Ever since we rolled out the iPhone version of SoonR, we have noticed a tremendous amount of activity related to our Skype support. We got a little boost when Tom Keating posted his story about SoonR’s support for Skype using the iPhone. I have read several blog posts where folks simply got it wrong. Some say that it’s super complicated and that it doesn’t work on a Mac. This is incorrect of course. I’ve also had people call and email me directly about this feature! So I think a great way to settle this once and for all is to show you a video of this in action.

Skype on the iPhone and SoonR (This link is for those who can’t see the embedded video frame above)

I’d like to point out a few key things.

• There is no software to install on the iPhone. I am just going to http://www.soonr.com/ from the built in browser.
• The PC in the background is running SoonR’s client and Skype and is connected to the Internet.
• I could have been anywhere with my phone making a call. I was right next to my PC in the video so that I could capture the video showing the phone and PC together. SoonR is leveraging the PC (or Mac) to complete the call. Normally you wouldn’t be standing by your PC with Skype and using your phone!
• The call quality is as good as your Skype connection on the desktop computer combined with your iPhone’s voice reception. In most places it works just fine.
• SkypeOut calls to your iPhone will be charged at the rate for your country.
• You will use some of your plan minutes on the iPhone (AT&T) unless it’s weekend or nights, which happen to include unlimited minutes.

 Finally, I want to emphasize that SoonR is a platform that enables phones to link to remote computers. This is an example of a user (me) leveraging an application (Skype) on a computer from a mobile device (iPhone). SoonR’s desktop agent has an API that allows applications to be mobilized. As you may have guessed, we have only scratched the surface of what’s possible. We believe that linking computers to mobile devices will make for radical new ways to deploy applications and make the phone more useful and powerful than ever. This is what we mean when we say “PC power to your phone”.
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 6:15 pm and is filed under New Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.