When you launch the app you’re prompted to enter your mobile phone number and email address. The first so Vonage can use your mobile number for outgoing calls, and the second for account management purposes. Also, Vonage uploads your phone’s address book to their servers. Unlike some other apps I could mention, Vonage Mobile is kind enough to warn you that it’s doing so.

Vonage Mobile allows users to make app-to-app calls over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi. Calls to other Vonage Mobile app users are free, as are calls to any Vonage number. Interestingly, the app does not require you to be a Vonage customer to make calls. Credit for international calls can be added via in-app purchase.

Vonage Mobile is a free download from the Android App Market and the iOS App Store. The iOS app is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It is not, however, a universal app, which means it isn’t optimized for iPad, only compatible. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

That’s right. No longer are potential Skype users forced to have a computer device to enjoy the VOIP service. To do so, you must first acquire the FREETALK Connect·Me Home Phone Adapter for Skype, a new add-on component that allows users to convert their handset to a Skype device. The description, which was offered over at the Skype blog by Helen Blackburn, Head of the Partner Product Management team at Skype, says:

The FREETALK Connect·Me Home Phone Adapter is a hassle-free, plug-and-play solution that lets you use your existing handset to make free Skype-to-Skype calls, as well as low-cost calls to landlines and mobile phones worldwide at our extremely low Skype rates.

While you don’t need a computing device to use the new Skype adapter, you do need a broadband Internet connection. Not only are the Skype home phone adapters now available, the post also discusses the launch of the GE Digital Cordless Expandable Telephone with Skype.

Essentially, GE’s phone has the Skype Home Phone adapter built into it, allowing users the same kind of freedom the adapter itself offers. That is, to make Skype-to-Skype calls for free. Other details include:

…connect with Skype contacts for free, make low-cost calls to mobiles and landlines and manage your Skype contacts, all without the need of a PC.

There are also pay plans for those of you who’d like to use the Skype home phone services for extended connections with landlines and mobile devices, just in case you Skype list isn’t all inclusive:

• FREETALK Connect·Me + more than 60 minutes** of complimentary calls to landlines and mobiles via Skype ($39.99)
• FREETALK Connect·Me + 12 months of calls to landlines and mobile phones in the U.S. and Canada and 200 minutes**of calls to international landlines and mobiles ($59.99)
• FREETALK Connect·Me + a 3-month Unlimited*World subscription to the US and Canada plus landlines in 40 other countries ($59.99)

These exist for GE’s cordless phone as well. For more information on this, check out the blog post, which features a video highlighting the benefits of Skype on your home phone.

Is this a “begone, Vonage” move on Skype’s part? Has Skype thrown down the “there can be only one” gauntlet in regards to successful VOIP service? Let us know what you think.

How has the social media revolution changed your life? Share your story with us.

According to Jeff Pulver, who is known for his work with VoIP and as the co-founder of Vonage, everything he ever needed to know about social media, he discovered at age 15. At that point, he understood that social media was all about listening, connecting, sharing, and engaging.

Pulver told us that all his work with VoIP was motivated by his goal of connecting people both on the telephone and on the computer. He believes that social media is not about single platform. Instead, he believes it creates more places to have conversations.

Three of his favorite words are “fear, greed, and disruption.” He said these words have “affected the way we all communicate in business.” While these words appear to be negative, Pulver pointed out that there such a thing as “positive disruption,” which triggers change. Social media is one example of this “positive disruption” and the changes it has brought about are extensive.

He associates social sites such as Facebook and Twitter with the “Purple Minutes” classification that he popularized back in the early 2000′s. The term was used to describe the value-added IP traffic to separate it from the black and white phone minutes.

“It’s all these years later we’re starting to start to see how people are using IP-based networks to do things they never could do before,” he said.

It is for these reasons that Pulver believes we are experiencing a social media revolution in which everyone has access to information.

