Mobile Health & Fitness

Launched earlier on Apple iPhone , the Truphone mobile VoIP application is an all-in-one product architecture that puts voice and instant messaging (IM) in one place leveraging VoIP technology. It offers an integrated messaging tool that unifies all IM (instant messaging) communities in a single place. It enables users to make free calls when in Wi-Fi to other Truphone users as well as Skype and Google ( News - Alert ) Talk users. In addition, Truphone users can send free Instant Messages when in Wi-Fi to different IM services as well. With the help of Truphone mobile VoIP application, users can call landlines and mobiles anywhere at cheap rates, thereby making considerable savings. The application also shows call rates before initiating a call. It even displays recent call history and also enables users to change calling tariffs within the application itself. Customers/users can top-up from within the application, without the need for web windows to open separately, said the company

Two recent announcements regarding pure-play mobile VoIP offerings from TCM Mobile and xG Technologies caught my eye, and I decided to talk to the companies to find out about their plans to make these technologies commercially viable. TCM Mobile launched a mobile VoIP test network in Syracuse, N.Y., after more than four years of development. TCM plans to operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz spectrum band to avoid the costs of buying spectrum, as Verizon , AT&T and others have done. The company, founded by a group of Israeli engineers and scientists, said it cracked interference, roaming and connectivity problems in development and built all components of the network, from handsets to base stations, in-house. It plans to operate the mobile voice network over an IP backbone to reduce costs further. But, as Carl Weinshenk at IT Business Edge points out , despite innovative technology, TCM will face tough competition making its solution work in the market. Weinshenk writes, “The prob