With BlackBerry World set to kick off early next month, you can expect BlackBerry-related leaks to keep rolling in hot and heavy for the next few weeks. We’ve already exclusively handled RIM’s upcoming flagship smartphones — the BlackBerry Bold Touch, the BlackBerry Torch 2 and the BlackBerry Touch (Monaco/Monza) — but there are plenty more goodies just waiting to be unearthed. Expected to launch alongside BlackBerry OS 6.1, screenshots of BlackBerry Messenger have been posted to a BlackBerry enthusiast forum. The images show a slightly redesigned look and minor UX enhancements, but the full feature list is still unknown so there may still be a few tidbits yet to be revealed. It might not be the version of BBM we’re all anxious to see RIM launch, but it’s never a bad thing when the company adds new features to its beloved BlackBerry Messenger.

[Via CrackBerry]

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Skype announced Thursday that it will acquire mobile video software and service provider Qik. Unconfirmed rumors suggest the deal will be worth approximately $100 million. Qik specializes in mobile video broadcasting and video calling services, the latter being an area that Skype has been particularly interested in lately. Qik emerged among a group of similar services but broke out in 2010 thanks to carrier and manufacturer deals that helped net the service 4.4 million new subscribers over the course of the year. Qik’s bread and butter is currently the Android OS, though it also offers clients for other platforms including iOS and Symbian. “The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices,” said Skype CEO Tony Bates in a statement. “Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.” Hit the break for Skype’s full press release.

Skype To Acquire Qik

Combined companies bring deeper video capabilities across devices

LUXEMBOURG, 6 January 2011 — Skype today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Qik, a provider of mobile video software and services that enable individuals to capture, instantly share and preserve great moments on video from anywhere. Qik has 60 employees, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has an office in Moscow, Russia. The transaction is expected to close in January 2011. Terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

Qik was founded in 2006 and offers innovative and flexible solutions to capture and share video with anyone across mobile devices, the web, and desktop platforms. Videos can be shared in real time or stored so moments can be viewed later, allowing for video messaging, sharing and archiving. The Qik service is available on over 200 mobile phones across the Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, and comes pre-loaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with leading handset manufacturers and carriers.

Both Skype and Qik have a common purpose of enriching communications and sharing with video, across any device. The acquisition of Qik helps accelerate Skype’s leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to Skype’s product portfolio. Through this acquisition, Skype will also be able to leverage the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming™ technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.

“The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices,” said Tony Bates, Skype’s Chief Executive Officer. “Skype’s software enables an estimated 25 percent of the world’s international long distance voice calling minutes*, and approximately 40 percent of those Skype-to-Skype calls are happening over video. Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.”

Together, Skype and Qik will focus on providing a richer, more integrated experience that will allow people globally to share experiences in real-time video across different platforms, as well as, store those moments so they can be viewed anytime later.

“Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them,” said Vijay Tella, Chief Executive Officer of Qik. “Joining Skype allows Qik’s team to unite with Skype’s talented team to develop new and innovative products for our customers and partners.”

* 2010 TeleGeography Research issued on January 6, 2011; 24.7% of total international PSTN and international Skype-to-Skype calling minutes.

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Our friends over at Facebook were nice enough to hook us up with an invite to the initial roll-out of the company’s new messaging service announced this week. We’ve been messing around with the system for a few hours and thought we would put together some initial impressions for those who are interested or curious. Hit the jump and let’s get to it.

The announcement of the new messaging feature, which was delivered by Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, hammered home a message that was clear and consistent: this is a new messaging platform, not an email killer. And we think that assessment is spot on. When Facebook activates its new messaging system on your account you are presented with the above screen asking you to upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete, Facebook asks you several questions in order to figure out how you are going to be utilizing the new service. The three questions are: would you like a facebook.com email address, would you like to setup your phone to receive SMS messages from Facebook, and would you like to take Facebook’s chat client online (if it isn’t already)? Once those preferences are configured the messages application looks the same but acts very different.

All messages you receive from a single contact are aggregated under that contact’s name; from there, the list is sorted by date received. Below each contact’s name (they are all burred in the above screen shot) is the subject of the message (if there is one) followed by a small snippet from the message. Messages are displayed in the following format:

Subject • Snippet from the message…

Once you enter one of these contact threads, the real magic begins. The threads present you with all of your correspondences that have been routed through Facebook with a particular contact. Facebook IMs, emails to and from your facebook.com email address, Facebook messages, and SMS messages. The Facebook team said they were trying to keep the context and consciousness of your message streams as they happen in real life — people often switch from email, to IM, to SMS, etc. — and they did a very good job.

