The Smartphone Hub

Just days after introducing video calling between Apple’s iPhone and other handsets, Fring today says that Skype is blocking its service, which allows Fring users to voice, IM and video chat with friends on Skype and other platforms. Fring called the action an “anti-competitive ambush,” in light of Fring’s recent addition of video support — a service that Skype currently offers on desktops, but not on mobiles. Not long after Fring launched the video chat feature, the company had to shut it down due to capacity issues.

On the surface, this sounds like a clear-cut case of Skype being concerned with a competing service and therefore attempting to shut Fring down to keep it from leveraging Skype’s customers. But the situation appears more complex than that — a Skype spokesperson responded to our request for comment with this statement, and point us to a Skype blog post published today:

Skype has been in discussions with Fring regarding our belief that Fring is breaching our API Terms of Use and End User Licence Agreement. Skype is disappointed that an amicable resolution was not possible, but Fring’s decision to withdraw Skype functionality immediately was of its own choice.  Skype encourages developers to build products that work with Skype in accordance with our various API licenses. However, Skype will rigorously protect its brand and reputation and those companies that do not comply with our terms will be subject to enforcement.

So although Skype has been supported on Fring since 2007 — Fring users can chat with Skype customers, as well as those on GoogleTalk and Twitter — Skype’s comment indicates there has been a licensing dispute for some time. And perhaps more importantly, Skype says it hasn’t blocked Fring at all — Fring has ceased supporting Skype integration on its own.

I asked Fring about Skype’s official comment and received this response via email, which turns the entire situation into a he-said, she-said circle:

As for motivation you’ll have to ask Skype. What’s clear is that Skype took advantage of the fact that we had to temporary [sic] reduce Skype connectivity to support the huge number of mobile video calls. Skype then demanded that we NOT restore connectivity to Skype. The minute they return to open communications we will be happy to reconnect.

Although the truth probably lies in between the two company statements, Skype does have a history of claiming openness while some of its actions dictate otherwise. Perhaps the best example is that of Skype Mobile for Android handsets. Instead of fully supporting Google’s open operating system for handsets, Skype removed a Skype Lite client in the U.S. from the Android Market when it partnered with Verizon Wirelessearlier this year. As a result, the only U.S. Android devices with access to a Skype client are on a single carrier.

Sadly, such integration between clients and platforms is challenging enough without licensing issues and carrier-specific deals. As my friend Andy Abramson noted immediately after Fring faced overwhelming demand for iPhone video calling,  ”Fring has a capacity issue. This is why Skype was smart to take their “wait and see” position on interoperability with FaceTime.” Without the right infrastructure to support services, what sounds like a great new platform or interoperability method can quickly turn into a poor end-user experience.

Hopefully, folks at Skype and Fring will talk with each other to try and work out any licensing or API issues — perhaps a regular land-line would provide the proper neutral ground.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

SkypeKit: Skype’s Platform for CE-Based Communication

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Sprint today announced the launch of 4G WiMAX in seven new markets, raising its total of U.S. cities covered to 43. The wireless carrier continues to progress with its planned 4G rollout in partnership with Clearwire and expects that larger markets such as Los Angeles, New York and Miami will see WiMAX before the end of 2010. Sprint advertises the faster wireless broadband service capabilities with average speeds between 3 to 6 Mbps down, and currently offers unlimited service plans for WiMAX.

Residents in the new coverage markets of Rochester, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., Merced, Calif., Visalia, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Tri-Cities, Wash., and Yakima, Washington can use the faster network with a data card or an Overdrive mobile hotspot device, but perhaps not with a phone just yet. Sprint’s first and only available 4G handset, the EVO 4G, is currently sold out amid reports of display shortages. HTC, the device manufacturer, has contracted with additional suppliers to ratchet up EVO production, says the Wall Street Journal.

