Vonage on Wednesday unveiled a new mobile app for the iPhone and Android smartphones that affords free calling and messaging along with cheap international calling rates. Vonage Mobile allows users to make free “high-definition” voice over IP calls among each other over Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G data connections, and low-cost calls can also be placed through the app to any landline or cell phone globally. The New Jersey-based Telco says its international calling rates are 70% lower than rates from major carriers and 30% lower than Skype. ”Vonage Mobile consolidates the best features of our prior applications, while adding important functionality, better value and improved ease of use,” Vonage CEO Marc Lefar said in a statement. “It combines the best of free high-def voice and messaging along with incredible value for traditional international calls, all while using the existing mobile number and address book for unsurpassed ease of use.” Vonage’s full press release follows below.

Vonage Launches New Mobile App Providing Free Calling and Texting to Other App Users around the World

Savings of more than 70 percent on international calls to those without the app

HOLMDEL, N.J., February 8, 2012 – Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) announced the launch of Vonage Mobile^®, the new iPhone^® and Android^™ app that lets users make free high-definition calls and send free texts to all users of the app, worldwide¹. The app works over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G wireless data networks.

When calling those who have not yet downloaded the app, Vonage Mobile provides ultra low-cost international calling with per-minute rates that are on average 70 percent less than major mobile carriers and 30 percent less than Skype^™2. Users can instantly add calling credit directly from the app through iTunes^® or Android Market^™ in increments of $4.99 and $9.99.

Vonage Mobile uses the phone’s existing mobile number and contact list, eliminating the need for unique user names and duplicate identities for contacts. Users can instantly build a free global calling and texting network using the app’s multi-invite system from their existing contacts.

“Vonage Mobile consolidates the best features of our prior applications, while adding important functionality, better value and improved ease of use,” said Marc Lefar, CEO of Vonage. “It combines the best of free high-def voice and messaging along with incredible value for traditional international calls, all while using the existing mobile number and address book for unsurpassed ease of use.”

In addition, calls to any phone in the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico from anywhere in the world will be free for a limited time³.

Users do NOT need to be a Vonage customer to use the app. However, as an added benefit to all app users, calls to Vonage home or business lines are also free. The Vonage Mobile app can be downloaded to any iPhone or Android device for free; and it also works on the iPad®, iPod Touch® and Android™ Tablets.

For more information on Vonage Mobile, please go to iTunes, Android Market or www.vonagemobile.com.

Google on Tuesday announced that calls placed within the United States and Canada using Google Voice will continue to be free through the end of 2012. “This is our way of helping you connect with friends and family across the country,” Group Product Manager Vincent Paquet wrote on a company blog. Google stated last year that calls made within the U.S. and Canada would be free through 2011, but the company is extending the promotion through 2012 for reasons unknown. Google Voice was born from Google’s acquisition of GrandCentral in 2007, and the later acquisition of Gizmo5 in 2009 is expected to eventually add VoIP capabilities to the service. For the time being, VoIP calling is only supported from within Gmail.

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A new breed of messaging services and mobile Voice over IP clients like Skype are already eating into carrier revenues according to a new study. Commissioned by mobile infrastructure solutions provider Mavenir Systems, interviews with 31 mobile network operators around the world found that one-third of carriers are already seeing voice traffic and SMS revenue decline as a result of the increased popularity of third-party solutions. Read on for more.

For years, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Messenger service has been one of the top features consumers and enterprise users loved about BlackBerry devices. It took much longer than some expected, but other vendors and third-party developers have finally come out in full force with competing services that provide SMS-like messaging over data networks at little or not cost to the user. Among those mentioned in this study are Apple’s new iMessage service, which allows iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users to chat with other iOS users for free, and WhatsApp, a third-party cross-platform service that works on iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian smartphones.

Mobile VoIP clients like Skype are also becoming increasingly popular. These third-party solutions offer free voice and video calling between account holders, often accompanied by deep discounts on international calling. Some solutions even provide unlimited domestic calling to landlines and cell phones for free.

