Well, you can put another nail in Vonage’s coffin.  Today, Google announced Google Voice calls directly from Gmail.  The best part you ask?  Domestic calls in the US are completely free, yes free.  International calls to a landline will cost you less than mobile calls, but that’s par for the course in the telecom industry.  Checkout the rate break down here.

The service is available today and links up with your Google Voice account such that you can receive calls right in your email, while on your computer.  To get started just hit the ‘read’ link and install the necessary plug-in.

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Google might be ready to take on Skype.  Late last year they bought Gizmo5, a company that produced desktop software that allowed for VoIP calls.  It’s not clear if the leaked software will be rebranded to Google Voice, but it appeared to integrate (contacts and incoming calls to GV) with the service rather seamlessly.  Mike Arrington of Techcrunch tested it out in video and noted good call quality without any echos – that’s always a concern with VoIP.  At this point no one knows if this software will see the light of day, but we think it’s pretty likely.  Then again Arrington makes a good point.  The founders of Google don’t want anything happening outside of the browser window.  But then why an iPhone app for Google Voice?

Verizon did it and now it would seem that AT&T is following suit.  You can now make calls over 3G using Skype’s iPhone application.  But there is a catch.  The calls over 3G are free until August, after which they’ll tack on a small monthly fee.  It’s not clear if Skype or AT&T will be collecting this fee or how this new feature sits with the brass at the carrier.

This means that you don’t have to use your Anytime minutes to call abroad if you’re in the middle of no where.  Heck, you don’t have to use any of your minutes if you pay $3 a month for unlimited Skype US calls.  And just think, when iPhone 4.0 arrives, which will allow background processes, you could very well make and take 100% of your calls on Skype.  For those of you that are heavy talkers and pay for the extra minutes, this could mean a massive savings.

Update: The ‘fee’ roll out has now been delayed until the end of 2010.  Looks like they want more people hooked before they start charging.

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Hello Nelly!  Verizon Wireless is opening up their data network to VoIP calls.  Okay, that’s a bit of an overstatement.  VZW has formed a strategic relationship with Skype and will now let users call any where in the world using their Skype account while connected to 3G (read: not WiFi).  Initially Skype will be available on the following VZW handsets: BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR.  Well folks, it looks like were hitting the point where ‘any time minutes’ will begin to cease to exist.  What date Skype will roll out on Verizon has yet to be announced, but I’d probably expect it to happen sometime by the end of February or early March.

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Anyone familiar with microphones will instantly recognize the Blue Microphone logo.  The Snowflake USB microphone by Blue is USB 1.0 and 2.0 compatible and will work on your Mac or PC like that.

Perfect for a myriad of activities including:  VOIP, podcasting, and recording, this little mic is capable of lying on a flat surface or hanging onto the top of your laptop screen.   With no drivers to install, the Snowflake USB Mic is absolutely plug-n-play and ideal for those on the go.

On sale now for $57

Read my review of the Samson USB GoMic!

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Vonage, the VoIP telephone company, released their iPhone and Blackberry applications today.  You might wanna reserve your excitement,though, since this application does not work with preexisting Vonage accounts that cost $25 a month and provide unlimited calls in the US and up to 60 countries.

Nope, the Vonage app will make calls over your cellular (and/or WiFi if on the iPhone) connection to international numbers at a significant discount (up to 50%) when compared to what AT&T or other carriers offer.

In an ideal world you’d be able to use the Vonage Mobile app for the above as well as have the ability to connect to the Vonage home phone service that allows you to make unlimited calls around the world using your home’s Internet connection.  And at this point it seems unlikely that Vonage will ever provide this option since it will cannibalize the sales of their Vonage equipment.  Booooo!

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It was just this past February when Verizon officially put their Hub touchscreen VoIP device up for sale.  At the time it required a 2-year contract and $200 to get aboard, which is and was one of the many barriers to the device’s success.  ‘Was’ I say?  That’s right, the Verizon Hub has already been discontinued purportedly due to floundering sales, poor technical support and probably a whole slew of other reasons.  Engadget received word back from the company, which falls just short of admitting the Hub’s demise.  It’s a bit of a shame considering how cool it could have been, but when a product is flawed it is quickly represented by sales numbers or in this case lack there of.

