Jajah’s blended VoIP-Callback client for iPhone
The name iPhone conjures up images of early internet telephony. One of the earliest products made by Vocaltec was named iPhone. I am not sure how the name changed hands from Vocaltec to Cisco to Apple but it would be nice to give iPhone its original meaning. And that is what some of the smart VoIP developers will be doing this summer.
One such developer, Jajah, with a hip Bollywood name and a tremendous following at iLocus, has derived great encouragement from its callback application that it customized for iPhone users a while ago. The company is now developing a blended VoIP-Callback client for iPhone.
True to the great North American tradition, the press release is out well before the guys start work on the product. In the meantime, Asian developers are wondering why their bosses stack up their press releases for the Hereafter. But jokes aside, Jajah has already developed a native mobile VoIP client for an MVNO called EMobile. The company delivered Windows Mobile 6 based native VoIP client which now ships pre-installed with all Sharp EM One Alpha devices. It seems that all the technology is in place, and Jajah is re-designing the same for the Apple iPhone based on the SDK.
Jajah client will have no joy off wifi, however, because (1) Apple plans to allow VoIP on wifi only, and (2) US cellular operators are welcome to block mobile VoIP clients working on non-wifi wireless broadband, a privilege they gratefully accept.
Restrictions on mobile VoIP in the US means that only the MVNOs will get away with offering VoIP within their footprint. And if it eats their lunch, well they are the ones eating it. This also means that the breathtaking technology developed by the US companies like iSkoot and EQO has to echo and scoot elsewhere … such as Europe. Across the Atlantic, Truphone is doing OK in UK. They have also demonstrated ‘Dark VoIP’ (our new term for VoIP-for-techno-community) capability in iPhone. There have been reports of Truphone being blocked on non-WiFi networks in the past but the company has sorted out those battles.
Even though there are restrictions in the US and VoWiFi could be the only form of mobile VoIP prevalent there for a while, there could be much more to VoWiFi than meets the eye. When Jajah got funding sometime back from Intel I had the impression that it will be integrating its software at chip level with something like Intel’s WiMAX Connection 2400 module. Infineon also announced a VoWiFi chip for low cost phones recently. The Jajah type capability can therefore be integrated at chip level. In fact, some of the chip companies have already started developer programs working on such applications and even the web mashups.
