Consumer tablets can kill the office desk phone

One year ago, we took a look at CounterPath's Bria softphone customers for PCs and mobile devices. Today, CounterPath has released Bria iPad Edition 1.0, which the company believes is a perfect example of effective IT consumerization because it strikes a balance between the feature-heavy, but immobile desk phone and the versatile, but feature-light consumer smartphone-based VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

"The deskphonelooks ill-suited for today's work style, where employees need anytime, anywhere access to voice and data --specifically the kinds of applications where a tablet shines," a CounterPath representative said today. "[However] VoIP applications for tablets have been clunky and user-unfriendly to the point that they undermine the responsiveness and productivity they're supposed to enhance."

Like Bria for iPhone and Android, the iPad Edition supports multiple accounts on any SIP compliant server, support for hosted VoIP and IP-PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange)s, multitasking support, support for bluetooth speakers and headsets, call hold, transfer, conferencing, display and history, calling over Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G, and native support for all of CounterPath's other desktop and mobile VoIP solutions. The main advantage of iPad is its larger screen, so the app takes advantage of this with a new multi-pane UI that includes a pop-over dialpad.

Does any of this to tell the truth "kill" the desktop phone? Not but, clearly. Nevertheless CounterPath said the first update to the software later this year will add video calls, SMS, Instant Messaging and presence; and the more features applicable to an enterprise setting it has, the better chance it has at adoption.

Besides, cloud computing company ModelMetrics and Dimensional Innovation released results of a survey in May that said only about 22% of businesses in the survey had officially deployed tablets, nevertheless 72% have iPads and other tablets being used on an individual basis.

"We should recall that the introduction of PCs into the enterprise IT arena was driven by business units that purchased the equipment and felt they gained the capability to leverage innovation more quickly, however also gained independence from the chains of corporate IT," said Sam Gross, Vice President of Global IT Outsourcing Solutions at Unisys. "This bottom-up trend, whether it was endorsed or not by the CIO, overtook enterprise computing in the corporate workplace."

I think these guys are right on with this. I know Apple didn't want to cannibalize sales of it's own products at that time, however they should have incorporated iPhone research right into the iPad from the very start. Had they been smart enough to do that, you would see millions of more sales of the iPad to the business market than what you have today. Once Apple when all is said and done makes the iPad a cell phone too, offerings like CounterPath's are going to make it adjacent to impossible for companies not to adopt this type of tablet research, for any business that wants to have a competitive edge. The IP desk phone's days are evidently numbered. Unless Cisco and Polycomm have some kind of an iPad killer in the works ready to go, you are going to see Apple intrude furthermore and furthermore into their market space...and at an ever increasing rate it would appear. What Apple knows now is that all else being equal, the most flexible, versatile, adaptable platform for the most part wins. If they had understood that 30 years ago, think how different the world might be today?

I love this stuff. Every new device will kill every old device - laptop, netbook, smartphone, tablet, any Apple gizmo, whatever. The most illogical combination gets the most notice.

There are already Android powered tablet phones out there, so this isn't in effect all that much of a stretch.The office phone is probably one of the most used, least improved devices on the planet. Being able to access all of the functionality of these things with a modern UI would be a god send. Imagine an administrative assistant being able to sync with the companies directory, print out cell-lists, directions...Hell, even transfers and conferencing would be much easier to accomplish.

Reports of fraudulent charges have now gone worldwide, and it appears that the issue may be related to Apple's in-app purchasing mechanism.

The reports are on the whole flooding in over iTunes users finding their credit balances drained by hackers. Why hasn't Apple said a thing to assure clients it has things in accordance with control?

Even even though Windows Phone has been leading the research curve for the straightway generation of all of Microsoft's graphical interfaces --everything from Windows 8 to Xbox Live is expected to adopt the mobile OS' "live tile" system-- Windows Phone seemed to have been lost in the shuffle in Microsoft's E3 keynote yesterday.

Apple is bringing us a laughably monikered upgrade to MobileMe called iCloud, and when you strip away the hype and Steve Jobs reality distortion field, iCloud is a proprietary, convoluted and highly restrictive sync-backup service, says Betanews reader Mark Freedman.

The Google Maps team on Wednesday announced an update to both Google Maps for Android 1.6+ and Google Maps for desktop that incorporates real-time mass transit data, letting users not only plot their bus and train routes, however also track them in real time.

The more popular and sophisticated a smartphone becomes, the more susceptible it is to malware, fraud and other personal attacks. Android is no exception, and two respected security vendors have dipped their toes in the market with two new betas offering protection for Android-based devices.