Verizon Wireless, like many companies, continually changes and updates the products and services it offers to customers. Our sales teams in all channels will continue to focus on providing our customers the latest and most innovative wireless products and services. Verizon Wireless will continue to support existing Verizon Hub customers with post-sale service or support.

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Don’t forget Dell’s 15% coupon: 31SG1XQDWBMT4S (expires: 9/12)

Snom kicked out an all new VoIP phone today that includes a 4.3-inch touchscreen and a wide array of connectivity options.  Built upon what appears to be a custom OS, users can drag and drop contacts into conference calls, and access external USB cameras or even stock reports via the built-in XML mini browser.

Hardware wise they’ve included a few USB ports that can facilitate your Internet connection over WLAN or you can just plug in an Ethernet cord, which if you’ve got the setup can also provide the phone’s power.  Lastly, if you’re looking for true synergy you can synchronize the Snom 870 with MS Office, that is of course assuming you have a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.

The Snom 870 is available now at select retailers for $349.

For Immediate Release
NEWS RELEASE

snom Debuts New Touch Screen VoIP Phone
for North American Businesses
Advanced Desktop Business Phone Features Slim Elegant Design,
High Definition Color Touch Screen Display and Intuitive Interface with
One-Touch Calling and Seamless Integration with IP PBX,
Hosted VoIP and Unified Communications Solutions

Beverly, Mass. (July 16, 2009) – snom technology AG, developer and manufacturer of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephones, today introduced the snom 870, an advanced touch screen desktop phone for the North American enterprise as well as small and mid-sized business markets. Designed for today’s information-driven workforce, the new phone is the latest addition to snom’s “8″ series of fourth generation SIP phones and features a slim, elegant design and powerful multimedia capabilities anchored by its innovative color touch screen display and highly intuitive interface.

“The snom 870 marks the next step in communications design and technology for snom,” said Michael Knieling, snom’s Executive Vice President of Marketing. “It is not just a phone, but a highly intelligent endpoint that blends advanced technology with superior design at a compelling price point. The snom’s 870′s color touch screen display serves as a dashboard to launch a variety of business communications that are critical for today’s enterprise workforce – such as telephony, unified communications and customer relationship management applications.”

SNOM 870 HIGHLIGHTS

High Resolution Color Touch Screen Display: The snom 870 features a large high resolution 4×3 inch touch screen display with 24-bit color depth. The touch screen enables the user to easily handle even complex applications like swapping calls or establishment of conference calls for up to 5 participants via a simple “drag and drop” menu.

Intutive Interface with One Touch Calling: The touch screen display features an intuitive interface for easy one-touch calling. A well- arranged address book makes sure that each caller can be quickly identified. It offers space for additional information such as company affiliation, email address and much more. The control elements on the display are designed for active call handling, so that the right contact is selected even in multiple call scenarios.

Platform for business communications: The snom 870′s fourth generation SIP technology enables it to serve as an intelligent endpoint for a number of business communications applications from IP telephony systems and solutions (IP PBX and hosted VoIP) platforms to unified communications (integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 via its special firmware – snom OCS edition) to CRM solutions. An integrated XML browser also provides a wide range of additional applications. Whether it is controlling an external monitoring camera or accessing business-critical information and data from the web, the snom 870 offers a wide array of extras.

snom klarVOICE for Crystal Clear Voice Quality: The audio quality on snom 870 matches the high standard that snom customers have come to expect: Wideband audio with silence suppression and voice activity detection to ensure phone conversations are crystal clear.
The snom 870 is the second model of the new 800 series product line of advanced business VoIP phones from snom and complements its existing line of VoIP phones: the snom 820, snom MeetingPoint and snom 300 VoIP telephone series. snom handsets are SIP- based and feature snom’s mature fourth generation VoIP technology designed for rugged business-class performance, reliability and ease of interoperability, which has made snom the VoIP handset partner of choice for the industry’s leading VoIP service providers, hosted VoIP, IP PBX and unified communications solution vendors.

See the video

Access the snom 870 video demo here

Availability/Pricing:

The snom 870 VoIP conference phone, is generally available today in North America through its network of distributors and resellers and has an MSRP of US $349.