Below is a threaded conversation between BGR President Jonathan Geller and myself. You’ll notice that there is a small, gray icon directly to the right of each individual message’s timestamp. This indicates the medium through which the message was sent. A small chat bubble indicates the message originated from a Facebook chat window, a small phone indicates the person used a mobile device, and an envelope indicates email. When you reply to a message it automatically uses the last medium the messages sender used. If your message came via email the reply is sent via email and so on.

During the course of our conversation, we seamlessly bounced between Facebook’s messaging center and chat windows, the Facebook app on our mobile devices, and SMS. The entire correspondence was captured by the new message center.

If you have SMS setup, new chat windows actually allow senders (writing from Facebook’s new system) to choose SMS as a medium; Facebook says this feature is for very important messages that required immediate attention, and the feature can be disabled or restricted. While still a little rough around the edges, the whole concept of switching communication methods without switching programs is pretty slick.

However, there were a few things we didn’t like about the system. Push notifications of new messages when away from Facebook (currently only supported on the iOS client) were a little spotty. We couldn’t find any way to set up our Google Voice number as the preferred SMS destination — to try and avoid Facebook blowing through our text messaging quota — so we ended up disabling the SMS option.

Also, as advertised, Facebook really did make digital communication feel way less formal… and we’re not sure we like it. Now, we’re in our late-twenties (Jonathan isn’t but he’s an old soul), which could make us too old to understand the new concept, but we sort of like the formality that is in emailing. A nice subject line, a salutation, paragraphs… if you write a friend, colleague, or family member a long, formatted email it says something about the subject matter and the value you place on it. Although thought-out messages are completely doable with Facebook’s system, the way the content is laid out and presented sort of urges you to write a short, maybe even curt, response.

So what are our final thoughts? Don’t be fooled; this is a great service. If you have a large group of friends on Facebook — and we’re guessing if you are under 30 you do — it makes communicating, organizing, and viewing conversations with friends extremely easy. The messaging platform, which we remind you is still in the testing phase, does need some tweaking and refining, but it just may be where online communication is headed. Will hordes of people begin using facebook.com addresses as their primary means of communication? No, probably not anytime soon. Are we inclined to use Facebook’s messaging system a lot more? Yes. And we’re pretty sure that is the point.

It seems like every single Android user that’s moved from their iPhone or BlackBerry handset is saying the same thing: Google Talk is great, but our other Instant Messaging options are terrible. There’s also a good chance they’re actually asking for Beejive IM by name, and today, that will finally change. Set to debut in the Android Market later this afternoon, Beejive IM for Android will come out swinging at $9.99. I’ve been using it in beta form and now final form for weeks, and here are my impressions.

First off, if you’ve ever used Beejive for a different platform, you’re going to immediately feel at home. The account sign-in screen is pretty straight forward, and once your login details are entered, you are off and running. Or IMing. What’s great about this app is that it’s not only incredibly reliable (something Beejive has perfected ever since it started as a BlackBerry developer), but it’s intuitive, and it even matches the iPhone version pretty closely feature by feature. Sending and receiving photos, videos, audio notes, and other documents is all supported, and Beejive can also make use of Android’s push capability on Android 2.2 + handsets.

Something unique about the Android version, however, is a nifty little pull down conversation drawer. Just like Android’s system-wide notification drawer, the conversation drawer gives you the ability to quickly and effortless switch between your open conversations. All in all, what we have used is hands down the best Android IM app created, better than even AOL’s official AIM app. If you have been waiting for real instant messaging every since the T-Mobile G1 came out, you don’t have to wait too much longer.

Disclosure: Beejive helped develop and launch TweetGenius, a Twitter application for BlackBerry smartphones, with BGR.

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This morning, Yahoo! announced the release of Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger app for Android. Available for download in the Market, the Yahoo! apps provide a tad more functionality to those Android users who aren’t “with Google” like their phone’s OS may be. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Yahoo! Launches Yahoo!(R) Mail and Yahoo! Messenger Apps for Android

Also Debuts New Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News HTML5 Mobile Websites for iPhone; Yahoo! Search Widget for Android

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jul 01, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — In continuing to develop leading mobile products and services that reach a broad audience across multiple platforms, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today expanded the reach of its industry-leading services with the immediate availability of Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger apps for Android as well as a Yahoo! Search Widget for Android.

