Pat Phelan: Bits, bytes and telecomsTelecoms news, gadgets reviews and the Irish web.

Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner is changing tack on an almost monthly basis. The telecom killer now seems to suggest that she is in favour of the USA/China style model of RPP.

Imagine paying per minute for every call you receive, its total and utter madness, it works in the USA at 1c average but where would the benchmark be set in the EU, 10C?
This model is not viable and is a red herring from the minister in my opinion.

The minister is now attacking data and sms costs which is a very welcome move in my opinion but to attempt to fundamentally change the whole market in Europe is a mistake which the minister will come to regret.
Whilst all in favour of lowered pricing I am completely against RPP and I feel that this model will be bought in as a “double taxation” by the carriers should the minister not leave the market develop at a standard pace.

Lunch in Soho Cork was a complete disaster today.
I should start a review site for Sunday lunches in Cork and the shocking experience it generally is.
I was persuaded not to write about a semi suicidal Polish girl who served us up Seafood linguine last Sunday in Cafe Bar Deli with processed crab sticks as the main seafood.

Today was the worst yet
We were strolling past Soho in The Grand Parade and decided to chance it, what a bad decision that was on Fathers Day

When will Irish eating establishments hire people who greet there customers with a smile, we appeared to have a hawk like sour puss manager and an even more soured puss server.
Mrs Phelan asked for a cup of tea, it came with a cup covered in lipstick and coffee stains, it was duly dispatched and came back haven been washed (does SOHO have more than one cup) still covered in stains and soaking wet.
I cleaned it with a serviette but Mrs Phelan was having none of it. I dispatched it back to our young American server and it was returned with a sarcastic “if that’s not good enough for you I don’t know what to do”
Food was very average, cremated burgers with Frozen chips for €18
Soup which appeared to have the contents of a salt cellar within
Mrs Phelan got stir friend beef instead of chicken she ordered soaked in oyster sauce.
All in all a piss poor Sunday lunch.

Our partners in twitterfone Dial2Do have won the prestigious event SVASE Launch: Silicon Valley. Sean, Ivan, Adrienne and Co took home top prize in the Media and Mobility section.
This is an amazing week for Dial2Do, earlier in the week they annpounced a tie in with Jajah and now this.

From Sean’s blog
The feedback from the audience was very positive on our “getting things done, hands-free” message, and of course, the fact that hands-free legislation kicks in from July 1st in California, and will then follow in other US states, provided great context. In California alone, there are an estimated 23 Million Licensed drivers who will be affected by this new law, and as reported by Plantronics, many of these are unaware of the consequences of non-compliance. We’d encourage each and every one of them to sign up with Dial2Do!

As for our win, we’re delighted, and as they might say in the Valley: AWE-SOME!

I was browsing through my feeds and read this from Ewan.
Rebtel and easyMobile ink mobile VoIP deal
This is a very interesting development for the Swedish company who appear to be on the up and up especially this year with some large announcements and some big deals inked.
The easy group are one of Europe’s largest movers of people and the Rebtel philosophy will fit right in there.

Right now Rebtel are the only one of a vast bunch to offer total free calls by using the unique “hang up, call back” technology, it may be slightly clunky but it gets you a free call when others are dropping the “free calling” mantra left, right and centre.

Palringo announces its North American launch, CEO Kerry Ritz talks about the benefits and features of Palringo’s multi-platform instant messaging service for mobile devices

Palringo allows use to use all your IM clients on your cellphone, it allows you to send voice messages, text messages and photo’s all from the comfort of your mobile phone

IT @Cork have invited me to speak at their Midsummer networking Event.

“Pat Phelan (winner of one of last year’s it@cork Leader Awards) will talk us through the recent launch of twitterfone and how without a marketing budget within three weeks of launch they have 32,000 sign ups! And unprecedented global media coverage.
Pat reveals the secrets of his success to his fellow it@cork members.
This is an informal and relaxed members only networking event. Food and drink compliments of Heineken”

Cubic Telecom were winners of it@Cork emerging company category this year and I am looking forward to meeting everyone again.
If you are in the technology sector in Cork I suggest you join IT@Cork it has been a wonderful supporter of our company.
Thankfully the event is being held in a brewery as hopefully everyone will have had a few beers before they have to listen to me.

