EQO Community - mobile

Mobile Web Platforms - Ready to Rumble in 2008

jeff — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:22:50 -0800

Paul Kedrosky on the under-appreciation of mobile web platforms:

People just don't get how good web apps on mobile can be. I get stuck in many conversations about native apps on mobile, which always strikes me as vestigial. The same way that I live in mostly browser-based apps on my desktop and laptop, I am convinced I will live in web apps on my mobile device. Pretending otherwise seems wrong-headed and self-defeating.

At MobileCamp Vancouver I pushed just this point on the industry panel. I'm not sure the other telco folks on the panel were convinced. But - what I found after the panel among the broader development community there, was intense interest in targeting mobiles through web-based runtimes - be they web sites, widgets, Adobe AIR, Google gears, etc.

There are really two issues to consider here.

Are web runtimes capable of delivering the necessary functionality and experience equal to native runtimes? The answer is yes although not everybody gets this yet. See my post on Adobe AIR / Google gears like platform for iPhone for an argument in favor of mobile runtimes over native runtimes.
Recognition of another under-appreciated benefit of mobile web runtimes - they drastically expand the world of people that can develop mobile applications. In this sense web runtimes are poised to play a role similar to that played by Visual Basic for desktop apps in the 90's. To be clear - I am not comparing the two in technical terms, but in terms of "developer reach". Undeniably (and to many developers' deep regret) VB drove a huge developer population.

Nominate EQO for The Crunchies

jeff — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:06:16 -0800

It's been quite a year in the world of mobile apps and we've had a ton of fun building out the EQO service at the front of the pack this year. There is a huge amount of pride among the team here at what we've accomplished both inside the company and among our community of EQO users.

For all the users who have joined the EQO network and given feedback to the team and on the to improve the service - Thank You!

To all the EQO users and fans out there, please take a moment to nominate us for one or more of the following awards ("The Crunchies") run by techcrunch.com.

Thanks!

Where is the iPhone's answer to Adobe AIR, or Google Gears?

jeff — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:45:38 -0700

Adobe's AIR platform has shown that the web development model is fundamentally capable of delivering applications every bit as rich as native platform apps. Hence the outcry over the idea of web applications as the primary development model for the iPhone is overblown. Yes, the current iPhone development environment sucks but it's important to keep in mind that we haven't seen the true power of this model.

So what will Apple do if they are serious about the web development platform?

First up, a JavaScript bridge into native device capabilities on the iPhone. Right now in terms of access to device functions via web technologies, the iPhone offers nothing beyond the microbrowsers on feature phones. Yes, the AJAX support enables a quantum leap in usability, but we need more.

Top of the list - "the basics"

file access
camera access
location
address book
calendar

But beyond these now familiar mobile device capabilities, there is an opportunity for Apple to provide powerful APIs that would provide an unparalleled mobile development environment, web or otherwise:

SQLite local store
Access to iTunes account-based charging
Event subscriptions with persistent ECMAScript object handlers

timers

calendar events

location

support for installable URI handlers

Key to app usability is that these capabilities should be provided through a user consent system which does not take away the user's choice to make use of device features with a given application, a la the restrictions in many J2ME runtimes:

On first load, present the list of "privacy affecting" services being requested by the application - and listen to what the user wants! Empower the user already - they bought the damn thing.

When can we expect such features? Who knows, but I would be very surprised if the first GPS-enabled iPhones, expected in Q1 2008, ship without at minimum a JavaScript bridge to location data following soon after.

Gut check: For anyone with development experience on J2ME, can you imagine going back to the underachiever that is the J2ME RMS storage API after being provided with a local SQL store?

The native app vs. web app argument is stale!

Jeff
Chief Software Architect, EQO

Mobile Operators Stumble on Billable Identities, Apple Swoops In

jeff — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:05:59 -0700

The mobile operators have made a huge mistake on the identity front. The one long-term point of value they have aside from being a bit pipe is the possession of validated identities tied to a mobile billing platform. But with their continuing efforts to maintain their walled gardens, they have passed on the opportunity to become the identity and billing providers of choice on the mobile.

Now there is another mobile player with this capability. Apple. Not only does the new iTunes wifi store not deliver music over the operator network, the billing is not enabled by the operator.