Leveraging the latest HTML5 technology, Yahoo! is also debuting faster and richer Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News sites for iPhone and iPod Touch. These new mobile products will provide the hundreds of millions of loyal consumers who rely on Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Search, and News with seamless, integrated experiences on their mobile devices.

“Yahoo! keeps more than 600 million consumers around the world connected to the people and things that matter to them most – wherever and whenever they want,” said David Ko, senior vice president, Americas, Audience, Mobile, and Local for Yahoo!. “With the availability of our world-class Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger apps for Android and by harnessing the latest in HTML5, we’re making it easier than ever for consumers to access fast, reliable, and feature-rich Yahoo! experiences across some of the fastest growing platforms in the market.”

Easy Access to Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger on Android

With a visually stunning interface as well as new functionality and other enhancements optimized for the Android platform, the Yahoo! apps for Android provide more than 300 million Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger users with the best communication experience for easily accessing and sharing information on Android phones.

The Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger Android apps are available globally as free downloads available in the Android Market, supporting OS 2.0 or newer.

With the new Yahoo! Mail App for Android, consumers can:

• Receive push notification of new email messages
• Send emails to contacts from the Yahoo! Address Book as well as to contacts in the native phone address book
• Search email messages by sender, recipient, subject and keywords
• Upload photos as attachments directly from the phone’s camera or the photo gallery
• View and download attachments
• Insert emoticons and rich text formatting into emails
• Effectively manage and organize their Yahoo! Mail messages, folders, and spam
• Easily toggle between the Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger apps
• In addition to providing a robust consumer experience, the Yahoo! Mail app for Android offers advertisers an opportunity to reach a highly engaged mobile audience. Samsung is the inaugural advertiser with a rich media display advertising unit.

With the new Yahoo! Messenger App for Android, consumers can:

• Easily message friends, check friends’ status updates and availability and update their personal status and availability
• Send instant messages to friends via SMS text message1
• Multitask and stay connected with the app working in the background; with push notifications, consumers can easily catch new messages and friend requests
• Get full use of emoticons and rich text formatting
• Send photos to friends directly from the phone’s camera or the photo gallery

Also available today, the Yahoo! Search Widget for Android provides consumers with convenient one-click access to Yahoo! Search. After the Widget is installed, a Yahoo! Search box is easily accessible on the home screen. With voice search for easier input, Search Assist for quick suggestions and recommendations, and auto-locate technology to deliver locally relevant results, the Yahoo! Search Widget quickly provides the answers a consumer needs.

The Yahoo! Search Widget is currently available in the U.S. only for free. It is available for download in the Android Market and supports OS 2.0 or newer.

Upgraded Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News for iPhone and iPod Touch

Harnessing the latest technology, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News are now built on HTML5 to give consumers a faster and more sophisticated mobile browsing experience.

The upgraded Yahoo! Mail offers consumers a webmail experience that is fast and reliable and that easily surfaces rich content. Now available globally in 28 languages across 200 countries, Yahoo! Mail is optimized for iPhone and iPod Touch and is expected to be available across other Webkit-enabled browsers in the future.

With HTML5 Yahoo! Mail consumers can:

• View HTML messages; compose rich text messages, reply, search emails, and access folders while offline
• Manage folders and create smart folders with messages from key contacts
• Surface photos and video attachments directly within the mail preview
• Enjoy a seamless experience with Yahoo! Mail across mobile and desktop

Additionally, now Yahoo! News includes an all-new layout with animated visual effects and navigation that uses touch gestures to deliver a compelling news experience. Yahoo! brings the news to life with photos, slideshows, and video features, and provides consumers with an option to explore related articles. Currently available in the U.S. on the iPhone or iPod Touch browser, the product is expected to become available in additional countries and on additional devices.

For more information about the products and services, visit Yahoo.com and search for: “Yahoo! and Mobile”

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Some huge news this evening in the world of prepaid mobiles as Sprint has announced its new strategies for Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. With some 60 million Americans using prepaid mobiles, Sprint feels the time is right to make an all-out assault on the market. Said Sprint’s Dan Schulman: “This is the year that prepaid moves to the forefront of the wireless industry. In the first quarter of 2010, more than half of the mobile gross additions in the U.S. selected prepaid, and we predict that approximately 70% of the net adds in 2010 will choose plans without a contract,” adding that “the no-contract market has clearly moved beyond the credit-challenged and lower income segments.” Here’s what’s in the pipeline.

