iPhone 3G + App Store = VoIP App Heaven?
June 22nd, 2008 | by alexander drewniak |Hey there all you Rebtel lovers,
Hope everybody have had a pleasant weekend with a lot of sunbathing and quality time with friends and family. The weather here in Stockholm has been going up and down but we are not complaining. If it’s raining it just gives us a reason to stay in and figure out new cool services, features and promotions for our beloved users 
As most of you probably know by now, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 3G on Monday June 5th and oh boy have we been waiting for that baby. This exciting unveiling took place at the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in San Francisco, CA. The WWDC can be described and closely compared to simply heaven for iPhone and OSX fan-boys (and girls). It’s a place where developers from around the world gather to listen to Steve’s keynote, hang out, go to seminars and hopefully develop some wicked apps for our enjoyment that will be available for download (for a few bucks or for free) through Apples own App Store. The iPhone 3G will be available on July 11th and so will the App Store.
Now, how is this interesting for Rebtel you might wonder? Well, we believe that Apple is one of the most innovative companies in the world and we like to think that just like us, they always try to keep pushing the boundaries. The iPhone as a platform has enormous potential and with the 8GB entry model going for as little as $199, a lot of people would argue that the iPhone will go from relative obscurity to ubiquity.
I would lie if I told you that we didn’t have anything on the drawing board for the App Store, so I won’t What I will tell you is that we are now reaching out to you, our users that make up an incredible Rebtel community spread out across the world. We know a lot of you guys love the iPhone as much as we do so we want you to write a short comment to this post and tell us what kind of functionality you would like to see in a native Rebtel iPhone 3G app. Not too shabby, huh?
Truth is, we could make it easy for ourselves and just put something out there without consulting with our users first but who would we be kidding? That’s not how we roll. Never have and never will. We have always been about our users in everything we do and this is not an exception. So go ahead, let your imagination flow and let’s work together to make this something truly great!
As far as guidelines for VoIP applications on the iPhone go, Steve himself has stated that as long as the app doesn’t use the carriers network, VoIP on the iPhone is all good.
If you want to know more about the iPhone 3G, check out this FAQ the cool people over at Gizmodo put together.
Lastly, have a great Sunday and we’re looking forward to hearing from all of you!
By dubrox on Jun 23, 2008
Ok ok, iPhone is cool, but I’ve just bought a Nokia E61i… why don’t you think of a Symbian Rebtel too?
About functionalities I’d like:
- the ability to call my contacts directly from the internet, so I won’t need to spend money to call my local number;
- receive calls from my contacts directly to my mobile (even if not set as preferred) in case I’m online with my Rebtel app, this way the rates for the incoming call (to my mobile) would be cheaper than now;
- chance to manage the entire Rebtel account from my mobile app. (adding personal numbers, addressbook numbers, …);
This would be enough to enjoy Rebtel services!
But if you want to add services Rebtel doesn’t offer at the moment, I’d love international sms service and instant messenging within rebtel users
Have a good time,
dubrox ^_^
PS: if you would do it as a opensource project I could even give an help in developing
By alexander drewniak on Jun 23, 2008
dubrox,
Thanks a lot for your input!
If we decide to do it opensource we would be glad to have you on board.
Best,
Alex
By Vijay on Jun 23, 2008
Hi Alex,
How about ad-supported free calling from the app?…maybe a short voice-ad before call connects?
By alexander drewniak on Jun 24, 2008
Hey Vijay,
Thanks for your input but we will most likely not implement ads in the voice service because we think that it would somewhat ruin the user experience.
Consumers today are constantly bombarded with ad messages and we would like to do our part to at least keep phone services ad free.
Best,
Alex
By Sebastian J on Jun 24, 2008
Dear Rebtel,
As a polite gesture for providing users with a delightful, solid and honest service connecting people all around the world, I’m much pleased to contribute with my personal suggestions on an iPhone app.
What about the following;
easy-to-access web interface where the user can manage and administrate the user account, personal contacts and address books. Call-history including the duration of the calls, total cost at what rate etc.
A short message service could also be useful according to my personal opinion, since i have a lot of colleagues staying in countries where we’re experiencing text-messaging issues.
That’s all i can think of for the moment.
Best regards,
Sebastian
By Fiona on Jun 29, 2008
I would like to an sms application that is able to save my sms to folders. For example, if a friend sent me a joke, I would like to save it in a folder called ‘Jokes’. I would like a charactor counter while writing a sms so I know if I’ve been charged for 1,2 or 3 sms. And I would also like to forward text msgs. MMS, I can live without, but it would have been nice for apple to have included it as standard.
By JJ Cale on Jul 2, 2008
I echo “Sebastian J”’s requirements but for a client version - that has numbers and other info cached and synchs with the server in case of changes. Information I store on the phone to be configurable (I may choose not to keep call history).
Another feature the client ought to have is the ability to call numbers not in my rebtel list. IE, calling the rebtel operator (with an implicit ‘press 2′) - and then access to the contact list on the phone, so pressing on the number gets me through. Another way to say this is to be able to call ‘any’ number in your contact list - through the Rebtel Operator mode. My list of Rebtel contact numbers are all taken, and I’d like to often call a number that has no Rebtel numbers assigned to it.
Hope it is all clear. Please ask if not.
By aashiq on Jul 5, 2008
plz provde free calling from the app
By Mass IT on Jul 8, 2008
That was a great post. I will have to bookmark this site so I can read it later.
By BerTheFish on Jul 9, 2008
My calls are only UK - I only get to use rebtel when on holiday (thats rare!) I’ve put many people onto the brilliant rebtel service though.
This is almost relevant: - I crave a mac osx driver that replaces the lost functionality of Leopard Adress book - ie: dials bluetooth handset and sends/display SMS.
By aaron rao on Jul 11, 2008
It has best feature like as Call-history, SMS etc .It is suitable for every person. It has efficient memory.
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aaron133
The VoIP/TDM Routes Marketplace
By Saurabh on Jul 12, 2008
any updates on an iPhone application for rebtel. Truphone seems tohsve launched one already but I rather use rebtel. You guys rock!!!
By David on Jul 24, 2008
Your service is great and I am considering an Iphone. I would love to see SMS in the app. I have not located a good international low cost SMS service.
By Atul on Jul 28, 2008
Guys,
Thanks for the wonderful Rebtel service. It’s invaluable! I have been waiting for an iPhone app.
Here’s my list of features:
* Must play nice with iPhone. That is, if a call comes on the regular 2G/3G network, it should appropriately raise a prompt, or a configurable option for action
* Allow SMS over IP. Why not?
* Allow faster access to direct dial numbers
* Take advantage of location (?) to contact the nearest IP server. This may/ may not be tricky. For e.g., if somebody has a Boston area code, but lives in San Francisco, it might be better to connect to the San Fran IP server. That might decrease some latency. (Don’t know how implementable this is.)
I’m sure I’ll have more feature requests.
In any case, I’m waiting for the app.
Go Rebtel!!