Geo-centric functionality is more and more a necessity when building social devices, applications, and mashups. The relevance of location to almost every communications transaction is undeniable, and Palringo has embraced this truth by adding location identifiers to Palringo status messages, meaning that your buddy list will now display where in the world you are at the moment. Good stuff, even if it doesn’t warrant a full-length PR:

LONDON–Oct. 21, 2008—Palringo, one of the most popular instant messaging applications for mobile phones, has added live location information to the latest version of its application—Palringo Local.

Accurate to the suburb or even street level in a city, and to the closest named town in rural areas, Palringo users can opt to display their location alongside their status, for fun, personal, social, business or any other purpose.

Palringo Local goes live today for Microsoft® Windows Mobile® users, and will be delivered as an automatic update for existing users. Roll-out will follow for other popular mobile device operating systems—including Symbian OS™-based phones, Java™, BlackBerry® and iPhone™—completing before the end of 2008. Palringo Local for desktop/laptop editions of the Microsoft Windows® operating system also goes live from today and will be automatically updated.

Palringo enables vocal instant messaging and picture messaging, as well as text-based instant messaging. Knowing the location of contacts adds further richness to the experience and brings benefits in all sorts of scenarios. For example, it may help simply when meeting a friend, or in more sophisticated ways such as assessing whether a conversation will be cheaper to conduct via Palringo than by phone, if to call someone will clearly cause them to incur roaming charges. Palringo is extremely cost-effective to use.

Kerry Ritz, Palringo’s CEO, said: “Since the dawn of the mobile phone era, we’ve all listened into or been part of mobile phone conversations in which the two parties have asked each other where they are—or, with SMS, spent a message establishing those facts. Now, people won’t need to do that; provided someone wishes to ‘show,’ the basic instinct to ‘know,’ even if it doesn’t matter, is satisfied.

“But there are also quite practical reasons for showing your location: if you’re part of a group all meeting in one place, like a sports team; or you want to know where your delivery drivers are without investing in expensive systems. Whatever your reason to show your location, now you can,” he explained.

Anyone using Palringo Local must specifically opt in to display their location; users can opt in and out at will. Even opted in, users retain control over which contacts can see their location. Location may also be set manually.

The popular instant messaging services with which Palringo integrates are: AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and Windows Live. People can also use Palringo to contact their friends using iChat®, Apple’s IM application.

Palringo is free to download from www.palringo.com. There are no subscriptions or other hidden charges.

Tags: gps, software, voip

Not a big surprise, here. This move is definitely in keeping with Google’s other maneuvres, like essentially manipulating the recent federal spectrum auctions and keeping carriers out of unilateral distribution agreements for phones with the Android license. All moves designed to keep access open, and to keep Google at the helm of web services.

But I’ve grappled with the open-sourcing of Android for a couple of reasons. When you open source something, it’s either because you’re absolutely desperate to maintain a foothold or create one (like when Netscape Corp. spun off the Mozilla project), because the intellectual property being open-sourced is already stale (the Quake engines, etc.), or because the chances of achieving marketplace competitiveness are actually improved by going open source. It’s one of the three, in my mind.

Sure, people say the Open Source community provides more abundant creative contribution and discourse, but I don’t necessarily buy that argument. Don’t confuse Open Source advocacy with volunteerism. Volunteer programmers get stuff done only when there’s something in it for them. But real volunteers get stuff done because there’s something in it for somebody ELSE. Any contributions brought to Android by the outside world that are worth assimilation into the project are going to create project management expenses for Google, and the big G has always been an innovation leader (as opposed to a leech), so sucking the community’s cheap or free “cool new ideas” into Android is NOT what Google is up to.

They’re also not desperate for a market share grab. Android is so far beyond anything Microsoft and RIM have brought to the table that perhaps only Apple’s iPhone is the only valid comparison. And Apple isn’t running away with the mobile market. There’s just too much entrenchment in the wireless industry, what with all the lock-in contracts and vendor exclusivity and so on. So Google’s open sourcing is not likely to have an effect on market share, not in the short term anyway. And it’s clear that the Android technology isn’t what you would call “stale”.

So Google’s move to open up Android has all the appearances of a tactical error. To figure out the “why”, it’s important to look at the “when”. The timing of this move is peculiarly unlike previous “big open source” announcements. Since Android has a ton of buzz and is clearly on the way up, not down, the convential wisdom that only desperate companies open source their stuff does not apply. Android will be successful in Google’s mind, whether or not it were to become an open source project.

