The blocking of Skype and WhatsApp rival Viber in Saudi Arabia may or may not be a matter of censorship, but CEO Talmon Marco is pointing a finger at Google for making the process too easy. Read more »
It’s fun to compare the different ways of sending a digital message, but is there a point to doing so? According to one irate analyst, the debate – as currently framed – is futile. Read more »
Until now, Viber has been a mobile-only play that sits somewhere in between Skype and WhatsApp. Now it’s on the desktop too, and the different platform versions are very tightly integrated indeed. Read more »
The beta release of Viber for BlackBerry 2.4 is the first to include Skype-rivalling VoIP functionality. However, this only applies to older versions of the BlackBerry platform, not the freshly-launched BB10. Read more »
Facebook jumped into an already crowded VoIP market with the update of its Messenger app last week. Robert Gaal, of Karma, says the company’s scale ultimately will allow it to kill off the phone. Read more »
The France-based operator group is the latest to deploy an app that competes directly with the likes of Skype and WhatsApp, but also potentially steals away its own paying customers. Apart from evolving because it has to, what does it hope to gain? Read more »
Viber, the hot VoIP and messaging app, has just hit 90 million users, adding 20 million of them in the last two months. Now, it’s adding group messaging and an HD Voice engine, which should just encourage users to send more messages and make more calls. Read more »
Mobile companies faced with rising data use are often choosing to block or limit innovative voice and messaging apps. But that won’t solve anything — and in the long term it’s only causing the industry damage, says Andreas Bernström, CEO of VoIP service Rebtel. Read more »
So by all counts, Skype is doing fine under Microsoft ownership. The software giant has kept its paws off the baby. However, the current success isn’t enough to mask the fact that Skype is facing increased competition from upstarts looking eat into our attention to Skype. Read more »
Viber. WhatsApp. Google Voice. These services are alternative ways to send IMs or speak across mobile platforms and are challenging the mobile carriers at their own game. In the last year, these apps and more familiar services helped cut $13.9 billion in operator revenue. Read more »
Viber Media, provider of iPhone and Android apps that let users talk and text for free over 3G and Wi-Fi networks, is built upon a foundation of the MongoDB NoSQL database running atop the Amazon Web Services cloud. Read more »
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It’s a wonder anyone still uses traditional cellular networking voice or text services at all, given all the alternatives that pop up. But each of these services faces a critical challenge, and in my opinion, they’re all just living on borrowed time. Read more »
I have to admit, I’m still not convinced that the iPad will be my laptop replacement. However, with the help of the Apple wireless keyboard and some other peripherals and apps, it can come close. Here are some tips to make your iPad work-worthy: Read more »
While there’s probably no single provider that provides an exact like-for-like replacement for all of Skype’s features, there are plenty of companies offering great VoIP and video calling services; some of which are even better than Skype’s. Here is a list of my favorites: Read more »
If you are one of Skype’s many users who use the service to make a living or talking to your remote users, then you are straight out of luck. The service this morning is down and the outage is impacting millions of users. Read more »
Skype has new competition on the iPhone platform thanks to Viber, a new VoIP app that allows iPhone-to-iPhone calling over 3G and Wi-Fi connections. The app is free, runs in the background, doesn’t have any ads and won’t charge you anything to make calls. Read more »