The EVO handset accesses the web over 4G — but falls back to 3G networks as needed — and can also share the WiMAX connection with other mobile devices for a monthly fee. With such capabilities, the phone is currently the flagship device for Sprint’s next-generation network, so timing of handset supply issues couldn’t be worse. As the carrier attempts to ramp up subscribers to the 4G service, it needs capable devices to woo customers. Rumors of a 21 Mbps phone from T-Mobile as early as September could put additional pressure on Sprint to quickly resolve supply issues for the EVO as T-Mobile’s new service has already shown to be faster with a supported device.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Metered Mobile Data is Coming and Here’s How

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Apple has been repeatedly criticized for over-policing its App Store by arbitrarily enforcing a litany of rejection policies only slightly less decipherable than a David Lynch film. But as I discuss in my weekly column over at GigaOM Pro, in not weeding out the garbage and offering a library of only top-notch apps, Apple may be blowing a tremendous chance to differentiate itself and remain on top.

In the latest App Store snafu, a rogue developer managed to infiltrate Apple’s walled garden and push his suspicious-looking titles into 42 of the top 50 seller slots of the App Store’s e-books category. Thuat Nguyen and his offerings were publicly frog-marched out of the App Store after he reportedly hacked into users’ iTunes accounts to make fraudulent transactions for relatively pricey apps, boosting those titles onto the hit lists.

The incident is just one more piece of evidence that Apple isn’t effectively minding the App Store, which teems with knock-offs, third-rate me-too offerings and just plain junk. The success of a novelty fart simulator in late 2008, for instance, so inspired developers that Apple approved 14 me-too offerings in one day alone. Which doesn’t do much to stoke the confidence of consumers when they’re trying to browse a store that stocks a ridiculous 200,000 items on its shelves.

The odd thing is that the marketing message of protecting the consumer and delivering elite products are underpinnings of Steve Jobs’ empire. Jobs notoriously boasted that the iPad offers “freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash you battery. Freedom from porn.” And Apple has long made a point of contrasting the vast number of malware threats Microsoft Windows faces with the few attempts to threaten Mac OS. But as the Nguyen incident demonstrates, the Phone’s locked-down ecosystem isn’t keeping customers free from either garbage or fraudulent titles that may threaten their safety.

The folks in Cupertino have a well-earned reputation for producing top-notch offerings, but too many iPhone apps are anything but top-notch. Meanwhile, Android already has some real competitive advantages over Apple’s mobile operating system, especially in the U.S., where it isn’t tied to a single carrier. If Apple doesn’t differentiate itself with a vastly superior App Store, it may find itself on the wrong end of a two-horse race.

Read the full post here.

Image courtesy Flickr use RightIndex.

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Google made a significant strategic shift last week when it said it would spend $700 million to buy ITA Software and its flight information business. Google had previously stayed away from vertical search when possible, but now it will be smack in the middle of the travel vertical: ITA is estimated to be involved in about 50 percent of U.S. airfare searches, including those on Bing and Kayak.

Google usually prefers “general tools for search,” Google VP Marissa Mayer said on a conference call about the ITA deal. But at times, “to provide the best user experience and most relevant results we need to have a special set of data and/or a vertical interface to really express what [users are] looking for” — and that’s true in air travel where user queries about dates and locations are particularly complicated, she said.

The world of online travel, according to Google

Plus, by moving into vertical search, Google can compete better with up-and-comer Bing, and it can get closer to the point at which its users actually spend money (which should theoretically be more valuable, though VC Bill Gurley suggests that taking out the middleman could actually mean a decrease in revenue).

So what about other search verticals? Are there other major data providers that Google could buy  – perhaps in real estate, sports, entertainment or jobs? I poked around a bit this week to talk to vertical data aggregators and their customers to get their thoughts.

Real estate: There is indeed a big database of real estate data in the U.S., the multiple listing service (MLS). Put together by real estate agents themselves, it only allows access via brokerages. So vertical search engines like Trulia and Zillow build out their coverage by adding listings individually and in chunks from brokerages and home owners. That workaround means they have slower and less complete access to data (it’s why, when I was recently shopping for a condo, I relied on searching listings at Redfin, which has better data since it’s a brokerage).

