Archive for September, 2008
September 29, 2008
Everyone knows the 3 Skypephone made major waves when it hit stores last November. In it’s subsequent 10 months on the mobile scene, the infamous dedicated Skype handset has enjoyed rave reviews, stellar sales and a Silver Medal nod at the legendary Global Mobile Awards. Now with last month’s launch of the new and improved Skypephone S2, the mobile VoIP handset heard around the world is back in the spotlight, and our friend Frank Meehan, GM and Director of Handsets at 3, is happy to tell the story.
In an interview at the Mobilize conference in SF last week, Frank explained how the 3 Skypephone came together, pointing to iSkoot’s mobile Skype solution as a key ingredient:
“Every carrier (besides us) relies upon big voice and SMS revenues. For us, Hutchinson, every decision is made upon a financial viewpoint. The first breakthrough for the Skypephone was that we found Skype to be a powerful and disruptive technology, but we couldn’t handle the heavy packet load it would put upon our system. Then we came across iSkoot. Which, at the time, was a small company who figured out how to use Skype system and take a Skype call and transfer it over a circuit. With this development, Skype calls become very clear, in fact, we have customers who say calls are clearer on the handset than on a computer.”
iSkoot’s mobile-to-VoIP technology strikes again! Clearer Skype calls than on a PC? Aw, shucks Frank. 
Posted in: 3 Skypephone, The Word on Mobile VoIP | No Comments
Tags: 3 Skypephone, Frank Meehan, S2
September 19, 2008
It seems folks around the iSkoot office aren’t the only ones buzzing over our recent nab of social network IM client, Social.IM.
After TechCrunch broke the news two weeks ago, Venture Beat jumped on the coverage, observing that the aquisition “positions iSkoot to move beyond the mobile VoIP market so that it can package a variety of mobile communications services that can be integrated with mobile phones.”
Our VoIP-Watching friend Andy Abramson caught wind the big play soon after, and had this to say about it:
“A company I’m rather fond of is iSkoot. They make the client that works on the SkypePhone that I use when I’m in the UK. Well today VentureBeat is reporting how iSkoot is getting more social, and in my view moving away from simply being a Skype connectivity client making company and into a lot more.”
A lot more indeed. As Chris Crum notes in his WebProNews post:
“iSkoot has its own thing going. Research shows that mobile social networking is going to grow big time over the coming years, and iSkoot recognizes that.”
We can’t argue with that. In the meantime, we appreciate your recognition of, well, our recognition, and we promise more big news to come.
Posted in: New Things | No Comments
Tags: Social.IM, TechCrunch, Venture Beat, VoIP Watch, WebProNews
September 17, 2008
Following iSkoot’s acquisition of Social.IM, Calcalist, the Economy section of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot visited iSkoot’s Israeli office for an interview with our CEO Mark Jacobstein and David Guedalia, iSkoot’s CTO.
One of the topics they covered in the interview: how iSkoot for Skype’s one-of-a-kind technology sets it apart from other mobile Skype applications. Of course, Mark loves nothing better than an opportunity to defend the iSkoot business model. Here is an excerpt:
Calcalist: Most start-ups nowadays use technology which circumvents the cellular networks to direct their calls- like the Israeli start-up, Fring. What is unique about iSkoot?
Mark: In contrast to the majority of the companies which offer VoIP
service from the cellular phone, iSkoot does not circumvent the cellular networks, but utilizes them. In reality, iSkoot’s Skype conversation begins as a cellular conversation and is directed to the data traffic from there. Cellular service providers do not like VoIP conversations on their network, as it clogs the network, and takes away from their income. I do not think that a company which provides VoIP services will be successful in the long run without working together with the cellular service providers. RIM, the manufacturer of the BlackBerry, is a good example of how this works.
Calcalist: So doesn’t courting the cellular company come at the expense of courting the clients?
Mark: If you work with the cellular company, you will also be able to provide better service for the clients. For instance, Hutchison provides iSkoot for Skype for free (with purchase of the X-Series package or a 3 SkypePhone).
Posted in: Management Team, The Word on Mobile VoIP | No Comments
Tags: Cataclist, David Guedalia, Mark Jacobstein, voice vs. data
September 5, 2008
A big move for iSkoot this week - we’ve just acquired Social.IM - the social network IM client!
We’ve got some cool new products cooking, and Social.IM’s customizable desktop application and Web service - which gives social networkers real-time desktop notifications and the ability to IM w/their community members - will be a serious feather in our cap as we roll out our next generation of Web-to-mobile push services.
Mark Jacobstein calls this play a “key step in our path to introduce later this year a groundbreaking new communications platform that will revolutionize the mobile landscape.”
Social.IM’s creative mastermind, Yanda Erlich says that iSkoot’s now “ideally positioned to become the leading push services communications provider, both on the mobile platform and the Web.”
We’re excited. And you should be too.
Posted in: Uncategorized | No Comments