Oops.

An enlightened move by Apple would be to break the lock the operators have on billable mobile identities permanently wide open by giving every iTunes account an associated OpenID, and publishing an open payment API around OpenID identifiers. This would cause a few things to happen:

- a 100% uptake of OpenID within days by makers of iPhone apps
- a practical, simple billing mechanism for OpenID apps of all types
- overnight Apple could become the largest payment provider in the mobile space. Not just on the iPhone, but on any reasonably web capable phone owned by an iTunes user. Not just in the mobile space. Anyone with an iTunes account would be a payment-capable.

Will it happen?

Jeff
Chief Software Architect, EQO

Canadian cellphone class-action goes ahead

jeff — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:15:01 -0700

A class-action suit against the long-running practice of Canadian mobile operators to charge unadvertised additional fees has just been certified by a judge in Saskatchewan.

Any Canadians that would like to join the class action can do so here. (Roland, that means you!)

Here is Michael Geist (Canada's answer to Lawrence Lessig) on System Access Fees:

"Emboldened by limited competition, [Canadian] providers have not hesitated to pad their prices by adding the deceptive "system access fee." Contrary to popular belief, the fee, which adds nearly $100 per year to every wireless phone bill (MTS Mobility in Manitoba just increased its system access fee to $107.40 per year), is not a government-mandated charge but rather a slick method of camouflaging higher prices."

Jeff

The internet is global, the wireless internet is feudal

jeff — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:33:06 -0700

"To see what is right in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."
- George Orwell

Sometimes it's helpful to point out the obvious, to take stock of where we are.

The wired Internet is the real Internet. Geographic boundaries for nearly all purposes are irrelevant.

The wireless Internet is the Internet stillborn. Geographic boundaries are very real and impact everything you do. It is a 1960s long distance plan, only for data.

Want to use the Internet on the mobile device you carry daily while traveling? Better watch out, outrageous bills ahead.
Want to connect while traveling, via another provider with a prepaid SIM? Hope you understand APN settings. Hope you don't run into an especially restrictive carrier proxy that doesn't like your favorite application.
Want to develop an application for phones that anyone can use, anywhere? Hope you've got the resources (like EQO does) to work around a multitude of deficiencies and roadblocks of the access networks, both incidental and intentional.

Like other wireless users, I want to use cutting-edge, revolutionary apps and services on my phone. There are a few out there... but there could be so many more.

The Internet is not a thing - it is an agreement. 3G will not bring the internet to your phone. Only a new system of agreements will.

The wireless Internet is broken - it is the internet 15 years behind the real Internet. In fact in the absence of the agreements that make the Internet work, it is not the Internet at all.

Jeff

Killer Mobile apps

chris — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:38:49 -0700

Working for a mobile services company has made me quite dependent on my mobile phone, a Nokia E61i. I find myself now quite in tune with the mobile industry and wish to share with you my favorite mobile applications. These applications make my life easier and I'm grateful to have them with me all the time. To remain impartial, I've removed EQO Mobile from the running, even though I depend on it for all my instant messaging needs. Here you are, the top five killer mobile apps according to me:

Google Maps - I would be lost without this one, literally.
Gmail - I use Gmail as my personal email so I find the mobile app very handy, wish there were file attachments though.
Widsets - Lets you use the web services you love on your mobile via thousands of custom widgets. I currently make use of Wikipedia, TechCrunch, eBay, Sudoku, and Twitter.
Screenshot - A Symbian gem; the best way to show someone something is to take a picture.
Shozu - Lets me share the pictures I take with Screenshot, although good for much more.

Honorable Mentions:

Opera Mini - The best mobile browser out there, although I find the Nokia browser good enough for me so I don't use this one as much.
S-Tris 2 - A Symbian version of the classic Tetris, very fast with great graphics.
Jaiku - A presence sharing, social networking type deal with a great Symbian client.