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Magic Jack provides limited but unlimited long-distance phone access

The kids of this generation who were weaned on Skype – shortly to fall in accordance with big bad Microsoft’s umbrella – or YM or Google Chat will probably not remember my generation’s travails on the subject of long distance calls. Back at the time, phone monopolies were the norm, and by nature, they charged an arm and a leg for international calls. A bit furthermore back, we did not even have the pleasure of direct dialing, and had to pass through telephone operators who would make the connections for us and, I strongly suspect, listen in to hear if you were saying anything subversive or salacious.

Now, nearly anyone can make an international phone call at a fraction of the cost back at that time. However for places like the Philippines, the rates are however relatively steep compared to what our counterparts pay if calls emanate from their jurisdictions. As a result, we have seen the Internet medium take the lead and, with the introduction of many VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) models, provide free or inexpensive calls that pass through one’s computer. With portability now increasingly the norm, and with the or rather flexible and more powerful products on the market today, we see people calling, posting, sending email, or tweeting through their portable units.

I guess the use of the device is legal because it uses VOIP as a medium, something that the other offerings on the market already do. Nevertheless this does not mean that the phone companies like the idea of a device that poaches on their traditional hold on the long distance market.

The use of the device seems to be limited to calls only to and from the two North American countries, USA and Canada. Nevertheless since many Asians likely have kith and kin spread all over the North American continent, this device should be popular with local users. To tell the truth, I have already seen advertisements offering magic-Jack in traditional vending outlets like Sulit.com.

The product is not as magical as we think, nevertheless it serves its purpose for those willing to accept certain limitations. For instance, one can only use it to call friends who as well have magic-Jacks installed in their communications devices. And calls can only be made to North America. Yet for people like my life-partner, whose idea of a phone conversation is to chat with her sisters for anywhere from 30 mins to 1 hr, this device would be a godsend.

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Indiana's Do Not Call My Cell Phone deadline is extended

INDIANAPOLIS - Attorney General Greg Zoeller today announced an extension of the deadline to register a new number on the Indiana Do Not Call list. Hoosiers now have until Monday, May 23 at 11:59 p.m. EDT to register their cell phone, landline or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) number on the list. Numbers registered by the end of the day Monday can expect fewer unwanted telemarketing calls and text messages by July 1, 2011.

"Tens of thousands of new numbers have been added already to the list in just a few days and with the high volume of calls we wanted to ensure that everyone who was interested had the chance to register on this first possibility to add cell and VOIP numbers," said Attorney General Greg Zoeller. "This shows once again that Hoosiers cherish their personal rights to telephone privacy, rights that I will fight to protect from both the nuisance of unwanted calls and the scammers who seek to defraud the people of this state," Zoeller added.

A new law allowing Hoosiers to register wireless and VOIP numbers on the state's Do Not Call list was passed by the Indiana General Assembly and signed by the Governor on Friday, May 13 and took effect right away. Phone numbers registered by Monday, May 23 at 11:59 p.m. EDT will be provided to telemarketers who must update their records and remove any number on the list from their contact database. Phone numbers registered afterwards the May 23 deadline will be included in the Attorney General's straightway quarterly update and will see a reduction in sales call by October 1, 2011.

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The Bleeding Edge of Mobile Phone Technology

Just in the final couple of years dungeon phones (usually called mobile phones or usually mobiles outward the US) have turn de facto standards for most of the population. What once used to be the oppulance object for the name couple of which was carried around in the vast tanned hide bag as well as was the distance of the brick, is no longer. Technology has modernized the mobile phone attention to the indicate where the phone is the tiny commodity for vendors, definition that’s not where they have the genuine money. It’s in the operate plans, which need 2 year commitments usually, where companies similar to Sprint, Nextel (now Sprint Nextel), AT&T (now Cingular), Cingular, Verizon, as well as T-Mobile have the revenues which capacitate the cycle of record creation as well as selling to continue.

Cell Phones Have Changed the Way People Live

While the downsides of dungeon phones have focused essentially upon the distrurbance of open conversations as well as the tiny probability of brain repairs due to mobile coverage nearby the ear, these dark in more aged to the benefits subsequent from mobile technology. For those who have had dungeon phones most of their lives (think any one underneath 25), it’s tough to suppose hold up prior to dungeon phones. Writing down numbers in the paper directory, carrying shift upon palm (first the nickel, afterwards the dime, afterwards dual dimes), meaningful how to have pick up calls, as well as anticipating compensate phones in latest cities were visit logistic challenges. Not to discuss the nuisance of not being means to get entrance to those you need during any time. At this point, corporate employees, sales professionals, parents, immature adults, as well as any one in industries where information exchnage between most is vicious could frequency suppose hold up but the benefits of mobile phones.

