iPhone 3G + App Store = VoIP App Heaven?
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!
Ping this!
Your page is now on StumbleUpon! says:
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
dubrox says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
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
alexander drewniak says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
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
Vijay says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Hi Alex,
How about ad-supported free calling from the app?…maybe a short voice-ad before call connects?
alexander drewniak says:
June 24th, 2008 at 8:30 am
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
Sebastian J says:
June 24th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
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
Suggestions for Rebtel iPhone 3G Voip application | VoIP MoVoIP Blog says:
June 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
[...] voip provider is considering plans to launch its new Iphone voip application. The best part is Rebtel is asking people to give their suggestions about what kind of functionality you would like to see [...]
Free and cheap VoIP phone calls to India: Apple iphone in USD 199 and your opinion says:
June 28th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Fiona says:
June 29th, 2008 at 12:30 am
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.
JJ Cale says:
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
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.
aashiq says:
July 5th, 2008 at 10:10 am
plz provde free calling from the app
Mass IT says:
July 8th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
That was a great post. I will have to bookmark this site so I can read it later.
BerTheFish says:
July 9th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
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.
- Zimbio says:
July 11th, 2008 at 8:17 am
aaron rao says:
July 11th, 2008 at 10:01 am
It has best feature like as Call-history, SMS etc .It is suitable for every person. It has efficient memory.
___________________________
aaron133
The VoIP/TDM Routes Marketplace
Saurabh says:
July 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
any updates on an iPhone application for rebtel. Truphone seems tohsve launched one already but I rather use rebtel. You guys rock!!!
David says:
July 24th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
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.
Atul says:
July 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
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!!
Suggestions for Rebtel iPhone 3G Voip application | Voip Blog says:
July 31st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
[...] voip provider is considering plans to launch its new Iphone voip application. The best part is Rebtel is asking people to give their suggestions about what kind of functionality you would like to see [...]
jimit says:
November 13th, 2008 at 6:11 am
hi alex i can see you ppl r trying to make an iphone app and i think this a great idea so what kind of help do u need or is the app ready or have you stoped making it pls reply me at my email address and i have some good ideas it you r still making the app and i wil give them to u
Steve says:
November 26th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Two things I would like to see:
1. Calling option over wifi
2. When calling a contact who is busy, out of range or switched off, some notification of this instead of getting the rebtel ring tone. It is annoying having to pay my phone company for minutes listening to a ringtone.
Otherwise, i am a very happy customer.
Steve says:
November 26th, 2008 at 10:53 am
One more thing. As an iPhone app, why not have the option to have the app go through the contact list and auto-assign rebtel numbers to each contact. Then dialling from the contact list would be east and convenient. You guys would prob get more business that way too
alexander drewniak says:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Thanks for your input.
Sure to say, we’re definitely considering some of the stuff you mentioned.
Thanks!
Alex
JJ Cale says:
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Alexander,
How are those considerations coming along? All we need is an app that’ll let us add, remove, map and call via the local Rebtel assigned number with a link to the Contacts list in the phone?
Hope y’all aren’t trying to out-Skype Skype…
vicente a sanchez says:
April 11th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
hola los felisito a todos ustedes por el trabajo q asen espero q cada dia sea mejor al publico
alexander drewniak says:
April 14th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Muchas gracias!