So why? Why now?

According to the official Google posting on the matter, which rightly accuses the iPhone of having a limited, closed distribution channel, the reason for the open-sourcing is to make the platform accessible and free it from the bonds of one hardware vendor or the next. Open sourcing isn’t necessary to make the platform accessible, of course, but if you’re going to pull out a stop or two, pull ‘em all out. It’s Google, after all, not Microsoft.

Google sees a future where the carriers and hardware vendors cannot collude because platform choices are going to be made by consumers. That’s the answer to the “why”. By giving the consumers at large access to a very compelling (free) platform choice, the carriers and phonemakers have one less competitive advantage in being tied at the hip. And that is a very good thing.

Tags: android, iphone, voip, wireless

If there’s one company that can go toe to toe with Apple in the smart phone space, it’s not RIM, and it’s certainly isn’t Microsoft.   That’s right, it’s Nokia.  With the impending release of their 5800 XPressMusic phone, complete with touch screen and a one-year-free all-you-can-eat music download service, it certainly deserves a look by potential iPhone buyers.   But the question is whether or not this 5800 is the revolutionary advance Nokia needs to compete with the iPhone, or if it offers an over-engineered, offputting user experience like many previous Nokia products.

On paper, this thing is killer, though:

• GPRS/3G data network support
• Bluetooth
• WiFi (802.11g)
• 8  or 16 GB SD storage card (an option I sincerely wish Apple had included in the 3G iPhone)
• Video out (cool!)
• Touch screen interface. Not sure if it’s going to do gestures or multi-touch.  It does claim tactile feedback, probably by means of vibration, etc.
• 3.2″ display (iPhone has 3.5″)
• 3.2 mpixel Zeiss camera, like those in the N-Series (this will likely spank the iPhone’s camera, which is 2.0 megapixel and pretty piss poor)
• A self-facing VGA camera for video calls
• Maps application with GPS and voice-guided navigation. (Also an iPhone spanking feature)
• Headphones
• Symbian S60 version 5 operating environment (an upgrade to the OE used on the E-Series and N-Series phones)
• Free unlimited music downloads (not rentals) for one year (Windows Media, DRM’d)

Tags: 5800, camera, hardware, music, nokia

I had never heard of the Ped3 or thought out…, the company that makes the device. Why? They offer a collection of innovative solutions for iPhones and iPods (as well as improved scooter lights… really…). The Ped3 is very attractive, uses your existing iPhone (or iPod Touch) dock cable, and would grace the surface of most any desk.

The cradle (or whatever one calls the business end of an iPhone stand) of the device allows easy access to the dock connector, volume controls, mute switch, headphone jack, and power switch. It also does something very few of its competitors can: rotate… and it looks just as good in either position.

I’ve not seen these on shelves yet, but if though out continues to come up with designs like these, they won’t last long there either. I’ll be placing my order for one of these in the near future. Once I have a chance to check it out in person, I’ll be sure to share a follow up.

The Ped3 is made in America and retails in the thought out web store for $39.99.

Tags: cradle, dock, iphone, stand

SIP is the empowering technology behind Voice over IP, which catapulted Vonage to fame and made it possible to get residential phone service for $8 a month.  But VoIP’s most compelling advantages exist in the enterprise, where the iPhone has begun to make a splash.  Yet there’s no SIP on the iPhone, so the iPhone can’t be used with corporate telephone systems.

How about it, Apple?  Why block VoIP developers from creating products that will allow iPhones to be used on corporate VoIP networks?  SIP, or Session Initiation Protocol, allows the iPhone to be used with corporate phone systems like Cisco CallManager, Avaya, and so forth, increasing the appeal of iPhones to the enterprise.  Of course, we all know the real reason for the iPhone’s lack of SIP is political: AT&T will almost certainly lose revenue if WiFi SIP ever hits the mainstream.

We know the iPhone is capable of running SIP apps–TruPhone utilizes SIP to connect phone calls to their central office on behalf of their iPhone-toting customers.  And, with a few modifications, it would in theory be possible to point TruPhone’s software at your company’s phone system instead of TruPhone’s.   Yet that option isn’t available…  Could this mean that Apple’s playing hardball with Appstore developers who make VoIP programs?   I think it’s a pretty safe bet…

Tags: appstore, SIP, software, truphone, voip