As of May 12th, Virgin Mobile will begin offering Beyond Talk plans. Ranging from $25 to $60 per month, each plan includes unlimited SMS/MMS, email, data and web. The $25 plan includes 300 minutes, the $40 plan 1,200 minutes and the $60 plan has unlimited minutes. Throw in an extra $10 per month and you’ll be able to hook a BlackBerry up to BIS. Yes, you read that right. $35 for a BlackBerry with unlimited data. If you’re a bit puzzled as to why Virgin is more focused on data and texts over voice minutes, the reason is simple: the amount of voice minutes used by young adults continues to plummet as email, IM and SMS grows at a rate of 150% during the years 2007 to 2009. Factor in 1800% growth in mobile data in this segment and it’s pretty obvious Virgin is one of the few companies that actually caters to the demands of its customers. This brings us to its new handsets. Virgin Mobile will be bringing the LG Rumor Touch and Rumor 2 ($149.99 and $89.99, both only available off contract), and Kyocera Loft ($69.99) into the fold with the BlackBerry Curve 8530 launching at the end of May with a retail price of $299.99.

As for Boost, not much is new in terms of plans (keep in mind it just announced that unlimited calls to 411, email and IM were recently added to its $50 unlimited plan which also includes all the talking, texting and web you wish), but now we know for sure that it will soon be carrying the Samsung Rant and Kyocera Incognito, Mirror and Juno.

Hit up the jump to check out the press release.

SPRINT’S PREPAID MULTI-BRAND STRATEGY

FOCUSES ON DISTINCT CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

Differentiated Brands Old & New Aim to Serve

Increasingly Diverse Audiences, Tackle Specific Competitors

WARREN, N.J. – May 6, 2010 – Sprint [NYSE:S] today officially unveiled its comprehensive multi-segment approach to the prepaid wireless marketplace. Since Sprint’s acquisition of Virgin Mobile USA, Inc., the company has rolled out a series of new prepaid products, enhancements and industry-advancing products, each designed to appeal to specific customers in the wireless space.

“We brought together the resources and experience of the Boost and Virgin Mobile teams in late 2009,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse.  “Since that time, we have been developing the critical pieces of our multi-brand prepaid strategy.  Our approach to the prepaid market can truly set us apart from the competition with tailored offers that will address specific needs in this growing market.”

“This is the year that prepaid moves to the forefront of the wireless industry,” said Dan Schulman, president of Sprint’s prepaid group.  “In the first quarter of 2010, more than half of the mobile gross additions in the U.S. selected prepaid, and we predict that approximately 70% of the net adds in 2010 will choose plans without a contract.”

“With almost 60 million people now on prepaid service,” Schulman continued, “the no-contract market has clearly moved beyond the credit-challenged and lower income segments.  The prepaid market has changed dramatically, with customers across multiple demographics and lifestyles demanding a wide variety of handsets, features, and plans tailored to their specific needs and wants.”

Sprint’s prepaid portfolio will initially be driven by four brands, with each focused on a specific audience.  “The launch of this portfolio goes far beyond changing prices,” explained Schulman.  “We are introducing innovative and attractive offers for specific groups of customers based on usage and habits – from those who are on limited budgets and use their phones infrequently to those who want high-end devices to use for all their communications, entertainment and social networking.”

Virgin Mobile USA

Reinventing prepaid wireless once again, Virgin Mobile will introduce an innovative new value proposition that focuses on serving customers who use text and data services to power constant connection with their social networks.

With unlimited messaging, email, data and web included on all plans starting at just $25 a month and a new high-end handset lineup, Virgin Mobile will offer a clear alternative for customers who want a data-driven service without expensive annual contracts and thousands of unnecessary voice minutes. With the addition of the lowest-priced BlackBerry® service plan in the market, Virgin Mobile will provide real value for individuals looking to stay connected without compromising on handset or service quality.

The way youth and young adults communicate has changed dramatically over the past few years.  Data from Nielsen shows that usage patterns for postpaid mobile subscribers aged 18-34 shifted from 2007 to 2009.  Minutes of talk dropped over 10% while messages sent and received grew by more than 150%.  The amount of data usage within this group grew by over 1800% during the same time period.