The study, which was carried out on behalf of Mavenir by mobile(SQUARED), found that a third of operators believe operator traffic from messaging, voice and video calling will decline between 11% and 20% over the next 5-10 years. Another 20% of operators expect even steeper declines in the 31% to 40% range.

“The findings confirm what we have found in discussions with the mobile industry,” Mavenir VP Shubh Agarwal said in a statement. “This is one of the primary reasons the industry is currently moving towards an all-IP converged core network accelerated by the deployment of LTE technology. By allowing users to place high definition voice and video calls, chat, share content, and discover new services as part of a globally connected framework, operators can retain and even grow their share of customer communication spend.”

“The mobile landscape is changing as users embrace messaging of all kinds that enable them to seamlessly message a multitude of devices,” mobile(SQUARED) analyst Gavin Patterson added. ”This study confirms that lucrative messaging revenues are already impacted and operators are assessing ways to deliver core-network services in the all-IP environment. Rich Communication Ecosystem (RCE) applications are one example of how mobile operators can overcome the hurdles they face.”

42% of wireless operators say that they will combat this new trend by rolling out IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based services to offer things like Voice over LTE and data-facilitated messaging services. “By offering embedded or downloadable clients tied to a user’s phone number, auto service discoverability, group chat, enhanced calling for video and file sharing as a global service, operators can deliver value to their subscribers,” Manevir noted in its report.

AT&T recently launched its new “AT&T Call International” VoIP application that, exactly as its name implies, allows its customers to place international phone calls from their AT&T’s phones using a Wi-Fi connection anywhere in the world. AT&T’s per-minute VoIP rates are cheaper than its international roaming plans and, judging from AT&T’s product page, calls placed to wireline phones appear to be more affordable than those placed to wireless phones. Customers will be billed for calls placed through the app directly on their credit cards at the end of each monthly billing cycle. AT&T Call International is available for free from the Android Market, BlackBerry App World and in Apple’s iOS App Store.  

[Via Phone Scoop]

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HP’s webOS is already tightly integrated with a number of services but now it appears that the OS will soon offer Skype integration, too. According to leaked screenshots, users will soon be able to choose to route their calls directly through Skype from the phonebook application, an option that will no doubt save international callers a big chunk of change. Similarly, users may also be able to place Skype video calls, allowing them to use the front-facing camera on the Pre 3 for video chats. It’s unclear when the integration will be introduced, but this has us more excited than ever for the Pre 3 to finally hit store shelves.[Via theunwired]

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Skype confirmed early Thursday morning that some users may experience connection issues signing into the service or making Skype calls. The company says it has identified the problem and has posted instructions for fixing the issue. The good news is it doesn’t look like the outage will be as massive as the one last December, which was later blamed on an overloaded cluster of support servers. If you’re experiencing issues now, hit the jump for some quick fix instructions from Skype. Just don’t blame it on Microsoft, alright?

Update: Skype says Windows users should update their client to the newest version for an immediate and easier fix. A Max OS X update is also on the way.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

1.    Close Skype.
a.    Right-click the Skype icon in the system tray (at the bottom right of the screen)
b.    Choose Quit.
2.    Ensure that “Show hidden files and folders” is switched on.
a.    Click Start, type run and press Enter.
b.    Type control folders and click OK.
c.    Select the View tab and ensure relevant entry is enabled.
3.    Locate the shared.xml file.
a.    Click Start, type run and press Enter.
b.    Type %appdata%\skype and click OK.
c.    Delete the shared.xml file.
4.    Restart Skype. The shared.xml file will be recreated.

Windows XP

1.    Close Skype.
a.    Right-click the Skype icon in the system tray (at the bottom right of the screen)
b.    Choose Quit.
2.    Ensure that “Show hidden files and folders” is switched on.
a.    Click Start and then Run…
b.    Type control folders and click OK.
c.    Select the View tab and ensure relevant entry is enabled.
3.    Locate the shared.xml file.
a.    Click Start and then Run…
b.    Type %appdata%\skype and click OK.
c.    Delete the shared.xml file.
4.    Restart Skype. The shared.xml file will be recreated.

