Microsoft will make Bluetooth VoIP phone

Feeling shut out by the likes of Skype, Microsoft has decided it needs to make its own hardware to take advantage of its VoIP/Internet telephony software. There appear to be three different device types in total. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, at least one of these will go public this week (late March). This should be the basic softphone which will comprise of a USB style PC dongle married to a Bluetooth compatible headset. So as soon as users wander away from their PC the headset will pair with a regular cellular handset. By supplying its own hardware – in the shape of a PC dongle plus headset – Microsoft would overcome the obvious support nightmare if it tried to claim compatibility with all-and-sundry Bluetooth headsets.  Microsoft's approach is logical since Brit upstart, Rok, introduced VoIP software called Viper, which utilised Bluetooth for the voice connexion. Sadly Mobile Insight could never get Viper to work.

The newspaper reports Microsoft's Gurdeep Singh Pall as saying the Beast's software is "so disruptive" that none of the conventional hardware suppliers would touch it. Another of these devices, the Microsoft Roundtable (previously known as the Ringcam) was originally shown off late last year (2006). The Roundtable is a videoconferencing device with a 360 degrees camera.  It will cost $3,000 compared to closer to $20,000 for a dedicated videoconferencing system. The final product is a desktop handset with a 5.24 inch colour touch-sensitive screen.

The full inquirer story ... Microsoft to make own VoIP phones

The film comedy, Mr Bean’s Holiday, showcases a new mobile technology, Snap Happy, created by the marcomms agency - Magnet Harlequin. It utilises picture recognition to replace bar codes.

All it requires is for participants in the campaign to take a picture of the poster using their cameraphone and send it via MMS (picture messaging) to a special mobile number. In this case it’s +44 7786 200547.

The Snap Happy technology will then automatically identify the sender’s type of phone and offer appropriate free ring tones, wallpapers and videos.

The company claims, "Picture recognition technology is a real break through for mobile marketing and a valuable addition to the marketing mix.

Unlike other technologies that use barcodes or require the consumer to download an application, picture recognition can be seamlessly incorporated into existing campaigns."

The company claims the technology behind Snap Happy uses an algorithm to match the consumer’s camera phone picture to the promotional image logged on the database so that even partial images taken in poor light will be recognisable.

Head of Magnet Harlequin’s mobile division, Scott Seaborn, argues, "In the UK, 40 per cent of Brands have already used text messaging – according to Airwide Solutions -which has been extremely successful.

Research by MDA and Nielsen/Net Ratings shows that WAP enabled mobile phones are the second most popular digital device owned by Britons after the PC, so we know the potential for this kind of activity is huge.”

Magnet Harlequin will be looking at experimenting with coupling Snap Happy to GPS so that advertisers know which ads are working best for them, and where those ads are geographically located.