AT&T Supports VoIP on the iPhone

It’s been a long, battle with a lot of finger pointing, but AT&T has officially stated that VoIP over their 3G network will be supported, opening the door to Google Voice, Skype and other apps on the iPhone and other 3G phones. While VoIP applications such as Skype were previously available, they relied exclusively on WiFi connectivity. In a statement issued today, AT&T says they have taken the steps necessary to allow Apple to enable VoIP apps for the iPhone to run on their wireless network.

“iPhone is an innovative device that dramatically changed the game in wireless when it was introduced just two years ago,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “Today’s decision was made after evaluating our customers’ expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer.”

The finger-pointing reached a head when the Google Voice app for the iPhone was apparently held up indefinitely for review. AT&T has previously stated that approval of the app was solely in the hands of Apple. Apple appears to have been threatened by the Google app replacing much of their own device’s built-in phone functionality, particularly the visual voice mail.

Customers have been clamoring for this for a long time, and at least for, the ball is very clearly in Apple’s court.

Source: Mashable

UPDATED: Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone

Last week, Yahoo! Messenger product manager Sarah Bacon put her foot in her mouth when she complained on the Y! Messenger blog that Apple was taking so long to approve their updated Yahoo! Messenger iPhone app. Somehow she missed the fact that the app has been resubmitted with some changes, resetting the review period. Nevermind that she’s a product manager and should know this. It’s a moot point now that the updated app has been approved and ready to download from the iTunes app store.

Yahoo! Messenger 1..2.2 for the iPhone incorporates several changes based on your feedback:

• Stay available, not idle. Now when you close the Yahoo! Messenger app, you’ll still show as “available” to your Yahoo contacts rather than “idle.”  Since you get push notifications of new chat messages, this is more logical.
• Get a better Buzz. No, not that kind of buzz. They’ve tweaked the Buzz feature with a new notification sound, the ability to turn it on or off, and added vibrating buzz notifcations.
• “Shorter and prettier” notification sound. – Apparently this was a big problem for a lot of people, based on feedback. Go figure.
• Address book integration fixed. Yeah, they broke it in the last version. Now it works properly again, so when you compose a new SMS to someone, you can access numbers in your iPhone address book, and not just your Yahoo contact list.

Resources

• Read more about the update from the Yahoo! Messenger blog
• Join the discussion in our Yahoo Support forum

Nimbuzz Launches on Android

Nimbuzz has launched an Android version of their “mobile social messaging” application.  Like it’s iPhone sibling, the Nimbuzz Android app lets you connect to multiple IM and social networks, including Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Facebook and others.

The interface is compact and efficient, complete with avatar display, online awareness (to determine if your contact is available) and an icon to show what network they are on.

The Android version has some unique features:

• Time Sensitive User Interface – Touch a contact’s icon lightly to see their profile. A stronger touch starts a new chat.
• Auto-reconnect – Keeps you connected using whatever signal is available. If you leave the range of your WiFi, Nimbuzz will automatically reconnect using your data connection.
• Support for some location-specific networks. Not a big selling point for me personally, but Nimbuzz even supports social networks such as Hyves from the Netherlands, StudiVZ from Germany, Gadu-Gadu from Poland, and Giovani from Italy.

I like the UI for the contact list. If you’re running Android, you’ll want to give Nimbuzz a try.

Yahoo! Mobile Now Available

Yesterday at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, Yahoo! announced the availability of Yahoo! Mobile supporting over 300 devices, and provided a sneak peek at Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone.

Yahoo! Mobile comes in two basic flavors, an application (available for iPhone, Windows Mobile and a few others) and a web-based mobile version for everyone else. They share a similar look, and do a pretty amazing job of integrating services from a wide range of popular choices. News, email (including Gmail), instant messaging, social networks — they are all available. 

In related news… Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone

Announced yesterday–but not yet available for download–was Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone. This is somewhat curious, as Yahoo! Mobile (including the iPhone version) and Yahoo! oneConnect (which is also available for the iPhone) already support Yahoo! Messenger. So with this “new” product, you now have three ways from Yahoo! to connect to Yahoo! Messenger. And that’s not even considering all the third-party options (Nimbuzz, Beejive, Palringo, etc.). 

Granted, Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone is more full-featured, but the multiple products still leaves me wondering if they have a cohesive plan for all these products. Check out the video demo:

http://www.vimeo.com/3951867

Useful Links and Other Opinions

• Yahoo! Mobile – official site
• Sneak peek: Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone – Yahoo! Messenger Blog
• Yahoo! Mobile for Web Launches Across More Than 300 Devices Around the World – Press Release
• Yahoo Gets It Right: New Mobile Website, iPhone App Launch – Search Engine Land
• Yahoo Takes Mobile, Messenger to iPhone – PC World
• Yahoo Rolls Out iPhone App at CTIA Wireless – eWeek

Google Syncs Your Phone

I can remember when… (man, I sound like my grandpa) 

I remember when your cell phone (we didn’t call them mobiles) had it’s own address book, and you had no way to back it up. If you lost the phone and didn’t have a redundant storage system (paper or PC), you were screwed. 