Got any favorites I missed? I'd love to hear about them.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Steve Jobs to Operators: Bend Over

jeff — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:07:38 -0700

Jobs is known for being cheeky - but check this out, then imagine the cursing going on in the boardrooms of Apple's operator partners after today's launch of the iPod Touch:

Jobs: “Wi-Fi, as you know, is not only faster than 2.5G, but it’s faster than any 3G network”.
Song playing on the iPod Touch: "Cellphone's Dead - Beck"
On the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store: "We're gonna do something else, too: we're gonna bring it to the iPhone"

What Apple has done is make the carrier networks look old and stale. They are saying, remember the iPhone? Of all the things you loved about it, none of them were enabled by your operator. Just the contract. Here's one without the contract.

And reading between the lines: Oh, but you want voice? Stay tuned.

Cellphone's dead indeed.

Blast from the recent past: "When asked about a give-and-take leading to the Apple-Cingular partnership, [Cingular CEO] Lurie said, "I'm not sure we gave anything." Later, he commented, "I think they bent a lot."

Jeff

Gphone, FCC approval, worldwide launch - WTF?

jeff — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:30:48 -0700

Rumors and innuendo - it all was all so much fun the first time with the iPhone, who isn't looking forward to doing it all over again with the gPhone?

Rediff reports that

"Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of its much-awaited Google Phone [...] Sources close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world. US regulatory approval, which is expected soon, is the only hurdle that Google is waiting to cross."

Two weeks to complete FCC certification and do a multi-operator worldwide launch would be a daunting task. Could Google out-secret Apple in a worldwide launch more complex than the single operator launch of the iPhone?

The is only one likely scenario in which a launch in 2 weeks makes sense - if the "gPhone" will launch as a device taken through FCC certification by some other manufacturer, with Google providing the software on the handset.

Anybody out there up for trolling through FCC filing database for enigmas in the past two or three months?

Jeff

Mobile Newsreaders - Viigo is Tops

jeff — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:32:58 -0700

Mobhappy has the 86th Carnival of the Mobilists up. They plug Wap Review's look at NewsGator's mobile version finding it tempting but sunk by showstoppers.

I would highly recommend that Dennis try Viigo Personal. Having used it on the Blackberry Pearl for some time now I consider it the best mobile newsreader I've come across. On the desktop I'm a Newsfire user. Viigo is as usable on the mobile as Newfire is on the desktop, and that is saying a lot.

Jeff

Mobile Ownership in the UK is 90% by Age 12

jeff — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:08:53 -0700

Via ajit at Open Gardens, the Carphone Warehouse Mobile Life Report .

Some remarkable numbers on mobile ownership in the UK from the youth report:

It seems there could be something to this mobile thing after all :-)

Direct links to the PDFs:

Mobile Life Report 2006

Mobile Life Youth Report 2006

- Jeff

Live in Vancouver, Work at EQO!

jeff — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:06:47 -0700

What's it like to live and work in Vancouver?

Here's an interesting guy I met while taking the train back home from downtown after last week's Demo Camp Vancouver.

Yes, the bird is real. A slice of Vancouver life.

EQO is currently hiring Mobile App Developers and Softswitch Developers as well as other positions.

We have a work hard / play hard environment and we're growing fast but are still small enough that everybody knows everybody. We love doing what we do and are looking for people to join our team who feel the same way. Apply to careers@eqo.com

Jeff
EQO Co-Founder and Chief Software Architect

T-Mobile, Tear Down this Wall (ed Garden)!

jeff — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:39:56 -0800

The net neutrality debate has a tendency to get too abstract for the average user to care. Pricing this - tiered service that - enough already. Users just want something that works. Is it working right now? Close enough for most.

Enter the Mobile Operators.

As Gearlog reports, T-Mobile is taking steps to block popular mobile applications like Opera Mini that will make the average user stop and ask what is going on. Other mobile operators are threatening similar action.

As a well known congressman once said, "If you're explaining, you're losing".

The bright side to heavy-handed actions like T-Mobile's is that they show ordinary users why Net Neutrality matters better than any long-winded explanation by the likes of a techno-geek ever could.

Jeff
EQO Founder and Chief Architect

Bandcast 2006 signals launch of newest EQO product!

chris — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:46:50 -0700

Tomorrow is the big day. I sit here on the eve of launch writing this as the developers and QA rush to put the finishing touches on the latest EQO product, the nature of which I shall not reveal until tomorrow morning. What I will tell you is that it's pretty freaking cool. Does it involve phones? Yes. Does it involve online communities? Yes. Do you need Skype to use it? No.