I asked Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman for his thoughts. He replied via email:

The most coverage Trulia itself has ever claimed is 70%; Zillow is probably no better. The data that Google wants is almost entirely in the MLS. But MLS data is only available to a brokerage like Century 21 or Redfin. The MLSs are very unlikely to share that data with Google any time soon, and Google is unlikely to buy a brokerage to get access to the data. By itself, Google Base hasn’t yet been successful in real estate, so far as I know.

Google had reportedly looked into buying Trulia late last year, around the same time it was checking out the local reviews site Yelp — another vertical play. Trulia, which is probably still the best bet for Google to acquire, did not reply to a request for comment for this story. Meanwhile, Zillow has developed a close relationship with Yahoo, announcing a deal today to power its for-sale listings.

Sports: The market leader in sports scores and reports is STATS, which counts Google among its clients. However, this is not the sort of company Google could buy as it is jointly owned by the Associated Press and News Corp. End of story. STATS last year acquired what was seen as the No. 2 player in the space, PA SportsTicker, which had previously been owned by ESPN. Another smaller and well-recommended competitor in the space is the Sports Network, based in Hatboro, Pa. If Google wants to scoop another ITA up, the Sports Network might well be the one.

Entertainment and events: Google has already built some vertical elements out in entertainment — for instance, it has its own movie listings interface and will respond to queries about movies with lists of show times. Bing, meanwhile, takes its vertical entertainment information from sources including Zvents and Tribune Media Services (a subsidiary of the Tribune Company). Zvents might be an acquisition target — it’s a San Mateo, Calif.–based company funded by AT&T, NAVTEQ, NetService Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Red Rock Ventures and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

Jobs: Gautam Godhwani, CEO of the job aggregator Simply Hired, said his company “does not rely on any single information source in a significant way.” He said there is no ITA equivalent in jobs because the data is so widely distributed — “across millions of sites, including job boards, newspapers, career sites and government sites”– and it is highly unstructured. So to get into this vertical, Google might have to level up and buy an aggregator.

However, while ITA’s main business was in airfares, the company wasn’t solely about travel. ITA had been working on something called the Needle Project — a platform for merging diverse sets of web data into a database that could be queried. And it had already built a test site of festivals and events, similar to Zvents, as a case study to show how non-programmers could use the system. So Google could potentially use ITA as a way to get into many more verticals without additional acquisitions or major new products. Perhaps Google was interested in vertical search, but it may be even more interested in an easy way to take massive amounts of unstructured data and give them structure. It would be the equivalent of spinning straw into gold.

Check out the rest: GigaOM

As part of a settlement with the Australian Privacy Commissioner, Google has apologized publicly on its official blog for inadvertently collecting personal data from unprotected wireless networks via its Street View cars, a privacy breach that has tied the search giant up in regulatory knots in dozens of countries, including the U.S., Canada and the European Union. Although the public mea culpa appears to have saved Google from any further regulatory action in Australia, however, there is still a very real chance that the company could face government sanctions in some of these other jurisdictions, and it continues to wrestle with the issue of what to do with the data that has already been collected. A simple apology isn’t going to end this issue.

In the apology, Google’s Senior Vice President for Engineering and Research Alan Eustace said the company was happy that the Australian government had completed its privacy investigation (the official results of which are here) and that Google was “committed to working even more closely with them going forward on the privacy implications of our product launches.” The blog post also said:

We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry. Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do and we have to earn that trust every single day. We are acutely aware that we failed badly here.

So far, Eustace is the only Google executive to have actually used the words “we’re sorry” in connection with the Street View privacy breach (the Australian blog post echoed the Google VP’s comments in May when the data collection was first discovered). Although Google co-founder Sergey Brin has admitted that the company “screwed up” by collecting the wireless data, he stopped short of actually apologizing. The company’s director of public policy, Hugo Chavez, said that Google was “profoundly sorry” for its mistake, but that was in a letter sent to the U.S. House of Representatives after several congressmen asked for a response from CEO Eric Schmidt. In his initial response to the incident, Schmidt dismissed concerns about the privacy implications, saying “no harm, no foul.”