About snom
snom technology AG develops and manufactures Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephones and related equipment based on the IETF open standard, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Recognized for its high quality, customizable and cost-effective business solutions, snom is also differentiated by the company’s history in the VoIP industry, and its dedication to high security standards. All of snom’s software exists in the firmware on the phones – making it easier for users to download updates and new features. snom customers benefit from the interoperability and flexibility that the snom telephones offer, including plug and play integration and universal compatibility with any SIP-based telephony platform. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, snom technology AG also has an office in North Andover, MA. The company distributes its fourth generation SIP phones through its network of authorized reseller partners in Europe, South America, Asia-Pac, Africa and Australia. For more information on snom, please visit www.snom.co m.

It wasn’t too long ago that iPevo launched their latest Skype handset, the SO-10W.   I managed to get my hands on one and give it a once over.  It’s a straight forward Skype only phone that enables you to make and receive both Skype and Skype Out calls.  It features a 2-inch LCD and a set of relatively large buttons to navigate the exact same menus found in the Skype PC application.

The iPevo SO-10W can be connected to your network via Ethernet or WiFi.  WiFi is not built directly to the phone, so iPevo has included a small, but somewhat cumbersome wireless dongle.  The wireless dongle plugs into the handset via USB and draws its power from the phone, which is powered by an AC plug.  Setting up the wireless dongle proved to be the most challenging aspect of the device.  First, you’ll need to plug the dongle into the handset to be able access the appropriate menus. Simple enough, but that’s where the simplicity ends.  Since the iPevo lacks a QWERTY keyboard, punching in any security information can be a timely process.  Fortunately, you’ll only need to do it once since the phone will remember it.  After entering in all the necessary network info I found myself tapping my foot.  In other words, the SO-10W isn’t exactly expeditious when it comes to connecting to a wireless network.  In fact, the SO-10W seem to take minutes, not seconds as one would expect, to join the network. Furthermore, it actually took me a few attempts to join my home’s network before the SO-10W would accept it.  Fortunately, everything following that was as simple as logging into my Skype account and dialing as normal.

The phone features 3 speed dials buttons, a speakerphone and the usual set of buttons and features you’d expect to find on a corded phone of this type. As previously mentioned it includes a 2-inch LCD that is very bright and easy to read – no complaints there.  The handset is derived from previous iPevo VoIP devices and is actually a bit too light weight for my liking – something with some more heft would have been preferred – and is a tad on the slim side for pressing your ear to your shoulder.  Nonetheless, these are all subjective observations and some my appreciate the iPevo’s sleek minimalist design.

Unlike some other VoIP handsets I’ve used, the iPevo’s buttons are very responsive (the center green button was a little wobbley, though) and I experienced no delays when accessing the phone’s Skype menus or contact list.  And they’ve done the uncoordinated a favor and made the answer and end call buttons large and unmissable.

The speaker phone on the iPevo SO-10W is very loud and crisp, although this resulted in callers complaining that they could hear themselves.  The handset on the other hand is a bit too loud and even at the lowest volume was slightly ear blistering, but nothing one couldn’t tolerate although it would have been nice to have the option of less volume.

During my few weeks of use I’ve only had the phone freeze on me once, which required me to unplug its power.  Unfortunately, and surprisingly, I had to manual locate my home’s network and select it in order to get back online – I would have expected it to rejoin the network automatically.

The SO-10W is a nice little corded Skype only phone .  I vastly enjoyed its ease of use with the exception of setting up the wireless connection, and would have much preferred WiFi built-in since the dongle just takes up more counter space.  Given its lack of feature set and simplicity the iPevo is probably best suited for the old school (e.g. my Mom) looking to go new school.

Pros:

• Bright and easy to read screen
• Large and responsive buttons
• Loud speakerphone with quality sound

Cons:

• Wireless isn’t the device’s fortey
• Handset volume too loud
• No camera for video confrerencing

Generally speaking I turn a blind eye to late night infomercials and products that make guarantees that are just too good to be true.  Magic Jack appeared to be one of those products, but apparently the company has turned itself around since launch and sold over 3 million devices.

If you’re not familiar with Magicjack it’s a small device that lets you place VoIP (like Skype) calls from a regular landline phone through your computer’s broadband connection. It plugs into your computer’s USB port and for $40 includes unlimited calls to the US and CA with no monthly charges or minutes for up to 1 year.   After that it’s just $20 a year.