We know that other online communities will benefit from the online extension to mobile phones that EQO has aptly demonstrated. The EQO for Skype product really showed what we can do in bringing an online buddy list to the mobile phone. Now we're going to show the world how EQO technology can be applied to truly extend online communities such as Myspace, Friendster, and others to the mobile.

I am now on myspace

colin — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:26:57 -0700

I am no stranger to online communities but finally decided to join the big dog and created my profile on myspace. My new place on myspace is still pretty barren. As I was going about to "hang up" my first picture, a visitor "Sanoe" had already dropped by, requested to be added as a friend, and left a comment "You live close to my home town". Pretty cool! I just got a new "friend" simply because I happen to live in Vancouver. But I am not going to try to compete with Tom who currently has 93 million friends on myspace.

Mobile long distance arbitrage services

colin — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:32:41 -0700

While Skype is the undisputed leader in PC-to-PC VoIP services, its service extension onto regular mobile phones thus far has largely been the efforts of its ecosystem partners such as EQO, iSkoot, and SoonR. EQO for Skype focuses on multi-modal communications and extending Skype services onto the mobile phone, allowing users to make and receive voice calls and IM chat messages with their buddies using their Skype online identities. SoonR provides remote access to the users PCs from the mobile phone, and the SoonR Talk feature allows Skype users to initiate Skype voice calls from a mobile phone browser. iSkoot allows users to initiate voice calls from mobile phones to iSkoot's servers which then bridge the calls onto the Skype network. All of these services utilize Skype as the implicit long distance inter-exchange carrier for bridging mobile voice calls as local access calls through the traditional public telephone switch network (PSTN / PLMN).

EQO wins BCTIA Most Promising Startup

chris — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:10:12 -0700

EQO was announced the winner of the BCTIA Most Promising Startup award last night at a ritzy awards gala in downtown Vancouver. This Yahoo article provides a few more details if you'd like to know more. This is an honour for our team and really affirms all of the crazy hard work we have put in here as a group. Funny thing, as EQO CEO Bill Tam was accepting the award, they showed a movie composed of pictures yanked from my Flickr page mentioned in this post. It's great to be recognized like this, but we still have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of exciting things still to come from EQO, watch out for us.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

EQO Data Usage

chris — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 17:55:24 -0700

How much data does EQO Mobile use? I get this question a lot and it is a valid concern for many people, especially considering most people don’t immediately understand how EQO Mobile actually works. Since EQO Mobile uses SkypeOut (now free in US/Canada!) to connect your mobile to the Skype network, there is no voice data actually consumed on your phone. Because of this, EQO Mobile really doesn’t use all that much data. Our benchmarks put average data usage at about 30KB per hour. Of course this varies on the size of your Skype and IM buddy lists, more buddies equals more data. And then data usage increases the more you use EQO Mobile, but requests such as incoming/outgoing call messages and chat messages aren’t very big, usually about 200 bytes. So if you have a limited data plan you may want to be careful how often you use EQO, but if you have 5MB or more you can be pretty care free. Those of you with unlimited data plans shouldn’t be reading this.

Feature of the Week #11: Standby Mode

chris — Wed, 31 May 2006 14:09:05 -0700

Now I know that I haven’t been keeping up with feature of the week lately and that’s partly because I was preoccupied and party because I was running out of features. I’m back in town and with this new release, my feature reserves have been replenished so I’m good to go again.

If you use EQO to take Skype on the go but don’t want to leave EQO running wasting data and consuming battery, you should make use of the new “Standby” mode. In the EQO “Events Panel” choose “Options”->”Standby” to stop EQO from sending/receiving data. You can also make EQO go into Standby mode after a certain period of time of inactivity via setting the “Standby Timer” in “Options”->”Settings”->”Standby Timer” to five, fifteen, or thirty minutes. What if you’d like to be notified of missed event every once in a while? Well, EQO lets you check you missed calls and missed IM chats periodically via settings the “Sync Timer” setting. In “Options”->”Settings”->”Sync Timer”, choose how often you’d like EQO to keep you in the loop while in standby mode. Stanby mode lets you stay in touch while sending/receiving much less mobile data with EQO Mobile.