Despite its Australian apology, however, Google may still not be out of the woods in that country or elsewhere: the company continues to face a possible investigation by the country’s federal police force over the Street View data collection. And there is the ongoing threat of legal and government sanctions in other countries as well: German authorities have undertaken an investigation that could lead to criminal penalties, there is a class-action lawsuit against the company in the U.S., and Federal Trade Commission Chairman John Leibowitz has said the agency will be taking “a very close look” at the company’s behavior.

The collection of personal information by its Street View cars, including email addresses and other data — which Google said resulted from an error in the way its cars tracked the existence of wireless networks, something they did in order to verify the location of the photos they were taking — was discovered when German authorities asked to see the data that the company had been collecting. Google originally said that it had not captured any personally identifiable information, but later admitted that it had. In addition to breached rules in various countries governing privacy, some U.S. legal experts have suggested that Google may have broken federal laws designed to prevent wiretapping.

Meanwhile, the issue of what to do with the data it has collected remains: after discussions with federal authorities in a number of countries including Denmark, Ireland and Austria, the company has destroyed the information — in some cases under supervision by a neutral third-party who could verify that this was done. But in some other countries, including Britain, Germany, France and Italy, authorities have demanded that Google hand over the data so that it can be used in possible legal cases against the company. Google recently said it will begin collecting Street View images again in Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden, with the approval of regulators in those countries, and says it has removed any wireless-network related equipment from its cars.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): Why New Net Companies Must Shoulder More Responsibility

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user Half Chinese

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Fring has updated its Voice over IP client, bringing support for the front-facing camera on Apple’s iPhone 4. Unlike the handset’s native FaceTime client, which is restricted to video calls over Wi-Fi and only to other iPhone 4 devices, the new Fring client supports video calls over 3G and calls to non-Apple devices such as those running Android and Symbian S60. With widespread platform support and 1.7 million iPhone 4 sold in the first three days of availability, Fring’s software is fast opening up the floodgates for mainstream video over cellular wireless.

But is AT&T’s network ready for 3G video calling on iPhone 4? Sure, Apple’s newest handset is sold outside of the U.S., but the U.S. (and thus the audience potentially affected by AT&T’s network) is significant. When Apple debuted FaceTime video calling on the iPhone 4, Steve Jobs said that Apple would be working with carriers to support the service over 3G in the future. There could be technical reasons for such a statement such as the need to figure out how to transfer calls between Wi-Fi and 3G without having to hang up, for example, but there’s also a question of network capability as well.

Russ Shaw, VP of Skype Mobile, which provides a similar VoIP service currently without mobile video support, recently told Om that it didn’t want to release any product that would disappoint users. With the user experience highly reliant upon the 3G network, Shaw’s caution is warranted, especially went it comes to video, which requires more bandwidth than voice alone. And given how a 3G network offers varying speeds due to signal, location, the number of people wirelessly connected to a tower and backhaul in use at the time, video calling over Wi-Fi will typically offer a more positive experience.

Unfortunately, carriers had better get ready for an uptick in video-calling and video transfer in general. A recent Pew report indicates a near-doubling of consumers recording mobile video in the past year. Capturing and uploading such video is just a start — once the user-base of clients like Fring, Skype and FaceTime reach critical mass, handset owners could be flooding mobile pipes with video calls. Indeed, our own GigaOM Pro research report on video calling (subscription required) estimates that the mobile video chat market will have more nearly 143 million customers by 2015. Let’s hope the carriers fulfill their planned 4G upgrades and embrace high-quality video calling on the faster, new networks.

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Twitter has claimed another journalist — this time a senior editor at CNN, and a 20-year veteran of the news network. Octavia Nasr agreed to leave the company after she posted a message on Twitter expressing sadness over the death of a Shiite cleric and spiritual leader of Hezbollah, which is designated by the some countries (including the U.S.) as a terrorist group. Although other journalists have lost their jobs for things they posted on Twitter and other sites, Nasr is probably one of the most high profile to leave for something she tweeted, and her departure is likely to reignite the debate over whether journalists should share their personal opinions on social networks.