Now the company has plans to expand and perhaps even take on the big guys, such as AT&T.  Arriving sometime between Q3 of 2009 and Q1 of 2010 the company will introduce a femtocell product that lets you wirelessly reroute your cell phone calls through the MagicJack.  Apparently, the Femtocell MagicJack will be slightly larger than the current device and cost only a few dollars more.  AT&T and others carrier have plans to roll out a femtocell device sometime later this year (Verizon already released theirs), but their devices are said to be retardedly expensive but lack a monthly fee.

You can also expect the company to roll out number porting in the next 60 days, which will enable consumers to port preexisting numbers over to the MagicJack.  They’ve also got plans make the MagicJack Linux compatible by Q3 of this year and possibly roll out a mobile phone application similar to Skype that appeared on the iPhone recently.

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Skype for the iPhone hit the App store last week and it has become a massive success with over 1 million downloads since its launch.  As expected, the Skype service, which traditionally makes calls over a data connection from a computer, has been restricted on the iPhone so that consumers can’t make VoIP calls over AT&T’s 3G network.  Clearly, from a business logic this makes sense since consumers pay a monthly data fee with their iPhone service and if allowed could make unlimited calls with no restrictions on minutes, which in turn would heavily tax the carrier and contradict their business model.

But would it really?  At this point carriers, at least from my understanding make most of their money off data plans and text messages, with the latter being a God send since each message requires so little data usage it’s practically free for them to transmit and that means massive profits.  But one consumer group, Free Press, isn’t happy about the current Skype calling restriction on the iPhone and has requested that the Federal Communications Commission to investigate if Apple and AT&T are contradicting federal guidelines by preventing VoIP application from accessing the carrier’s 3G network.  Until an answer has been provided Skype iPhone users will be restricted to making calls over WiFi, which is free to all AT&T iPhone customers for free at hundred of Starbucks locations.

[WSJ]

Without a moment of hesitation and as promised, Skype released their iPhone app to the iTunes store at 12am EST March 30th, 2009.  As mentioned yesterday, this version, 1.01, includes Skype-to-Skype and VoIP calls, and instant messaging.  It’s free to download.  Enjoy!

Update: I rang my girlfriend.  Her first response: ‘I’m echoing’.  But within a few seconds the app, or Skype seemed to remedy itself and the audio was cell phone quality.  I attempted one other call and couldn’t connect, but didn’t reattempt.

[iTunes]

‘Take a deep breath’ because Skype, which has long existed on computers and via other iPhone apps, will officially launch its iPhone app tomorrow.  Skype users will be able to make VoIP calls over WiFi only, while cellular Skype calls will be reserved to earlier iPhone apps and hacks.  To keep things clean and neat the Skype iPhone app will utilize your iPhone’s phonebook eliminating the need for importing and deduplicating.  IM will be available while voicemail, SMS, video conferencing and conference calling are void from the first iteration.

I’ll be testing out the app when it hits tomorrow.  When I checked out Fring’s Skype abilities I ended up with a 1 second delay during voice calls, but I’m assuming Skype has worked through those types of hiccups.

[PCWorld]

Skype and Nokia may have partnered today, but I guarantee it will be quickly overshadowed by carrier blockage.  What do I mean?  So the partnership integrates Skype into many of Nokia’s phones going forward.  They’ll start with the Nseries and more specifically the N97.  Nokia and Skype intend to let users dial out using Skype over both 3G and WiFi.  WiFi is fine and all, but if carriers allow 3G calls they’ll potentially eat into their profits since most data plans include an almost unlimited amount of bandwidth.  Or will they?  I’m at a cross road in this discussion (with myself) because carriers now make a shit load of money through text messaging.  It costs the carrier nothing and idiots, such as myself, always go over the allotted amount in my plan.  It remains to be seen what will happen, but perhaps this is why we have yet to see a Skype app on the iPhone?

[DailyMobile]

Features:

• Turn any normal phone into a VoIP phone with Skype
• Call your computer from anywhere and make calls

Features:

• Skype calls from a handset
• Speakerphone, LED display, 6 hour talk time