Beyond Talk™

On May 12, Virgin Mobile will unveil three new “Beyond Talk” plans that all include unlimited messaging, email, data and web [with no incremental fees or taxes]:

• The revolutionary $25 plan is the industry’s lowest price point for unlimited messaging, email, data and web with 300 minutes of voice per month, ideal for high-end device users seeking an unbeatable price to enable the text and data services they need.
• The $40 plan includes unlimited messaging, email, data and web with 1,200 minutes of voice per month — the perfect value for those seeking an affordable plan with everything they need.
• The $60 plan includes unlimited messaging, email, data and web with unlimited voice to offer great value for high-end smartphone users expecting an unlimited plan to cost much more.

For the first time, Virgin Mobile customers can add Blackberry® data service to any of these plans for just $10 more, enabling an unprecedented $35 plan consisting of both voice calling and Blackberry data service.

“Our new offers target a continuing evolution in wireless consumer behavior – increased use of text and data services as a form of wireless communication over talk,” explained Schulman.  “These Beyond Talk plans offer the most accessible solution for customers seeking that data-driven lifestyle — unlimited text and data on their terms without a contract, at prices they will love, without requiring them to buy extra minutes they don’t need.”

New Handsets

Virgin Mobile’s new handset lineup proves that a two-year contract isn’t necessary to get a hot data-driven device:

• The Blackberry Curve™ 8530 smartphone is a particularly desirable device without a contract.  Key features include an approachable form factor, full-QWERTY keyboard, optical track pad, Wi-Fi connectivity, dedicated media keys, and 2 MP camera.  The Blackberry Curve 8530 smartphone will be available for $299.99 at retail and at www.virginmobileusa.om at the end of May.

• The LG Rumor Touch™ at $149.99 is the first full touch interface handset from Virgin Mobile and is only available without a contract on these plans. Customers can use all the data they want and message all of their friends easily and simply with a Beyond Talk plan. This handset is ideal for the super-connected with an external memory drive that can store up to 16GB of data.

• The very popular LG Rumor 2™ QWERTY launched last year, also only available without a contract from Virgin Mobile.  For $89.99, it allows customers to message quickly and easily with preloaded apps like the Ultimate Inbox, threaded messaging and Connect social networking. The popular Opera Mini web browser is included as well.

• The Kyocera Loft QWERTY for $69.99 suits message-savvy customers perfectly with an embedded instant messaging and email application, and message threading for SMS and MMS in a single inbox. The camera phone includes the networking features mentioned above as well as a Google Maps and other navigational applications.

Virgin Mobile USA continues to serve its current base of prepaid customers with a wide range of handsets, monthly unlimited plans, Minute Packs, Texters Delight and Broadband2Go.

Broadband

Broadband2Go, launched last year under the Virgin Mobile label, also targets the needs of the high data-using crowd that wants easy wireless Internet access wherever they are but doesn’t want to sign a long-term contract.

“Since we expanded distribution, lowered the price, and added more data capacity without changing prices, sales have tripled,” said Schulman.  “We’ll continue to enhance this product line as well, possibly under multiple brands to include new services and the very latest in high speed networks, including 4G where available.”

Broadband2Go operates on Sprint’s Nationwide Network, unlike other prepaid broadband offers.

Boost Mobile

Boost Mobile continues its popularity by focusing on consumers who love to talk and text and stay connected with the best value and straightforward monthly unlimited pricing.  With more than 25% of U.S households now wireless-only for voice, Boost offers value and service that is second to none.  This week, Boost added unlimited 411 calls, email and instant messaging to its $50 Monthly Unlimited plan, which also features unlimited talk, text and web access.

Boost’s ever-increasing suite of CDMA handsets, introduced in late January, is driving significant consumer demand.  The Blackberry Curve 8830 smartphone, launched earlier this year, is joined by the Samsung Rant™ and, from Sanyo by Kyocera, the Incognito™, Mirro™ SCP3810 and Juno™ on the CDMA side.  Depending on a customer’s choice of features, Boost Mobile also is available on the Nextel National Network for push-to-talk technology.