The Future of Mobile Phone Technology as well as the Impact upon Lifestyle

As record matures, ringtones, cameras, GPS features, music, as well as mixed alternative facilities will be combined to the hardware. And the program upon phones will swell to embody simpler web access, advertisements, headlines downloads, as well as simpler discuss as well as email facilities – apropos the usually square of record most use. In fact, in most countries in South Middle East (where the industrial series never occurred) they have left from rural industries right to technology, bypassing an complete sort of economy. It is in these countries where the dungeon phone is an necessary tool, enabling information exchnage between millions who do not own the computer. As record advances, as well as people reply definitely to ensuing changes, you will all benefit.

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The coming mobile battle between Android and Windows Phone 7

Pyramid Innovation's claim that Windows Phone 7 will be the dominant mobile OS by the end of 2013 was greeted in the best case with polite skepticism, and more often with ridicule and vilification. However many of the responses ignore the grounds for the claim, especially that the smartphones market is a global one however in its infancy.

The controversy was sparked by the last line of a one-page report on global handset sales, projecting that Android will grow from 28% of the global smartphone market in 2011 to just over 45% in 2015. The last line reads: "But, we project that by 2015, Windows Phone will establish itself as the leader in the smartphone OS space."

Pyramid forecasts a steep growth rate for Windows Phone 7 starting in 2011 through mid 2012, when it slows down. Much of that increase is expected to be fueled by a new generation of Nokia phones running the Microsoft mobile OS. By the start of 2013, Windows Phone 7 will overtake Android's market share and stay slightly ahead of it thereafter.

Pyramid senior analyst Stella Bokun, practice leader for mobile devices, followed up with a blog post that described Pyramid's technology methodology however was short on explaining the reasons for the conventional-wisdom-defying forecast. In a phone interview with Network World, she expanded on the reasons for her optimism regarding Microsoft's reborn mobile OS, on which Nokia recently staked its smartphone future.

- It retains close, strong relationships with wireless carriers, who make the decision of what phone brands to offer and promote.

In Pyramid's analysis, these realities will create a rising tide that will carry Windows Phone 7 into a dominant position.

Importantly, Bokun emphasizes that Android will continue its growth, nearly neck and neck with Windows Phone 7. Both will gain market share over the then and there several years, with Android's rate of growth slowing, and Windows Phone 7's growth rate increasing especially in 2012 and 2013. Bokun's argument is that the market dynamics will give Windows Phone a slight edge. RIM and Apple will lose share over the then and there five years, although they'll continue to sell lots of phones.

Earlier this year, IDC reported that Nokia was the worldwide top seller of all mobile phones in Q4 2010. It to tell the truth increased its market share slightly for all of 2010, by shipping 453 million phones, up from 431.8 million in 2009. Overall Q4 shipments dipped 2.4% compared to a year ago due to "intense competition" and a shortage of elements. But Nokia smartphone shipments leaped 38% in the same quarter, compared to a year ago.

The basic market dynamics are revealed in the Asian numbers. In Asia overall, Pyramid projects that 3.6 billion smartphones will be sold there from the start of 2010 to the start of 2015. China alone will account for 620 million in the same period. In China, Nokia has been the dominant phone seller, based on its Symbian OS, even though recently its smartphone sales dropped 10% from its peak. However even with the drop, Nokia sold two of every three smartphones bought in China. And its Ovi online application store was the most successful in terms of total apps downloaded, according to Bokun.

"Our assumption in China is that, yes, Nokia will decline slightly in 2011," Bokun says. "However overall, if everything Microsoft and Nokia talked about will play out, at that time the Chinese won't care or know that Nokia phones will run Windows Phone 7 instead of Symbian."

That is, obviously, a big "if." Microsoft will have to sustain software research for Windows Phone 7, and avoid the public embarrassments of its glitchy first OS update. [See "Microsoft says it learned key lessons from Windows Phone update fiasco"] Nokia will have to deliver attention-getting handsets with the OS forthwith, maybe by yearend; leverage its manufacturing scale to drive down handset costs; and apply its marketing wizardry to spark and sustain consumer demand.

The main driver for growth in China and other markets in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America will be consumers buying their first smartphone. Even with the challenge of China-based handset makers, just as Huawei and ZTE, offering low-cost Android phones, Pyramid sees Nokia's position in China growing again in 2012, based on the expected new generation of handsets running Windows Phone 7.

Bokun sees the same essential dynamic in Africa and the Middle East: Very few smartphones have been sold so far, in big markets where Nokia remains the clear leader in sales, with very strong relationships with the local wireless carriers. And where Android's presence is "nevertheless in its infancy."

Smartphones are more prevalent in Western Europe than in emerging markets. Currently, in the five biggest countries, 40% of consumers with smartphones have Nokia phones, according to Bokun. She expects a 10% decline in Nokia's share of this market in 2011. "Nevertheless it will be compensated for in 2012," she says. "Nokia has traditionally been an in the extreme favored brand in Europe. ... Based on our talks with [mobile] operators, and past history, Nokia phones are nearly idealized."