In a message posted on July 4th at 4 a.m., Nasr — who contributed to the network’s Middle East coverage — said that she was sad to hear of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah’s death, and that she respected him as “one of Hezbollah’s giants.” A CNN spokesperson said that her comments were “an error in judgment” and that they “did not meet CNN editorial standards.” Ironically, Nasr was described in her online biography at the network as “a leader in integrating social media with newsgathering and reporting.”

Nasr said in a blog post that her comment was misinterpreted, and that she didn’t mean she agreed with everything the Hezbollah spiritual leader believed about Israel. She also said that her experience “provides a good lesson on why 140 characters should not be used to comment on controversial or sensitive issues, especially those dealing with the Middle East.”

Nasr’s departure is the latest example of the double-edged nature of Twitter when used by the media: its brevity and personal nature makes it the perfect medium for journalists to both report the news and express themselves, and allows them to connect with readers more easily than traditional publishing methods — but those features also make it the perfect weapon for pointing out what critics might take to be a journalist’s failings or personal foibles. And it is tempting for reporters and editors using Twitter outside of the newsroom to say the things they couldn’t say while they were busy trying to remain objective.

Even reporters and editors with the New York Times and Washington Post have succumbed to this temptation: the Times got some attention last year after reporters there posted comments to Twitter about an internal staff meeting, and the Washington Post drafted what some saw as an overly restrictive policy on the use of social media that eventually led one of the newspaper’s managing editors to cancel his Twitter account for fear of breaching them. And as more journalists start to use Twitter and other social-media tools, this kind of conflict is likely to become even more common.

The reality is that social media forces journalists to confront the fact that while many of them pretend professionally to have no opinions — outside of the op-ed pages — reporters and editors have plenty of their own views on the issues they cover, and those views can color the journalism they produce. In the interests of full disclosure, I agree with TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington, who argues that allowing journalists to express their opinions is a positive thing, because then everyone knows where they stand, instead of suspecting hidden agendas.

David Weinberger, a former fellow with the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has also argued that “transparency is the new objectivity,” and that readers can now make up their own minds about whether journalists are credible or not by looking at the sources of the news they are reporting, rather than relying on the notion of objectivity. “Transparency gives the reader information by which she can undo some of the unintended effects of the ever-present biases,” he said in a blog post last year. “Transparency brings us to reliability the way objectivity used to.” Transparency is also much more effective online because journalists can link to supporting evidence for their arguments, Weinberger said, instead of just relying on the principle of objectivity to buttress their opinions. “Objectivity,” he wrote, “is a trust mechanism you rely on when your medium can’t do links.”

And now that most media companies are trying to engage in that new medium, they had better get used to some of the new rules — and that includes reporters who might express potentially controversial opinions on Twitter.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user cliff1066

Check out the rest: GigaOM

After crossing the 4 billion subscriber threshold at end of 2008, there are now 5 billion mobile connections globally, says research firm Wireless Intelligence. Mobile handset adoption will continue to grow — WI estimates the world will see 6 billion connections by the mid-2012. But such growth isn’t being driven by areas such as Europe and the U.S. where adoption rates are already high. Leading the drive to 6 billion is the Asia-Pacific region — specifically China and India — now accounting for 47 percent of all connections world-wide, and up 5 percent from 18 months prior.

From a technology standpoint, GSM and W-CDMA networks continue to dominate the globe, accounting for 89 percent of the world’s mobile market. CDMA devices still hold a lead in the U.S. thanks to Verizon and Sprint, but that will change as Verizon moves forward with a GSM-compatible Long Term Evolution network over the next three years.