Smartphones emerged and we could sync! Well, we could if ActiveSync didn’t act up and give us grief. But we were still tethered to a single PC. 

The phone companies started offering to backup your address book from your phone — for a cost. Are you kidding me?! 

Now Google comes along and introduces Google Sync, promising to sync not only your contacts, but your calendar entries as well (if your phone supports it). Google Sync is currently in beta, and works with the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and many Nokia phones. Of course, you’ll have to have a Google account to make use of this, but if you do, you’ll want this. 

The beauty of Google Sync is that you can make changes on either your phone or on the web (via any internet-connected PC) . The updates syncronize in both directions. 

Here’s a video overview of Google Sync:

There are some subtle differences between features and functionality on different devices, so be sure to check their site for the details on your phone. 

And remember that this is beta — be sure to backup your contacts and calendars just in case. Google even reminds iPhone users: 

Important! Google Sync uses the Microsoft© Exchange ActiveSync© protocol. When setting up a new Exchange ActiveSync account on your iPhone, all existing Contacts and Calendar events will be removed from your phone. Please make sure to back up any important data before you set up Google Sync.

All existing contacts and calendar events will be removed? Gulp! 

Seriously, back up first, but give it a try. I’ve been using it happily for some time with no serious problems. 

Google Sync

BeeJive IM Now on the Blackberry

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire – February 23, 2009) – As a thank you to its loyal BlackBerry community, Beejive today announced a week-long sale on BeejiveIM for BlackBerry, the most reliable and user-friendly mobile IM application on the market today. This native, highly customizable application will be available for as little as $14.95, a $5.00 discount, from midnight PT, Monday, February 23, until midnight PT, Sunday, March 1.

“Beejive has been wildly successful in bringing the power of desktop instant messaging to mobile users,” said Kai Yu, founder and CEO, Beejive. “We would like to offer the BlackBerry community, which helped us build our business, a chance to get BeejiveIM for an unprecedented low price before we issue a major new release — which will be a free upgrade — in just a few more weeks.”

BeejiveIM for BlackBerry supports AIM®/iChat®/MobileMe®, MSN®/Windows Live®, Yahoo!®, MySpace, GoogleTalk®, SameTime®, ICQ®, & Jabber, allowing users to access all of their IM clients from one user-friendly interface. With BeejiveIM, users can experience the connectivity and full features of desktop instant messaging from their BlackBerrys, making it much easier and cost-effective to communicate than via texting.

 

In addition to the BeejiveIM for BlackBerry device license being available at a $5.00 discount, the user license will also be available for only $24.95, down from $29.95. The user license is for use on one BlackBerry device at a time but can be transferred to other BlackBerrys for free, allowing users to bring their license with them as they change models.

To purchase the BeejiveIM for BlackBerry licenses at the special sale price, please visit http://beejive.com/blackberry/.

About Beejive

Based in San Francisco, Beejive (pronounced \be-hiv\) is a privately held company specializing in the design and development of software for mobile devices. Founded in 2006, Beejive strives to become the world’s premier developer of fast, reliable, and easy-to-use mobile software. BeejiveIM, the initial offering from Beejive’s product portfolio, is a multi-protocol instant messaging client that connects the mobile user to the major instant messaging networks. BeejiveIM was created to address the lack of reliable, user-friendly instant messaging applications available to mobile users. For more information, please visit www.beejive.com.

Expanded Forums for Social Networks and Mobile Devices

For seven years, BigBlueBall has been one of the few reliable resources on the web for coverage of all instant messenger networks. In those seven years, we’ve seen IM products come and go, and been here with you all the way. Your instant messaging contact list was then, and still is today, the original social network.

Today, technology gives us lots of choices for connecting with our friends, family and associates. Social networks like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter let use keep our friends up-to-date with a persistent that isn’t matched by IM. Mobile technology helps us stay connected no matter where or when.

To help you sort out the veritable plethora (gawd I’ve wanted to say that for so long!) of connection options, we are expanding BigBlueBall to cover all the ways you can stay connected. To begin, we have added two new forum sections.

The new Social Networks section has forums for Myspace, Facebook and other social networks.

And the Cell Phones, Mobiles & PDAs section includes forums for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Apple’s iPhone, Google Android and others.

Thanks to Philip for getting the ball rolling with his poll, and thanks to all of you who shared your view of where BigBlueBall should be moving.

Now join me in the forums and bring your tips, links, and questions.