Mac OS X

1. Quit Skype.
2. Go to the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Skype/
3. Delete the file shared.xml (it will be recreated once you open Skype again, this is fine).
4. Start Skype.

Please note that the ~ sign means your home folder. You can find your home folder by opening Finder and selecting Go > Home from the menu bar or pressing Command (Apple), Shift and H keys at the same time.

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Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it will acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash. The news comes just days after reports surfaced that Facebook and Google were both interested in purchasing, or at least creating a joint venture with the online video chat company. However, sources said Facebook was considering spending $3 to $4 billion on Skype, a fraction of Microsoft’s offer. The firm said Skype will be used to support Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and other Windows devices. Microsoft also said that it will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other software platforms. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world,” Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.  Skype, which currently has 170 million connected users, will become a new business entity in Microsoft, and Skype’s current CEO Tony Bates assume the role of president of the Microsoft Skype Division. Hit the jump for the full release.

Microsoft to Acquire Skype
Combined companies will benefit consumers, businesses and increase market opportunity.

REDMOND, Wash., and LUXEMBOURG – May 10, 2011 – Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) and Skype Global S.à r.l today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype.

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.

With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally. Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms, including Lync (which saw 30 percent revenue growth in Q3), Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE.

Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.

“Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Skype will become a new business division within Microsoft, and Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Microsoft Skype Division, reporting directly to Ballmer.

“Microsoft and Skype share the vision of bringing software innovation and products to our customers,” said Tony Bates. “Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s plans to extend our global community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate,” Bates said.

“Tony Bates has a great track record as a leader and will strengthen the Microsoft management team. I’m looking forward to Skype’s talented global workforce bringing its insights, ideas and experience to Microsoft,” Ballmer said.

Speaking on behalf of the investor group that sold Skype to Microsoft, Egon Durban, managing director of Silver Lake, said: “We are thrilled with Skype’s transformation during the period of our ownership and grateful for the extraordinary commitment of its management team and employees. We are excited about Skype’s long-term future with Microsoft, as it is poised to become one of the world’s most dynamic and comprehensive communications platforms.”

Founded in 2003, Skype was acquired by eBay in September 2005, and then acquired by an investment group led by Silver Lake in November 2009. Skype has made impressive progress over the past 18 months under Silver Lake’s leadership, increasing monthly calling minutes by 150 percent, developing new revenue streams and strategic partnerships, acquiring the intellectual property powering its peer-to-peer network, and recruiting an outstanding senior management team.

Other members of the selling investor group led by Silver Lake include eBay International AG, CPP Investment Board, Joltid Limited in partnership with Europlay Capital Advisors; and Andreessen Horowitz.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The parties hope to obtain all required regulatory clearances during the course of this calendar year.

Facebook and Google are in separate talks to enter joint ventures with Skype, Reuters reported on Thursday. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also reportedly been in clandestine meetings discussing an all-out purchase of the VoIP service. Skype’s IPO, which is expected to occur later this year, could be worth $1 billion, however, deals with Facebook or Google could bring in as much as $3-$4 billion, Reuters said. Skype 5.0 launched in October of this year and added tight Facebook integration, but the social network has yet to include native video calling into its website or mobile applications. Google could benefit from Skype’s mobile technology to build out its Android video-chat feature, too, which just launched late last month. Neither company has offered a comment on the matter.

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T-Mobile announced Monday that it’s temporarily suspending its “Bobsled by T-Mobile” service, which allows Facebook users to call one another for free. Bobsled was unveiled less than a week ago, and it appears that T-Mobile is making the move in an effort to distinguish its own branding. The carrier’s full statement, posted on Facebook today, said:

We are voluntarily and temporarily suspending the Bobsled service as we work with our partners at Facebook to address their design questions, including working to ensure that the Bobsled experience is clearly differentiated and is not mistaken for a Facebook created property. We apologize to our customers for this temporary distruption in service.