Feature of the Week #10: Automatic Sign In

chris — Tue, 02 May 2006 17:58:22 -0700

Sometimes Windows restarts your computer to do updates, but what if you are on the road using EQO? Don’t let Windows Update mess up your overseas calling, use the automatic sign in feature that EQO provides. If you want EQO to start whenever you start your computer, first make sure that Skype starts when your computer starts too. Then right click the EQO icon in the system tray and choose Startup Settings. Just check “Sign me in automatically” and “Start EQO when computer starts” and you are good to go. Now pesky restarts won’t stand in the way of you and your buddies.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Help gets EQO Mobile onto Nokia 9300/9500 Communicators

chris — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:18:06 -0700

A rather generous colleague of ours who goes by the name of PhoneBoy was kind enough to ship us his Nokia 9300 communicator. He had been testing EQO Mobile on a Nokia 6670 when we got to talking about how he was quite sure that EQO would work on his 9300 and very likely his 9500 as well. I may have been out of line in asking to borrow one of them, but he kindly agreed to send us a phone nonetheless. Now here we are a week later with EQO Mobile running on the Nokia 9300 and Nokia 9500 and it’s all thanks to Mr. PhoneBoy.

We are pretty quick when it comes to porting EQO over to new handsets, but one of the problems in getting more and more phones supported is getting our hands on the phones themselves. Now if you are big into phones and you have a MIDP 2.0, GPRS enabled handset that you wouldn’t mind parting with for a week, we’d gladly take it off your hands with the aim of getting EQO Mobile running on your baby. Of course, I can’t make any promises but I’m quite sure that there are some Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones out there that could run EQO Mobile after a few tweaks in code/graphics. What’s in it for you? An EQO t-shirt and the chance to be the first to use EQO on your particular phone (we’re a startup, what more do you want?). Please email me, chris@eqo.com, if you are interested in helping us get you using EQO faster.

Feature of the Week #9: Make a Call

chris — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:05:41 -0700

I’m running out of features here, so time to hit the obvious. Hey, ever want to talk to someone? Why don’t you just call them? If they live far away, make use of EQO to call long distance on the cheap. EQO lets you call your Skype buddies on the Skype VoIP network and then links your mobile into the call with SkypeOut. In North America, you can call overseas from your mobile for just $0.02 a minute! From the EQO main window, just highlight the chosen Skype buddy and press Call. It’s as easy as all that, you’ll be talking in no time.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Data Network Errors?

chris — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 16:22:46 -0700

The most common problem pertaining to EQO brought before me is that people can not connect to the EQO service on their mobile phones, many report receiving variations of “Data network error.” The usual culprit here is that users don’t have a properly configured GPRS internet connection on their phone. Most people are confused by this as they can almost always access the internet, but they are likely doing so via a WAP connection. WAP allows you to use mobile browser, but it does not provide the pure data connection that EQO Mobile requires.

The EQO support forums are littered with examples of how you can add or edit a GPRS access point on your phone. Depending on your phone type, the information may not be there. Email me, chris@eqo.com, for instructions if you need help with your specific phone type. You may also need to specifically allow EQO to use your GPRS access point and you can usually do this via your phone settings, look for “Manager” or “App Manager” on your phone.

Feature of the Week #8: Change My Phone

chris — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:21:50 -0700

If you get a new phone, change some personal information, or would like a new version of EQO Mobile, then make use of the EQO “Change my Phone” feature. Go to www.eqo.com and login at the top right corner of the page with your EQO ID and password. You’ll then see a screen with the option “Change my Phone” in a column on the left, click on “Change my Phone”. You will then be able to change information such as your carrier, phone make and model, and phone number. If you don’t want to change anything but would like the latest version of EQO Mobile sent to your phone, just click “Next”. Once you click “Next” your changes will be saved and you’ll be sent a new EQO Mobile.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Feature of the Week #7: Check Missed Calls

chris — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:43:46 -0700

When you are on the road with EQO, you might not want to leave EQO Mobile running all the time. EQO Mobile uses small amounts of wireless data that costs you money if you don’t have an unlimited data plan. We want you to know if one of your Skype buddies called you while you weren’t online, which is why EQO lets you check your Skype missed calls. Just select “Tasks”->”Missed Calls” from the “Options” menu on the EQO Mobile main window to see who called you and at what time. You can call your Skype buddy back right from the missed calls window, just choose “Call”. EQO Mobile lets you stay connected, even when you aren’t online!

