Wireless Week: Skype's Latest iPhone Version Fixes Bugs, Mobile UC, Video Takes Center Stage at ITEXPO
Whether you’re in Miami or somewhere colder, chances are you’re very aware of mobile video’s hot factor.
ITEXPO East 2010 attendees got the chance to pop by all sorts of sessions on the topics of mobile video and unified communications at the event, held Jan. 20-22.
During “The Mobile Video Revolution (News - Alert)” session, speakers discussed the evolution of video-based collaboration and how to leverage the latest technology to achieve the highest quality real-time video possible today.
And during “Unified Communications -- The Progression from Desktop to Handheld,” speakers offered a look at unified communications applications and how they can “go mobile.” Attendees left with a better understanding of the challenges of mobile UC, along with its benefits, how to effectively deploy a mobile UC solution and a projection of the future of mobile UC.
Another notable ITEXPO event was the keynote speech from Skype’s Danny Windham, who touched on how open-source has been responsible for reducing margins and costs in the communications space, TMC CEO Rich Tehrani reported.
“Using Nortel as an example, Windham explained how the value of the company's enterprise assets dropped from a value of about $100 billion ten years ago to less than a billion dollars today,” Tehrani blogged. “Open-source as he mentioned is one of the reasons for this drop in value and coincidentally, Digium (News - Alert) is now ten years old according to Windham.”
Speaking of Skype, the company has released Version 1.3 of its popular iPhone VoIP service.
The new version is comes with a number of big improvements, including a call quality indicator to help users decide the right time to call, hints and tips and landscape mode for IM. Additionally, Skype -- whose CSO Christopher Dean will lead a keynote address on Jan. 21 at ITEXPO East 2010 -- said it also fixed the problem where calls would hang up when iPhone users received text messages.
However, Skype warned that the updated version does not come with features such as push notification, Bluetooth support, WiFi support or VoIP over 3G, according to reports. The 3G version of Skype’s VoIP app for iPhone will launch as soon as Apple gives the go-ahead for its addition to the App store.
“We’re waiting for Apple on this one,” Skype Chief Blogger Peter Parkes wrote. “As soon as Apple removes its current restrictions on calling over 3G, we’ll make a 3G-capable app available. We’ve got one up our sleeves ready for that moment, but for now, we’re being forced to wait.”
Meanwhile, in other gadget-related news, Alltel (News - Alert) Wireless reportedly unveiled the much-awaited, WiFi-fueled BlackBerry (News - Alert) Curve 8530 smartphone in retail stores and online. Features include a large full QWERTY keyboard, a track pad for easy navigation and dedicated media keys that are smoothly integrated along the top of the handset, giving customers an easy, convenient way to control their music and videos.
Users can easily get mobile access to e-mail, messaging and popular social networking sites such as Facebook (News - Alert) and MySpace – plus access to music, games and other mobile apps for entertainment on the go.
As for the highly anticipated Apple Tablet? The world is still waiting. We hope to have more updates on that one next week!
Marisa Torrieri is a TMCnet Web editor, covering IP hardware and mobility, including IP phones, smartphones, fixed-mobile convergence and satellite technology. She also compiles and regularly contributes to TMCnet's gadgets and satellite e-Newsletters. To read more of Marisa's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Marisa Torrieri
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