T-Mobile did not clarify when it would relaunch Bobsled.

[Via TmoNews]

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Despite leaked information that Sprint and Google would launch Google Voice integration services on April 26th, multiple sources have confirmed that the service is already being rolled out to users. Sprint and Google announced the partnership last month, and the new service will allow Sprint users to access calls and text messages, or place calls through Google Voice’s Web interface using their Sprint number. Alternatively, users can opt to have their Google Voice number replace their Sprint number on their Sprint handset as well. International calls will route through Google Voice, which offers discounted fees. The feature is free and can be turned off at any time.

Thanks, Clayton!

Want to call your Facebook friends for free? Now you can. T-Mobile just took the wraps off of its “Bobsled by T-Mobile” brand, which the company says is its first big step into the IP communications business. The first application under the brand sports the same name — “Bobsled by T-Mobile” — and allows users to place free calls from their PC to Facebook friends. “Bobsled by T-Mobile takes our communications services innovation to a whole new dimension, bringing simple and cost-effective connections to more than half a billion people overnight, allowing people on Facebook to more easily connect and giving voice to social networking,” Brad Duea, senior vice president of T-Mobile USA said. “Our new Bobsled brand will evolve in the coming months to provide even more ways for people to connect, no matter what platform, device or mobile provider they are using,” Duea added, hinting at Mac OS X or possible mobile support in the future. You can download the free application by visiting http://apps.facebook.com/bobsledbytmo. Hit the jump for the full release.

T-Mobile Launches Bobsled by T-Mobile — A New Communications Brand to Bridge the Traditional Telco and IP Worlds

The brand’s Facebook calling application will provide free, one-touch calling
within Facebook to more than 500 million consumers worldwide

BELLEVUE, Wash. — April 19, 2011 —T-Mobile today introduced Bobsled™ by T-Mobile, a new brand aimed at bridging traditional telecommunications and Internet-based voice and data services to enable people to stay connected in a simple and cost-effective way. The first product available under the new Bobsled by T-Mobile brand is the Bobsled application for Facebook, which provides Facebook’s more than 500 million users worldwide with free, one-touch calling to their Facebook friends from a personal computer and through the social platform’s chat window.
In addition to making live voice calls across the globe, users will also be able to send voice messages to their friends either privately or via their “walls.” The Bobsled application for Facebook is available today as a free download for all Facebook users and is not exclusive to T-Mobile customers. This captures a unique opportunity for the brand, as a recent survey found that 88 percent of Facebook users surveyed want voice chat capabilities within the site.1

“T-Mobile’s focus is to innovate to provide simple and affordable communications for customers, enabling people to stay connected wherever they are,” said Brad Duea, senior vice president, T-Mobile USA. “Bobsled by T-Mobile takes our communications services innovation to a whole new dimension, bringing simple and cost-effective connections to more than half a billion people overnight, allowing people on Facebook to more easily connect and giving voice to social networking. Our new Bobsled brand will evolve in the coming months to provide even more ways for people to connect, no matter what platform, device or mobile provider they are using.”

Once downloaded, customers can use the Bobsled application for Facebook to place voice calls to their friends through Facebook Chat with just one click. This is one of the first voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) applications seamlessly integrated into Facebook Chat, which makes it quick and simple to place an impromptu call to a Facebook friend. The application eliminates the need for dialing — users simply click on a friend’s name to start the conversation. There’s also no need to remember screen names or to input numbers. With the new application, customers also can leave a voice message for friends when they’re not available. Anyone on Facebook can receive a call; no application download is required to receive a call via the Bobsled application for Facebook.

