Let’s play the long game
Alrighty, we waited a bit for the dust to die down on this one, but we just wanted to go on record to say that we don’t approve of public spats between companies – it’s pretty classless and does your consumers no good – what is the point of behaving like a guest on Sally Jesse Raphael? It just looks bad.
So what’s the 411 on the Fring spat with Skype? To us it doesn’t matter cause everyone has overlooked the bigger issue here – the long game of mobile VoIP or as consumers/users call it – mobile voice or wait.. free long distance, depending on which generation you ask.
I asked my mother-in-law and she says she is positive that “someone” has overlooked that it’s free so we should use it as much as we can before “they” shut it down. Interesting.
But, let’s take it back a step and look at what the frack we are actually talking about, if indeed we do know what we are talking about …. what is Mobile VoIP anyway? According to Nimbuzz, it all started when folks could make calls over the Internet (VoIP). And then well you know that old Internet caught on and you could get it on your mobile and then you could make calls over the Internet from your mobile phones (mobile VoIP), instead of via your mobile operator’s network.
So, we just asked Nimbuzz what they thought (and they told us, well to be fair, they told a bunch of bloggers):
Mobile VOIP is just a piece of the puzzle, which makes up the future of mobile communications. The future of mobile communications is a unified communications platform that gives users the freedom to have free and mobile calls, IM and all your friends as well as social networks in one place. And that means from any provider, anywhere in the world. This puts the user in charge of how they connect and communicate.
And, according to Nimbuzz, you can still talk with your friends and family over Skype via Nimbuzz. Their relationship with Skype remains the same and they continue to let people talk over Skype or any other instant messaging or social network, which ever they choose. Yay!
They go onto say: (we feel like jumping up and down shouting Yes Yes!)
Mobile VoIP is the start of something much bigger in mobile communications – and openness and choice are key components of this. Nimbuzz sees mobile VoIP as an entry vehicle to create the next generation of mobile communications. Delivering a unified communications solution to the mass market through the convergence of all the ways that users communicate today – chat/IM, social and online communities, mobile voice and SMS/text – for free.
We currently see companies battling for market share around features, but the future of mobile VOIP is not about SDKs, unlimited data plans, video or other individual features. It’s about building Value Added Services (VAS) around the user’s contacts or address book. Mobile VoIP is a true VAS. Nimbuzz believes in a global mobile community across all platforms, communities, devices and operators that gives users the ability to choose how they communicate. Calls will be free. Revenue will be generated from enriched mobile communications for all industry players, including users and operators. Simply put, it will become as ubiquitous as talking face-to-face at the same cost, free.
I think that is something my mother-in-law could get behind. – JLH
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