Assurance Wireless

First launched late last year, Assurance Wireless is a free wireless service developed specifically for the 37 million eligible low-income households who need it most. Qualifying customers – often cash-constrained individuals eligible for government- assistance programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) – receive a free cell phone and 200 free minutes of airtime for local and long-distance calling every month.

Sprint is “proud to offer this valuable program,” according to Schulman, which is currently available in Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia and will continue to expand as individual states approve the program. To date, hundreds of thousands have signed up for this uniquely tailored offer.  Sprint anticipates that Assurance Wireless will be available in approximately 25 states by the end of 2010.

A New Pay By the Minute Brand

During Sprint’s first quarter earnings call, reference was made to another new brand to launch this month targeting budget-conscious customers who spend less than $30 per month and are focused on the value they pay per minute.  Roughly 63% of the no-contract market chooses to pay by the minute or by the day.

“There are millions of people who don’t want or can’t afford smartphones and expensive data plans,” said Schulman.  “This is the traditional no-frills prepaid customer base.  For these ‘basic communicators,’ we are creating a fresh brand with industry-leading value and consumer-friendly offers.”  Designed to resonate directly with cost-conscious consumers, this new brand is expected to initially debut at retail in approximately 16 markets.

While Google isn’t the type to shake in its booties at the sight of a smaller competitor with a rival product, we’ve spent a bit of time playing with a service the Goog might be wise to keep its eye on: Virtual Phone Numbers by 3jam. The company just announced the public beta availability of this new service today and we have to be honest with you, it wipes the floor with Google Voice in a lot of ways. Of course it falls short in some areas as well, but since it’s a brand new beta we’re hoping to see progress come swiftly. Just like Google Voice, 3jam’s offering provides call forwarding with simultaneous ring, “visual voicemail” available online coupled with email notifications/transcriptions, etc. It also offers several key benefits over Google’s offering however, so GV lovers might want to hit the jump and check it out.

The major difference between the two services at first glance is cost. Google Voice provides most of its functionality free of charge but VPN is a pay service. In terms of features and versatility however, it can definitely be worth the cost — which is a la carte with no monthly plan, or as low as $4.99 per month if you pay for a year up front. Here are some key benefits of VPN over Google Voice as stated by 3jam:

• 3jam lets you take calls not just on phones, but also on Skype or IM clients
• Phone numbers for groups: including sharable voicemail, group text messaging, and micro-PBX features
• Receiving and responding to text messages via email
• Number portability
• Free developer API for each phone number
• International support
• White label availability [3jam just announced a big deal with Peek to provide SMS services for its devices]

A few of those points are of particular interest to us. First of all, yes, you can port your number into the service. While Google has stated that it’s working on incoming number portability, the feature is available right now with VPN. Next is IM client support. Simultaneous ring is awesome but when you throw IM support into the mix it takes on a whole new dimension. We tested the service with Skype and it worked perfectly — no Skype-In credit required — and the service works with AIM, Gtalk and the like as well, though if you use a third party chat app you may run into some difficulties. Last but definitely not least, SMS handling. VPN will forward incoming SMS to your cell or your email; a feature we absolutely love. If you choose to send SMS messages to your email you can simply reply to the message as you normally would and it will be delivered to your recipient as an SMS from your VPN number. Awesome.

Let’s also not forget an unmentioned advantage over GV: 3jam’s VPN beta is open to everyone, so there’s no waiting for an invite involved.

There are a few things about the service we’d like to see changed of course, and the first is pricing. We have no problem paying for a premium service but the pricing scheme is a bit complex because the service itself has so many variables. This is no doubt a hurdle for 3jam but hopefully with time and new agreements the company can consolidate things and simplify the offering. Beyond that, the key feature the service is missing is the ability to make outbound calls from your VPN number. This is a huge piece of the puzzle for many but since 3jam’s background is primarily in SMS, we’re sure it’ll take them a bit of time before that finish putting together all the pieces. We do have confirmation that 3jam is working on implementing outbound calls though, so sit tight.

The only other real gripe we had involves one of our favorite features — SMS to email. Apparently 3jam’s system doesn’t compare messages it sends to replies it receives, nor does it have whatever magic signature/footer removal sauce some other products have. In other words, replies we sent were delivered along with unwanted chunks of the original message we received. What’s more, when we tried to delete the original message so nothing but our text would go through, the legal disclaimer appended to all of our outgoing mail was sent as well, in its entirety. So instead of our recipient getting one SMS with our three-word response, he received four messages full of legal junk. Sorry dude.