Since the WI report focuses mainly on handset subscribers, I wonder if its own future estimates are low. As more devices become connected through the Internet of things, the overall connection numbers should rise accordingly. E-book readers such as the Kindle, automobiles, upcoming and current tablets, not to mention cameras, are all getting connected. Combined with continued growth in the Asia-Pacific area and infrastructure maturity in emerging markets, connected gadgets could push the world’s connection numbers beyond 6 billion sooner rather than later. Indeed, Hans Vestberg, Ericcson’s CEO, expects 50 billion connected devices by 2020 — a number the carriers should pay attention to for strategic planning.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): Everybody Hertz: The Looming Spectrum Crisis

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Tesla’s Roadster may be the current belle of the EV car ball, but Mitsubishi’s pod-like iMiev could be the auto for the electric everyman (or woman). The iMiev has been sold in Japan for the past year and will be headed to the U.S. in 2011. Despite the upcoming competition from Nissan’s LEAF, GM’s Volt, or Fisker’s Karma, the iMiev could end up being one of the more low cost options in the U.S. at $35,000 a pop (and that cost doesn’t even factor in incentives).

Today on Green Overdrive, we step into the future to test drive the iMiev, and discover that good things do come in small packages.

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Summer is here and thoughts are turning to vacations, traveling and leisure activities. It’s a time for heading to the beach or across the globe to experience new places. Some folks may be staying close to home this year and looking for new things to do nearby. Or perhaps a virtual vacation is in the cards, using the power of the web to experience exotic places from a distance. The iPad is an apt companion for all of these summer activities, if the right apps come along for the journey.

Kayak. Traveling means booking flights, and in this economy finding the best deal is a must. Kayak is a good way to search for flights that meet specific criteria and book them. The app also handles hotels, so you can plan your travel and accommodations in one place. Free.

Zagat to Go. One of the great joys of vacations is sampling local delicacies and trying new food. It can be a challenge to find good places to eat in an unfamiliar place and that’s where Zagat comes to the rescue. You can search for restaurants, get pricing information, book reservations and find directions using the iPad’s GPS. $9.99.

Free Translator. If you are lucky enough to be traveling to exotic locales this summer, you may be confronted with a language you don’t speak. This app is a simple way to translate phrases in a number of languages to help you get around in foreign places. It is an iPhone app but works well on the iPad. Free.

Urbanspoon. This app is great for finding specific types of restaurants nearby, using a great system of criteria to narrow down the search. You can find what you crave with just a few taps on the iPad screen, complete with a map to see where you need to go. It covers many cities in the U.S. for those staying close to home, and also major cities in the UK and Australia. Free.

Photo Transfer App. The iPad doesn’t have a camera onboard but is still a good gadget to gaze at those vacation photos. This app makes it a snap to get the photos from an iPhone or a PC to the iPad over a Wi-Fi connection. $2.99.

MaxJournal. If you are traveling to great places this summer you may want to record all the lovely details of the trip in a journal. This app makes it easy to do that, and even incorporate photos recording the memories into the journal entries. You can share your travel entries with friends. $2.99.

Lonely Planet. Those staying close to home this summer can still escape to faraway places with this app. It gives a picture of 1,000 exotic locales with immersive photos and videos to make you feel like you are there. When the app was first released for $20 it created a backlash due to the high price so it was quickly dropped. $3.99.

Couch Traveler HD. If you’re taking a “staycation” this year, you can still visit cool places with this app. The name says it all — the app takes you anywhere you want to go virtually, complete with zoomable satellite coverage. You can see your destination as if you were there, and instantly tap into a wealth of information about the place through Wikipedia. $1.99.

National Geographic World Atlas HD. If you’re staying at home and not sure where you’d like to travel virtually, this atlas is just the ticket. It has the entire National Geographic World Atlas, so there is nowhere you can’t go with outstanding coverage in this app. $1.99.

Weber’s On the Grill. Last but not least, what would summer be without firing up the backyard grill and searing some meat and vegetables. This app has over 250 recipes for good grilling, and can produce shopping lists for recipes so you never forget that one thing you need just as the grill gets hot. You can even use the iPhone/iPad to time the grilling as per the recipe so you’ll never char food again. $4.99.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub. req’d): To Win In the Mobile Market, Focus On Consumers

Check out the rest: GigaOM