The battle for your address book: Will souped up contact apps monetize the data explosion?
[Editor's Note: Below, MobileBeat advisory board member Jason Devitt explains why we should care about new innovative address books. Not only are they key to a much better user experience, but they may greatly impact the way we pay to use our phones. He also looks at how different parties, from carriers to mobile startups, are approaching new address book services from opposing angles.]
There’s a battle brewing for control of your mobile phone’s address book…. Continue Reading
iSkoot wants to make cheap phones smarter
iSkoot, the company that first got attention by allowing you to make calls on your mobile phone through Skype’s Internet call service, is launching a new software development kit (SDK) that it says will let standard mobile phones add the kinds of web services and applications that make devices like Apple’s iPhone so popular.
Basically, this means manufacturers can now bring Facebook, email, instant messaging, RSS feeds, and Twitter (all under the umbrella of iSkoot’s KalaidaLive… Continue Reading
iSkoot acquires social networking client Social.IM
iSkoot, a provider of carrier-friendly Internet voice calling services, has acquired Social.IM for an undisclosed price.
The move takes the mobile company, which we profiled earlier this year, in a new direction. San Francisco-based iSkoot provides voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP, phone service on mobile phones. It offers services such as Skype on phones with a wireless carrier’s blessings because it uses the carrier’s network to complete a web call.
Social.IM, meanwhile, has a social networking instant messenger client…. Continue Reading
Ringfree Mobility seeking round for Internet calling service
Ringfree Mobility is seeking a round of funding to expand its mobile Internet voice calling solution for smart phones including the iPhone.
The company is entering a crowded space, as Matt Marshall wrote last week in a profile of a couple of competitors, Fring and Nimbuzz. But Ringfree Mobility believes it has a user-friendly solution.
The San Francisco company began beta testing its RF Dialer application in February. Like other voice-over-Internet-protocol services (VoIP), RF Dialer and its… Continue Reading
Sipcall’s Hipsip offers free VOIP calls from any mobile phone browser
Sipcall, a Silicon Valley start-up, will offer a free Skype and SIP calling service dubbed Hipsip that enables users to make their voice-over-Internet calls from any mobile phone’s web browser.
The interesting thing is that you don’t need a 3G data or WiFi wireless networking connection on the phone in order to do this. You could, for instance, use Hipsip to make a free Skype call on an Apple iPhone.
This won’t make AT&T, Apple’s cell phone… Continue Reading
Many phone companies in Silicon Valley?
Plenty of startups are determined to see proof that Apple won’t be Silicon Valley’s only phone company. That was evident at the eComm conference this week on Emerging Communications. I was taken aback by the variety of ideas floated at the conference. So much is afoot that I’m thinking there will be many kinds of companies in all parts of the phone industry in Silicon Valley.
Apple wasn’t at the conference, but its success has inspired… Continue Reading
iSkoot raises $7 million for mobile phone Skype calls
iSkoot, a Cambridge, Mass. company that lets people make Internet calls on their mobile phones, has raised $7 million in a second round of funding from Charles River Ventures, Khosla Ventures, ZG Ventures and Jesselson Capital.
ISkoot raised $6.8M in Novemer (see our earlier coverage).
iSkoot software is pre-loaded onto Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets used by The 3 Group to offer the mobile Skype service.
iSkoot, mobile Interent phone company, raises $6.2M from Khosla Ventures
iSkoot, a Cambridge, Mass. company that lets people make Internet calls on their mobile phones, has raised around $6.2 million in a first round of funding led by Khosla Ventures, first reported by PE Week.
iSkoot lets you use Skype through your mobile phone in a partnership with 3Group. This way you are not tethered to your PC. All you need is a data plan on your phone, and you can call people just like… Continue Reading