Delighted about this one as I had a tiny little hand in it.

Buddies Dial2Do and Jajah have announced a partnership where Jajah will use Dial2Do technology to speak your calls.

2008-06-10 07:28:00
Dial2Do Announces New Partnership: Leader in Hands-Free Innovation is Voice-Activating JAJAH Calls, Text Messaging and Conferencing

DUBLIN, Ireland & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(eMediaWorld)–At a time when many U.S. commuters are being mandated to use hands-free cell phones, Dial2Do, an Irish hands-free technology innovator, announced today they are partnering with JAJAH, the world’s most innovative global communication company, to make a voice activated JAJAH call, text or conference – by simply speaking the words.

How it Works

Using Dial2Do, users simply call a local number (+1-213-325-2615 in the U.S.), say the word “JAJAH,” and then select one of three JAJAH services—call, text or conference.

* To call a contact, say “JAJAH call”
* To send a JAJAH text message (SMS) say “JAJAH text”
* To set up a group call, say “JAJAH conference”

For calls and conferences, JAJAH initiates the call to anyone in your Dial2Do address book and rings the caller back immediately to connect the call. The service is accessible on any phone and does not require any new hardware, software or download.

The Dial2Do service is currently in private beta, but JAJAH users are being given a special invitation. Registered JAJAH users just visit http://www.dial2do.com/jajah, click “register” to begin and enter the code “dial2jajah.” To register at JAJAH, just go to www.jajah.com.

The calls or texts are powered by JAJAH’s IP platform. Dial2Do uses the JAJAH API to set up a JAJAH call.

“By using their voice, Dial2Do helps people get things done quickly and communicate. Now it’s even easier and more affordable to keep connected by saying ‘JAJAH’ to use JAJAH’s award-winning phone and text services,” said Ivan Mac Donald, CEO of Dial2Do. “The sheer convenience of being able to make calls, send text messages and conference all hands-free, no matter your location, is a win for busy, mobile JAJAH users.”

“We are excited to work with Dial2Do and offer our 10 million users yet another way in which they can use JAJAH,” said JAJAH Co-founder, Roman Scharf. “JAJAH makes it easier for people to stay in touch and now that our capabilities are voice activated with Dial2Do, making a global call or sending a message is as simple as dialing a number and saying your friends’ name.”

In addition to making JAJAH calls, Dial2Do members can also make Twitter and Jaiku posts and send emails, all by voice command.

About Dial2Do

Dial2Do, a global leader in hands-free technology innovation, is the creator of the service enabling consumers worldwide to do simple tasks just by dialing a local number and speaking commands. Users can choose from the verbal commands “Email, Text, Blog, Twitter, Text, JAJAH, Jaiku or Zimbra” to voice-active those duties. Dial2Do is working with partners to voice-activate many new online, content and contact services. Dial2Do is currently is private beta; invites may be requested at www.dial2do.com.

O2 have announced their iPhone 3G pricing packages

“The 3G device will be available in an 8GB model and a 16GB model.

The 8GB iPhone 3G will cost €49 on the €100 monthly iPhone tariff, €99 on the €65 tariff and €169 on the €45 tariff.

The 16GB iPhone 3G will cost €129 on the €100 monthly tariff option, €169 on the €65 tariff and €299 on the €45 tariff ”

Looks very good, hopefully the minutes packages will be changed also.
Unfortunately O2 haven’t taken any steps to remove the data cap.

I am really hoping that O2 Ireland don’t mess this one up.
We should expect to see the 8GB iPhone at €127 in one months time if uncle Steve was correct in what he said “The maximum price anywhere is $199″

So I wake up this morning thinking I will pre-register, flick on twitter and see messages saying O2 now taking pre-registrations for iPhone. woo-hoo
Yep, there they are on the UK site, register your interest, hell there are even free ones.

Right, decision made, its buy/reserve mode, off to O2.ie

In fairness, what’s the deal here?
Surely its not that difficult guys, I hope we are not going to get any shoddy deals here again.

Having already complained once to Liz Nida of SSPR, I get the same email again about some dumb POS called funkysexycool if the name wasn’t enough to turn me off Liz definitely managed to do it.
SSPR looks like an incredibly professional outfit and I am surprised at this to say the least.