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Feature of the Week #6: Check SkypeOut Balance

chris — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 15:37:17 -0700

If you would like to make a call with EQO Mobile and you aren’t sure if you have enough SkypeOut credit, EQO lets your retrieve your SkypeOut balance right to your phone. In the EQO Mobile main window, choose “Options” then select “Tasks”->”SkypeOut $” from the menu. EQO Mobile will tell you that it is retrieving your balance and will then show you your remaining SkypeOut credit. If you don’t have enough, time to use Skype Chat:)

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Feature of the Week #5: Call You Later

chris — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 15:18:43 -0800

Do you ever find that someone calls you, but you don’t want to talk to them? Of course you do, but sometimes you might want to talk to them eventually. When one of your Skype buddies calls you on EQO Mobile, you can choose to call them later by selecting “Options” then “Call Later”. A screen pops up allowing you to choose between “5 minutes”, “15 minutes”, “30 minutes” and “Call Later”, pick one and press “OK”. No matter what you choose, the Skype buddy that called you will get a Skype IM letting them know that you’ll call them later and, if you chose a time, in how long. Also, if you chose a time, EQO Mobile will let you know that it’s time to call your Skype buddy back after that time has passed, just press “CALL”. If you still don’t want to call your buddy back, choose “RE-QUEUE”, and you can choose to call your buddy later again. EQO Mobile lets you screen your calls like a rock star!

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Feature of the week #4: Skype IM Chat

chris — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:21:27 -0800

You can now use Skype Chat instant messaging on your mobile phone with EQO. EQO Mobile lets you chat with your Skype buddies on the go without using SkypeOut credit. When one of your Skype buddies starts a chat with you, EQO will ring your phone asking you whether or not you would like to accept the chat on your mobile. To start a chat session with one of your Skype buddies just highlight which one you want to talk to then select “Options”, “Tasks”, and then “IM Chat”. Messages from your buddy will show up in the chat window. You can send messages by selecting “Compose”, writing your message, and choosing “Send”. EQO also lets you send a number of Smileys in your chat messages by selecting “Options”->”Smiley” in the compose message window. You can also invite others to your mobile chat by selecting “Options”->”Invite”. To end a chat session, select “Options”->”Close” from the main chat window and then choose “OK”. We hope you enjoy taking your Skype chat buddies with you too!

Feature of the Week #3: Change Mobile Number

chris — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 16:44:25 -0800

We know that sometimes travelers buy local SIM cards for areas that they visit and that sometimes people change carriers without changing phones, which is why EQO Mobile lets you change your mobile phone number without requiring that you download EQO Mobile again. In the EQO Mobile main window select “Options”, then select “Settings”, and then choose “My Mobile #”. The screen that you see will show you the number EQO Mobile currently assumes you are using and a space fore entering your new number. Just enter your new number into the number box and press “OK”. So travelers, you can take your buddies with you even when avoiding roaming charges:)

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Bi-Modal Mobile Instant Text Messaging and Voice Application

colin — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:26:00 -0800

Technorati Profile

Yahoo! recently announced Yahoo! Go which extends instant text messaging, email, and other online services onto mobile phones. Prominent technology business publications such as Business 2.0 also discussed the web 2.0 evolution of instant text messaging towards instant voice and video messaging. While the trend is clearly towards more and more online services onto mobile devices, one real challenge is how such applications can be adapted to the mobile handset form factor and usage modes while on the go. On the PC, the keyboard is definitely a more natural interface for instant text messaging compared to plugging in a headset for voice. On a mobile phone, the handset is a more natural interface for voice compared to typing long text messages via T9.

For me, instant text messaging is a great way to spontaneously interact with others online. If I am handling multiple tasks, it gives me the flexibility to interact with multiple people simultaneously without the need to make voice calls and avoid the discomfort of voice silence as I pause between tasks. However, voice calls on the other hand provide far richer interactions and get things done far quicker and there is less likelihood of coming across with the wrong tone.