develop mobile phones, flat-screen televisions and other electronic products, it said in a statement.

The "Giorgio Armani-Samsung luxury mobile," the first of the jointly-developed products, will be unveiled during a Giorgio Armani fashion show in Milan, Italy, on Monday, it said.

An "Armani/Casa-Samsung luxury LCD television" under joint development was also ready to be unveiled in January 2008, it added.

"This powerful partnership will match great design with leading technology to ensure performance is as impressive as appearance," said Yun Jong-Yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics.

South Korea's LG Electronics has already teamed up with Italian luxury goods designer Prada to develop a mobile phone.