Just when you thought side-talking was dead, Truphone has release Truphone for iPad, an iPad-ready of their popular VoIP service. The system uses the iPad’s built-in speaker and mic to create what could be the most ridiculous talking experience you’ve ever seen.
The app worked quite well and if you’ve used it on the iPod Touch you’re familiar with the call quality – standard – and ease of use – standard. It’s great for making quick calls from abroad, however, and until Skype goes iPad we’re kind of stuck with it. → Read More
Voice app provider Truphone is releasing an updated app for Android which is compatible with Google’s Nexus One handset. That makes it the first VoIP client for that phone. In fact it turns out the Nexus One is going to be very important to Truphone’s overall strategy.
The update for Android device (version 3.0.2) also makes Truphone compatible with the T-Mobile Pulse, taking it to five Android devices now. Truphone worked closely with Google on the app. → Read More
VoIP service provider JAJAH just recently turned three years old and is today announcing a more important milestone: according to the heavily-funded startup, the one billionth call connection on the JAJAH platform was made some time ago. Unsurprisingly, that call was actually made using Yahoo’s Voice service, which is powered by JAJAH after both companies forged a major partnership for VoIP services in April last year.
JAJAH CEO Trevor Healy says the service has attracted 25 million users since its launch, which means every user has on average made 40 calls through the company’s IP telephony platform if we use back-of-the-envelope calculations. → Read More
Fring, the Israel-based mobile call and chat application provider, has closed a Series C round of financing on top of the $13 million it has raised since its inception in 2006. The capital comes from its entire list of previous backers: North Bridge Venture Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, Veritas Venture Partners and VenFin Limited all participated in the round.
The actual amount raised was not shared, but we’re told that the third round is pretty much on par with the Series B round the company closed in August 2007 (estimated at $12 million when we reported it, but more in the vicinity of $10 million according to information we received later) and that it’s “most definitely not a downround”. → Read More
Skype is (finally) teaming up with mobile handset maker Nokia to get their VoIP and IM software program pre-installed on some of its devices, as announced at the Mobile World Congress and reported by MobileCrunch. The eBay-owned company had 405 million registered users in total at the end of last year, and Nokia is still the largest handset maker in the world until further notice, so this is a significant deal.
Of course, the operators won’t be jumping up and down from joy over the news.
The first Nokia device to get the Skype integration will be the N97, beginning in Q3 of 2009, followed by (unnamed but reportedly high-end) Nseries devices. Leveraging N97’s WiFi and HSDPA connectivity, users will be able to communicate with Skype-to-Skype voice calls, as well as make mobile and landline Skype calls at reasonable prices.
But what does this mean for mobile VoIP startups for which supporting Skype functionality on mobile handsets is a prime reason of existence in the first place, like fring, Nimbuzz and Truphone? → Read More
While most iPhone users are stuck with an iBrick this morning as Apple’ servers can’t complete the last step of the upgrade process, those of us smart enough to take the unofficial upgrade route 24 hours ago are happily trying out new App Store Apps. This morning I turned my iPhone into a VoIP phone by installing the new Truphone iPhone app (Truphone company profile). One of the iPhone 2.0 restrictions that is unfortunate is the fact that VoIP applications aren’t allowed to use the cell/data connection – all that 3G bandwidth could be put to great use. But VoIP apps are allowed on the phone and can use Wifi when it’s available. While at first it seems that the fact these apps can’t tap into the 3G stream is a real problem, in fact even the allowed activity, VoIP over Wifi, is extremely useful. For example – AT&T mobile coverage at my house/office is very bad, so I rarely use my iPhone for calls there. Instead I just pick up my landline (which is a Vonage VoIP phone). With VoIP over Wifi I can still use my mobile phone to make calls. I installed the Truphone app this morning and registered online. Calls to any landline anywhere in the world are just 6 cents per minute, and you get a $4 credit to start when you first download the app. Truphone accesses your contact list to allow for one click calls in the same way as normal calls. The differences you’ll notice v. normal cell calls: you must have a Wifi connection to make calls, you can’t receive calls, if a normal voice call comes in your Truphone call is immediately terminated (this really sucks), you can’t use the speakerphone and your “favorite” numbers aren’t imported. One really excellent feature is the fact that when you call someone, they see your normal caller id. The video below shows the call process and I also play a voicemail I left through the app – the sound quality was excellent. http://qik.com/player2.swf?streamname=e76ade7e06b94a69a244cbbb0f1fd039&vid=127187&playback=false&polling=false&user=techcrunch&displayname=TechCrunch&safelink=techcrunch&userlock=true&islive=&username=anonymous CrunchBase Information iPhone App Store truphone Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