As the way people communicate transcends networks and devices, Bobsled by T-Mobile positions T-Mobile as a provider of cloud-based communications services over the Internet. In addition to providing Facebook users with one-touch calling, Bobsled by T-Mobile also powers the Group Text™ and Cloud Text™ applications on the new T-Mobile® Sidekick® 4G™. Bobsled Group Text  lets customers create, name, manage and participate in reply-all group text conversations, enabling them to lead their network in conversation and social planning. Bobsled Cloud Text provides the option to text with friends or groups across platforms, whether from the comfort of their PC’s large screen and keyboard, or from their new Sidekick 4G.

In the near future, T-Mobile plans to evolve Bobsled by T-Mobile to include video chat, to create the ability to place VoIP calls to mobile and landline U.S. numbers and to offer applications on smartphones and tablets across various mobile platforms, regardless of the carrier that powers such devices.

The Facebook application for Bobsled by T-Mobile is powered by Vivox, Inc., the No. 1 integrated voice platform for the Social Web, offering high quality, best-in-class voice capabilities for clear and crisp calls. More information about Vivox is available at http://www.vivox.com.

More information on Bobsled by T-Mobile is available at http://www.letsbobsled.com

The Bobsled application for Facebook is available for download at http://apps.facebook.com/bobsledbytmo

Last week, the FCC ruled in favor of AT&T in a complaint it filed against VoIP home-phone service provider magicJack. For those of you that don’t own a television, magicJack advertises — relentlessly, via infomercial — that its VoIP service will provide unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada for just $19.95 per year. Users are instructed to plug the USB dongle (pictured above) into their computer, connect any touch-tone phone to the dongle’s opposite end, and start dialing. AT&T has, however, taken exception to one way in which the company generates revenue and keeps consumer costs down. The U.S. wireless carrier’s gripe stems from the fact that magicJack, through its subsidiary YMax, has been charging “call termination fees” when its customers make calls to AT&T customers or AT&T owned toll-free numbers. The FCC has rendered a decision, and found that magicJack is not entitled to these fees. “While the ruling applied specifically to Ma Bell, you would think other carriers would follow the ruling and stop paying those same fees to YMax, which as the FCC ruling notes generates basically all of its traffic from magicJack users,” writes Forbes‘ Eric Savitz. The company has yet to publicly comment on the government body’s ruling. In the meantime, hit the jump to check out one of those awesomely bad infomercials we mentioned

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Viber, the popular iPhone application that allows for free calling to other Viber users, has been updated to version 2.0.1. After applying the update, Viber users will be able to send and receive free text messages to one another, complete with notifications. Viber has also been updated with a number of UI changes — the favorites have been moved, the calling mechanism has been improved and now shows the current state of any Viber call, and the application now has a deactivation feature. The update is available in iTunes now.

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Research In Motion has just announced that BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Social Platform is now available in public beta. First announced during BlackBerry DEVCON 2010, BBM Social Platform allows developers to integrate their applications directly with BBM using a set of new APIs, and RIM is banking on developers to make BBM a more robust application. RIM hopes programmers will create multimedia apps, location-based services, games, VoIP services, and more, that can build on the existing BBM experience. Here’s one possible use case: You start up a multiplayer game with a friend and smack talk with him or her inside the game over BBM. When you’re done, maybe you want to share that game with someone else, using features enabled in the BBM Social Platform, you’ll be able to share apps. It will even let developers create custom areas inside a BBM profile, which could be used for showing game achievements or other stats. Now let’s just hope these features carry over to BBM on Android and iPhone. 

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Google is taking its sweet time adding new features to Google Voice, but it looks like some big pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to fall into place. Google finished rolling out incoming number portability to all users this past January, and now it looks as though it may soon begin tying in VoIP services. Last week, Gizmo5 users began receiving notification emails saying that the service will soon be shut down. Now, VoIP blog Disruptive Telephony has discovered that VoIP calls can be placed to a Google Voice voice number by appending “@sip.voice.google.com” to create a SIP URI. BGR tested the service earlier today and we could not get it to work, suggesting that Google may currently be rolling out the functionality quietly. This is just the first step in creating a full-fledged VoIP service for Google Voice, but it’s an important first step and one that users have been waiting for since Google acquired GrandCentral in 2007.

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