In the end, VPN is a service on the brink of greatness but it needs refining — hence the beta tag. Definitely check it out and don’t be shy with feedback… The more you give, the better the service will hopefully get.

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It’s not a T-Mobile myTouch 3G (aka the dumbest name in marketing history), but Samsung is going to take care of that feature-phone segment with a new 3G handset — or at least try to. The Samsung Highlight will be available this month if you’re interested. It’ll retail for $150 after rebates and here are the official specs:

• Large touch-screen display, thin-profile design
• Available in two colors options: fire and ice
• 3 megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom and video capture
• Stereo Bluetooth
• microSD slot for up to 16 GB of optional removable memory
• Music player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+
• Support for SMS, MMS, instant messaging (IM) and e-mail
• IM support: AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger
• E-mail support: AOL, Yahoo!, additional POP3 accounts
• Complete Web access through T-Mobile web2go
• A-GPS with Location Based Services by TeleNav
• Quad-band GSM world phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• UMTS/HSDPA-capable (1700/2100 – AWS Band IV)
• Display: 1.61 x 2.64 inches, 240 x 400 pixels, 262k TFT display
• 4.27 x 2.11 x 0.54 inches; 3.7 ounces

You heard that right, folks. People complaining that Apple’s very-much-delayed push notification service might be delayed again can all relax — Beejive 3.0, the fantastic new version with push support will be going live in about an hour or so from now.

We exclusively gave you a look at Beejive for iPhone almost a year ago, and you have to give us some credit — we called it the best IM application for the iPhone, and were we right? Now think about push notifications and a whole slew of other additions and tweaks and you’re looking at a desktop-class IM application. We’ve been using a version with push for a pretty long time and can safely say it doesn’t disappoint. Here’s a breakdown of the new goodies and let us know when you try the new version!

• Push notifications
• Meta contacts (link IM buddies to address book entries!)
• Various UI enhancements, updated layout and color schemes
• Performance enhancements

Oh yeah, two more things… the price is now $9.99 (down from $15.99), and we’re testing a version that allows videos to be sent over AIM. (You could always send photos) Look for this in the near future.

Today Verizon took the wraps off of three devices we feel like we already know all too well. Starting off with the successor to the Voyager, the evV TOUCH features a 3-inch touchscreen display on the exterior, a non-touch 3-inch display on the interior, full-QWERTY keypad, 3.2 megapixel camera with a Schneider Kreuznach lens and auto-focus, 3.5mm headphone jack and the ability to view Microsoft Office documents from a microSD card. The enV 3 features a full-QWERTY keypad as well, but it has a 2.6-inch external display coupled with a 1.56-incher on the inside and support for microSD cards up to 16GB. Moving on to the Glance, not much to see here other than the 1.3 megapixel camera, 2.5mm headphone jack and slim silhouette. All three devices feature GPS by way of VZ Navigator, mobile email, web and IM in addition to threaded SMS and MMS. The enV TOUCH will be available on June 5th for $149.99 after a $70 MIR with the Glance coming out the same day for $49.99 after a $50 MIR. The enV 3 will be available tomorrow for $129.99 after a $50 MIR.

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We’ve just received this little nugget from one of our ninjas about an upcoming handset for T-Mobile, the Samsung T349. While the device itself is nothing too fancy, it is nonetheless a pretty interesting device in that T-Mobile has describes it internally as a “20-key messaging phone.” Despite the blurriness of the image above, we are able to see that the entry-level T349 indeed features a keypad much like the SureType keypads found on the BlackBerry Pearl and Pearl Flip. Specs are as follows:

• 20-key keypad
• 1.3 megapixel camera w/ video capture
• SMS, MMS, Email and IM
• Bluetooth
• Speakerphone
• Photo caller ID, alarm clock, calculator,
• Mobile backup
• GPRS connectivity

Look for the Samsung T349 to make its retail debut to both pre and post-paid subscribers on May 20th. Believe it or not, this little guy is the first new handset added to T-Mobile’s pre-paid line-up in the past year. Yay?