“It’s not a revolution about ‘we the people,’ but about ‘me the people.’ It’s these individual ‘me’s’ that are able to leverage these technologies directly and indirectly to effect positive and forceful change in the world,” he said.

Recent events such as the chaos in the Middle East and the band of natural disasters show how social media is sparking a revolution that is bringing people together throughout the world. As the revolution continues to evolve, those that do not jump on board with it are likely to face challenges.

“The companies that don’t get it may be disrupted out of business… those companies that understand this can actually change the way they do their business,” said Pulver.

"The Vonage Mobile app for Facebook is a tangible example of our commitment to deliver extraordinary value and a better communications experience for individuals and their social networks, across broadband-enabled devices, around the world," says Vonage Holdings CEO Marc Lefar. "This is just the start. In the future we will expand on this service to include a wide range of integrated voice and messaging services that change the way people communicate."

Just download the app from the appropriate app market, enter you Facebook log-in info one time, then view your FB contacts once the app automatically detects them. Friends will be grouped by those who can be called for free and those who are available for instant messaging.

This might be helpful in itself, at least for Android users, because the new Android app update Facebook just launched still lacks a chat feature.

The app itself is free, and is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android devices. It works over Wi-Fi and 3G/4G networks in most countries.

All Vonage wanted to do was to capitalize on the ability to make cheap, voice over Internet phone calls. Unfortunately, in their haste to deliver a working product, the company received complaints that it had trod upon the technology owned by other firms.

AT&T rated among those who Vonage allegedly borrowed from without permission. It has been revealed by Reuters that a settlement between Vonage and AT&T happened on November 7th.

That took place about two weeks after Vonage settled with Verizon over a pair of disputed patents. The settlement may end up costing Vonage as much as $120 million. Vonage also settled patent claims with Sprint Nextel in October for $80 million

Their terms with AT&T for settling the similar complaint have not been publicized, even though the suit was just finalized before Christmas.

Though AT&T isn’t in the VoIP business, it’s likely their impact online will be seen in 2008 in another area. AT&T acquired Ingenio, a pay per call advertising network, in November.

This will help AT&T monetize traffic to various online yellow pages, and they can use Ingenio to promote across online and offline properties. In that scenario, AT&T shouldn’t mind a Vonage call connecting a customer and an advertiser through an Ingenio number, where AT&T picks up the ad revenue.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/patent-problems-resolved-between-vonage-att-2007-12/feed 0 http://www.webpronews.com/vonage-sprint-cool-with-patent-settlement-2007-10 http://www.webpronews.com/vonage-sprint-cool-with-patent-settlement-2007-10#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:15:27 +0000 WebProNews Staff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=40921 Vonage's infringement on six Sprint patents has yielded a lucrative payday for Sprint.

Vonage May Get Stay Of Execution

Under the decision, patents will be more easily challengeable based existing, ordinary circumstances, or obvious need or improvement. While that’s good news for new businesses, especially new businesses being hammered by behemoth corporations in court, it’s bad news for a slew of patent-holders.

The Court believes the reverse stifles innovation and clogs up the court system with bogus filings. Though expected to slow down the system initially, as questionable patents are cleaned out, the ruling is also expected to speed things up in the long run.

In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote:

Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress and may, in the case of patents combining previously known elements, deprive prior inventions of their value or utility.

Vonage recently lost a devastating dispute with Verizon that found the VoIP company in violation of three patents. Though a subsequent ruling allowed Vonage to continue signing up new customers while the appeals process was underway, Vonage was in danger of complete shutdown.

The day after the judgment was issued, Vonage filed with the US Court of Appeals, hoping for a new trial. The company’s legal head cites the decision as protection against being sued for improving on a previous invention. Verizon, as expected, disagrees, saying the appeal is just "a delaying tactic."

"This certainly is opportunistic of Vonage, but it will be interesting to see how the courts react to this request," writes TechDirt president and CEO Mike Masnick. "In the meantime, expect many more cases along these lines in the near future."

