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37 million VoIP subcribers expected by 2011

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yankeegroup.jpgYankee Group announced that consumer VoIP adoption continued at an aggressive pace in 2006, growing more than 125% and reaching more than 9 million subscribers. The consumer VoIP market maintains substantial growth, led by cable and broadband VoIP providers.

According to the Yankee Group Report, Growing Pains Persist in a Adolescent Market: Yankee Group’s 2007 US Consumer VoIP Subscriber Forecast, consumer VoIP services made headway by penetrating 9% of all US households, up from 4% in the previous year. VoIP is evolving beyond being a residential phone equivalent and is embedding itself into web-based advertisements, web site assistance and other click-to-call solutions. In addition, as consumers begin to demand inexpensive anywhere connectivity, there is more demand for mobile VoIP. The opportunity for VoIP on dual-mode mobile phones will increase as the number of units in use rises from 913,000 in 2006 to 22 million in 2011.

Originally posted on July 30, 2007 @ 8:25 am

Skype now available for the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

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Nokia N800 Internet TabletSkype is now available on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, bringing Skype conversations anywhere in the world where there is an available wireless internet connection.

“Skype is the recognized leader in internet calling, with more than 196 million registered users worldwide. The Nokia N800 gives people easy access to the Internet and it’s a natural step that they will want to make Skype calls away from their desktop.” said Ari Virtanen, Vice President, Convergence Products, Nokia. “Consumers can now start enjoying the benefits of Skype on the Nokia N800 and experience a free and easy way to stay in touch with friends, family and business colleagues around the world.”

Skype for the Nokia N800 will be available for download for existing users. There will also be Skype download links on the latest release of Nokia N800 devices which will be available at retail and on the Skype online store. From coffee shops and public parks to offices to hotels or even on the beach – users will now be able to make Skype calls anywhere they can find a WiFi hotspot.

Originally posted on July 11, 2007 @ 9:52 am

Pandora Networks launches new web partner portal

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pandora_reseller.jpgPandora Networks, provider of on-demand IP communications services for businesses, announced the launch of a new portal for partners and resellers of its Worksmart hosted service. The partner portal offers an efficient tool for sales, revenue, and customer relationship management, offering options such as lead management, customer account provisioning, and real-time revenue sharing reports.

The company’s new portal provides a single web-based management facility for Pandora resellers, who will now be able to conveniently track their leads and generate electronic quotes. Pandora Networks’ partners can also access Worksmart product and training manuals, submit feature requests, or track their own customers’ support cases. With instant updates from the portal, resellers will be able to manage the lead-to-customer sales process more quickly.

Originally posted on July 2, 2007 @ 8:29 pm

YFonGlobal delivers first social network with click-to-call feature

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wyndstorm.jpgYFonGlobal, a leading social networking enabler, added a high value benefit to their wyndstorm social network suite by providing the first click-to-call feature to its latest hosted social network, entitled MyGK, the private online member community tailored for The Golden Key Society. With this feature, Golden Key will be able to provide its 1.7 million members worldwide a free online buddy calling service between its members.

“wyndstorm continues to lead the industry in providing social networks that are tailored for specific requirements of a private member community-and free buddy calling is a high value feature,” said Marian Sabety, President and CEO of YFonGlobal.

Developed through the company’s partnership with CounterPath Solutions, the leading provider of VoIP (Voice over IP) and Video over IP softphones, the click-to-call feature enables wyndstorm to seamlessly synchronize the community member directory with CounterPath’s softphone application, allowing members to communicate quickly and easily. Whenever a MyGK member adds a favorite friend to their personal space in the community, that friend automatically appears in the click-to-call / IM (Instant Message) contact list in the application. The friend can then “see” his buddy’s availability for a call, and the two buddies can then call each other-whether they are Windows PC or Mac users.

Originally posted on June 26, 2007 @ 8:30 am

Raketu introduces Web-based VoIP service

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raketu.jpgRaketu, a provider of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony services, unveiled today a Web-based offering which requires no software to conduct VoIP calls. RakWeb looks to be available now.

RakWeb, according to Raketu, runs over any Internet connection from broadband to dial-up service and offers consumers three options for accessing their RakOut Dial-Out account and free to cost VoIP calling rates globally. The service reportedly combines “features Of Skype And JaJah”, which are rival VoIP services. Consumers visit the Raketu Web site to enter their phone number and that of the destination number.

One interesting feature of note is that since RakWeb doesn’t require downloaded software one can make calls from almost any OS platform, including Mac, Windows and Linux.

Originally posted on June 13, 2007 @ 5:29 pm