UK-based Truphone, a VoIP service provider for Wifi/data enabled handsets, announced a £16.5 million ($32.7 million) second round of financing today, adding to the £12.5 million ($24.5 million) they raised a little over a year ago. What’s that $50+ million being used for? Cheap calls! Like Fring and a slew of others, Truphone allows free calls initiated from between Wifi/data enabled handsets and/or computers, or cheap VoIP-to-anywhere calls. Truphone has a technology advantage that allows for better sound quality and longer battery life, but at the cost of easier carrier blocking relative to Fring. But they’re winning against carriers in court, so the blocking issue isn’t hurting them as much. Notably absent from the funding announcement was any mention of cofounder Alexander Straub or previous investor Straub Ventures (the venture fund still lists Truphone as an investment, however). I’m betting there’s an interesting story there. (Update: see comment below from Straub, although I find it odd neither he nor his fund were mentioned in the press release.) Update2: TechCrunch UK has more on the pricing structure Truphone is using to attack carriers. CrunchBase Information truphone Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
While the consumer “landline replacement” VOIP battles continue to wage (the cable companies now control over 70% of that market, and Vonage is still fighting), a number of nimble software-only startups are experimenting with their own services. All of them allow users to call normal, non-VOIP telephones at greatly reduced costs. These savings can be captured whether or not the parties to a phone conversation are using VOIP-enabled phones, since transmissions can jump from PSTN to VOIP and vice-versa at certain junctions. For example, a cellular call to your buddy across the country might start on PSTN, quickly jump to VOIP for long distance travel, and jump back to PSTN near its destination. The key is to use VOIP to strip out some or most of the cost of the call, allowing these startups to offer very low cost calling to consumers. These aren’t free calls, though – any time a normal phone line is used for at least part of the call, particularly the termination, the teleco’s get a toll. Making sense of all of the new VOIP startups is daunting, so we’re categorizing them by use cases. For a comparison of features, prices, and more companies, check out this chart. I’m Cheap and I Have a Computer By far the cheapest way to go with calling is to get a desktop client. VoIP clients on your desktop allow users to make calls from one computer to another across the VoIP network. For an added fee, you can connect to a standard phone on the PSTN phone network for calls to or from your computer. Most of you will know this as Skype-in and Skype-out. The most well known desktop client has been Skype, with over 100 million users. The big guys – Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google – also have their own VoIP desktop clients. Since the VoIP offerings have been built into their IM clients, combined they comprise a potential market of over 340 million subscribers. A younger startup, the Gizmo Project, launched in July of last year. They have a reported 2 million downloads of their application. The application functions like Skype, supporting IM and VoIP calls. The Gizmo Project has the unique distinction of not only offering IM and VoIP calls, but also free calls to the standard phone network if you promote their product to a friend and stay an “active user“. Hullo and Nimbuzz → Read More
Truphone , which offers free internet phone calls over WiFi networks, has encountered quite a few road blocks in their journey toward growing their VOIP startup. Some carriers purposely disabled VOIP features used by Truphone on their Nokia N95s. VOIP has been labeled a possible method for terrorists to communicate untracked. Finally, T-Mobile refused to interconnect with Truphone’s network and VOIP carriers in general, making it impossible to call T-Mobile numbers. The rule didn’t apply to fellow VOIP startup Jajah, in which T-Mobile was an investor, because Jajah makes the final connection to callees using the existing phone network instead of VOIP. Today finally brings some good news, as the company has secured an injunction against T-Mobile UK, forcing the local carrier to interconnect with the service by Monday, July 23rd under the Competition Act. We’ve included a video of James Tagg making the announcement below: CrunchBase Information truphone Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
