So I was just reading this article about Truphone,VOIP software for the Ipod Touch that enables users with a Wifi connection to make calls to other Truphone and Google Talk users, providing they have a headset with a Microphone.
So why is this so good?
- Well it’s cheaper than owning an Iphone.
- The ipod Touch has a slimmer form factor than the Iphone
- Because it uses wifi it is effectively cheaper than a mobile network.
But there are a still a few barriers to adoption:
- You need a wifi connection.
- You need headphones with a microphone. After hunting around the Apple store I found these, but I can’t understand why Truphone wouldn’t link to these from their website?
- Calls are limited to other Truphone and Google Talk users.
Surely this would have better adoption is Skype had released the software? cheap air max
i wander if the reason for not going skype is its bloaty in terms of bandwidth. I think its about 70Kbits whereas VOIP normally runs at around 24Kbit/s. voice codecs are down sub 10k.
However, the potential is there to do something really clever and low bandwidth with voice on the ipod touch.