Palringo first launched its instant messaging app for the iPhone back in July and for six months it has been one of the best options available for IM on the iPhone. The app is sleek and functional, marrying text IM, picture messaging and PTT-like vocal messaging with a multi-platform solution that covers all of the major chat services. Oh, and it’s all free. Today, Palringo announced a new build that adds some great new functionality to its already-capable app revolving around Location Based Services (LBS). As is the trend these days, software developers are finding all sorts of different ways to integrate LBS into their offerings but sometimes things get a tad out of control. Do you think any of your Twitter friends really want you to broadcast your location every 10 minutes? In an IM app however, location adds a new and useful layer to contact presence and Palringo is working on some great features. Included in this update, users will now see location and distance (from the user) data alongside each Palringo contact in their list. In a forthcoming update due very soon, tapping a contact’s location will bring up a map displaying all contacts within a 6-mile radius. The user will also be able to bring up a map displaying his or her own location. We’re sure you can see where Palringo is going with all this, but suffice it say we can expect pretty great things in the near future from Palringo surrounding LBS. If you haven’t tried the app yet, definitely hit the app store and do so. Those of you with jailbroken iPhones, toss Backgrounder into the mix for best results.

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Fringers, start your updating. The Israeli mobile comms company has just announced the release of a new version of its popular application that brings Last.fm streaming and friend-monitoring to the fring app. Users can now enjoy custom streaming radio stations while chatting with friends without ever having to leave the fring application. All of your favorite types of Last.fm stations are available and Love/Ban functions are supported as well. Sweet! For the time being, Last.fm via fring is not available on the platform that needs it most – the iPhone – but hopefully we’ll see an update soon. Since S60 allows third-party applications to be minimized, Mobbler can easily be used to stream Last.fm while a user is chatting in fring. With the iPhone on the other hand, where the Last.fm app cannot be sent to the background while the user is fringing (yes, we know Backgrounder can remedy this on jailbroken iPhones), the addition of of Last.fm streaming would certainly be welcome. Hit the jump for a very peculiar video that sums up the latest version of fring nicely.

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Not long ago, a story ran around the blogosphere pitching the idea that Apple should take the piles of cash it’s sitting on and use it to revolutionize the banking industry. Sure, “iBank” is an interesting concept but there’s one major rub: Apple knows nothing about banking. Apple is a computer company, a digital service company, a hardware manufacturer, a software company and many other things, but it is by no means a bank. The time, new hires, training and investment it would take to prep Cupertino for a banking entrance negates much of the potential benefit and as such, it won’t happen. The same can be said for an online auction house entering the telco industry – the only problem is the latter example actually happened. When eBay purchased Skype four years ago for $2.6 billion, many wondered what it was thinking. Now, four years later, eBay finally seems to be wondering the same thing… What were we thinking? As a result of some comments made by eBay CEO John Donahoe regarding its recent earnings call, the internet is ablaze once again with rumors that the company is finally looking to offload Skype. Donahoe:

[Skype would make a] great stand-alone busines… The synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal. We’re going to continue to run and operate the business. It’s not a distraction currently. And at such time when we have further announcements on that, we’ll let you know.

Of course as is always the case with any story citing analyst sources and inference, this is all speculation for the time being. We consider this a feeler from Donahoe; I’ll be taking calls from interested parties, if you will. Bottom line? eBay is an auction house. Paypal – awesome, logical buy. Skype – not so much.

[Via DealBook]

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It’s been a long time in the making but Nokia has finally announced the culmination of its recent development and acquisitions: Nokia Messaging. The service is essentially a combination of messaging applications rolled up into what should be a nice and tidy little package. Mobile email, PIM management, Instant Messaging, push delivery services and more are all covered by the new Nokia Messaging product. There will also be an available web portal into the service (and how about a desktop suite built with Adobe Air?) that will allow users to send and receive email, manage files and more from any web browser. Tom Furlong, Senior Vice President, Consumer Messaging, Services & Software had this to say:

We believe everybody should have mobile messaging – it’s not a privilege service that’s meant only for a certain segment of the market. With Nokia Messaging, our customers can simply and affordably gain mobile access to the world’s most popular email and IM accounts. We are making mobile messaging an affordable experience for everyone, not just for those with specialized phones designed for messaging, but for everyone with a Nokia device.

We’re not exactly sure which comparable mobile devices don’t come with messaging as the beginning of that quote alludes to, but more options are always a good thing. There will be cost associated with this service of course, or at least with certain parts of it, so we can only hope Nokia doesn’t use carriers to force Nokia Messaging on users who might still prefer whatever free option they are accustomed to.

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