One of those cases, Masnick might predict, could involve Amazon’s patent on counting pages. Judging from the way it’s written, Amazon’s patent lawyers got this one through by lulling the USPTO into cyclical slumber. Even the Abstract’s too long.

Instead, the jury imposed a penalty of $58 million and a 5.5 percent royalty rate for the future, finding Vonage violated patents for connecting Internet calls to telecom-owned phone lines, for call waiting and voice mail, and for wireless connections.

Vonage said there should be no change from the consumer side of this, but Verizon has one more kill shot in its armory. Verizon is requesting an injunction to prevent Vonage from operating altogether.

If the company succeeds in that request, Verizon will get what it wanted more than money – the death of a competitor. Vonage, of course, will be appealing all decisions against them.

TechDirt’s Mike Masnick reminds those following the case of a recent Supreme Court decision regarding MercExchange and eBay, where automatic injunctions were found to be inappropriate, especially when a settlement is a reasonable option. In this case, a settlement would not only save Vonage from being closed down, but would save money in legal expense.

What will likely happen…"writes Masnick, "is that Vonage will just settle the case, because at some point it’s just cheaper to settle than to fight. Apparently, that’s what you get for innovating as a small company these days."

There are five patents in question, which Verizon staked claim to in the mid-Nineties, for technologies making Internet telephony services possible. Vonage leans on the argument that Verizon’s patents are invalid, and even if so, their technology is different. In addition, Vonage has flung allegations that Verizon is acting to destroy competition.

And it certainly may work if the verdict comes back in favor of Verizon. It hasn’t been the best year for Vonage. Already staring down a patent infringement suit from Sprint, the debt racked up by the VoIP service’s online advertising blitz caused the company’s IPO price to tumble, quite unexpectedly, from $17 to $5.13 per share by the next day. Six months later, the stock is stagnant at $5.04.

That type of plummet would have been bad enough, but Vonage offered customers a chance to buy ahead of the IPO. When the stock dropped, so did the early birds’ will to pay for the stock they bought, and a class action lawsuit was soon filed against the company claiming Vonage had falsely represented its value to pay for its exorbitant advertising. In advance of the IPO, Vonage raised nearly $600 million. 

Competitor Skype didn’t help matters, launching a major promotion offering new customers their service for free for six months, just ahead of the IPO. And then there’s those filing suit over the inability to dial 911, which is just another nail in the coffin of a flagging startup. Suffice to say it would be a sucker bet to assume Vonage will be around in 2008.

But what’s bad news for Vonage is good news for Verizon, and if they can score a victory here, they may just succeed, as Vonage’s attorney accused, in obliterating a competitor. TechDirt’s Mike Masnick speaks of the irony of a patent system intended to protect smaller players from corporate giants:

In this case, it was Vonage, the smaller player, that innovated in the market while the bigger company was slow to act. Verizon did later copy Vonage’s offering, but was unable to succeed in the marketplace, despite having a lot more money, much better brand recognition, and many more telephony customers already in place…

Vonage continued to innovate, while Verizon was unable to compete. And then, rather than competing in the marketplace, the big company used patents to try to hamstring Vonage, adding additional fees.

Vonage Holdings (VG) spends heavily on advertising, particularly online. It would probably be easier to compile a list of Internet users who have not seen a Vonage ad online than a list of those who have.

Its losses moved deeper according to the company as it reported its second quarter numbers. Vonage missed analyst estimates as customers continued to dump the service in droves.

Bloomberg reported on how the VoIP market has grown heavily competitive. Cable and traditional telecoms have entered the market with deep pockets and existing customer bases that Vonage can’t match.

Writer Om Malik follows the VoIP industry, and noted Vonage’s ad spending in his blog:

Telecom blogger Mark Evans also looked at the numbers, and forecast a grim picture for Vonage:

Vonage did increase its revenue during the quarter, to $143 million. The company attributed that to success Vonage has had in enticing customers to premium calling plans and the introduction of an Emergency 911 Cost Recovery fee.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.