The one market where these advantages are missing for Nokia and Microsoft is North America. The compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 1015 for smartphones is slower here, at 17%, than for other markets. However in that period, Pyramid forecasts 750 million smartphones will be bought.

In 2010, the smartphone leaders in North America were RIM at 33% and Apple at 20%, according to Pyramid. However RIM is declining during Apple is growing strongly, according to Bokun. Nokia's share of the smartphone market was about 2% to 3%, and Bokun expects it will be about the same going forward.

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What you need to know about business VoIP phone service

There is no denying the fact that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is rapidly emerging as the communication technology of the future for all sizes of business enterprises. VoIP basically is the ability to make telephone calls over the internet to either a receiving computer or a telephone.

VoIP technology, simply stated, uses something called packet switching where sound is converted into packets of data that are sent over the internet and reassembled at the receiving end by one's computer or telephone. If a high-speed internet connection is used, a conversation can take place that easily compares to a regular telephone call in sound quality.

With the passage of every year, VoIP continues to bring higher standards of quality and multiple features, and there is no doubt that VoIP will be a viable technology for business communication for many years to come.

Several VoIP service provider companies are realizing the potential that VoIP services offer business communications and are now offering VoIP business plans to consumers. One of the distinct advantages for businesses to buy a VoIP system is the fact that it costs significantly less than most standard telephone services.

Further, most VoIP plans will allow you to make unlimited long-distance telephone calls for incredibly inexpensive rates. Most VoIP subscription plans include extra features such as call waiting, call forwarding, three-way conferencing and voice mail as part of their standard package. Another noteworthy benefit is that many VoIP service providers will allow you to select a new area code and phone number for your VoIP calls.

In a nutshell, the biggest advantage of business VoIP service over traditional phone services is the complete integrated communications solution that it offers. With a business VoIP phone, it is possible for you to make inexpensive domestic as well as international voice calls. You can take advantage of both audio and video conferencing. You can have voice messages and fax messages sent to your email address. Outside of these, there are many other features extremely useful to increase productivity.

 

Benefits of internet VoIP phone service

An Internet VoIP phone service is also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This facility uses an existing internet connection for both outgoing and incoming telephone calls instead of using the traditional telephone line. It can be stated without fear of contradiction that there are several benefits of internet VoIP phone service over traditional land line..

There are three main types of internet phone services: web to phone, phone to phone, and web to web. Web to phone allows you to place a call to a landline phone or mobile phone from a personal computer using web based VoIP software. Phone to phone allows you to use a VoIP telephone to make or receive phone calls that are placed over the internet. Web to web allows you to place calls from your computer to another computer and requires you use a headset with a microphone to communicate on calls.

Of course, the biggest benefit is cost savings. There are no set-up or installation charges involved. Once you switch to internet phone service, you will know the cost savings are substantial over the same types of calls through a traditional phone company. There are different plans offered by the service providers, and it will be largely cost-effective if you choose the plan that best suits your needs.

Internet phone service offers the most extensive and technologically advanced features that traditional phones can never match. There are standard feature like voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and call forwarding that come free with the package. There are a host of advanced features that will enable you to further save money and increase productivity.

The internet phone service has now overcome most of its initial hiccups, and today it is widely acknowledged as reliable as all other types of phone service. You will indeed be pleasantly surprised by the crisp voice clarity you get with internet phone service. Talking to someone around the world will seem like you are talking to someone next door.

Internet phone service is easy to install and operate. As a matter of fact, you will only be required to connect an analog adapter to your telephone in order for it to work with the new digital service. Some internet phone service providers offer special calling rates for long distance and even international phone calls with their packages. This can be particularly helpful if your business requires frequent calls to overseas customers.

The fact you can potentially save huge sums of money has tempted many individuals and business enterprises to look into getting an internet telephone. Placing internet phone calls allows users to call anywhere in the world from their computer at a fraction of the cost. Some internet phone service providers offer special calling rates for long distance and even international phone calls with their packages. This can be particularly helpful if your business requires frequent calls to overseas customers.

Internet telephony is portable in the sense that you can carry your headsets and laptop to virtually anywhere in the world, as long as you have an internet connection and receive or make phone calls using VoIP software.

If you are considering a choice between an internet telephone and a traditional phone, please know that high speed internet service is required in order to make and receive calls from your computer. Slow internet speed can cause the software to malfunction while communicating. Another drawback with internet phone is emergency services like 911 will not be as reliable as with a traditional phone because your call will be based on an IP address, and not on a physical address.