Rebtel Blog

Reb Me brings mobility to the party

Our Facebook app, Reb Me, is now live. We’re a little surprised to note that it’s only the second of two functional VoIP apps on there, as bringing Rebtel functionality to Facebook was a logical next step for our service. There’s a strong use of social media within Rebtel itself, and, of course, our users are there - so why not go to them?

As Rebtel developer Ola Sundqvist explains, it’s now possible to do everything on Facebook that you can do at Rebtel.com, apart from crediting your account which, for security reasons, must be done at our main site. We provide Facebook users with free credit so they can try the service immediately - and if their friends sign up they receive more credit, which should help promote the viral spread of the app through interconnected groups of friends.

Despite the ease with which you can form connections on the internet, research shows that online networks tend to grow from offline ones, whether that’s a group of work colleagues, students at the same university, or members of a social group based around sport or leisure activities. Here at Rebtel, we think it makes sense to extend communication outwards from Facebook back to the ‘offline’ world by developing a mobile application.

Most other VoIP-based services require the use of a computer to initiate the call: with Rebtel, once the number has been generated, the customer saves and dials it as they would any other number. In this way, Rebtel brings voice to the world of social networking, expanding the number of ways in which Facebook users can interact with each other by providing a cost-effective, real-life means of communication that segues seamlessly with their chosen networking platform.

As Rebtel CEO Hjalmar Windbladh points out in an interview on the Jeff Pulver blog, “[with Reb Me] Rebtel becomes an integral part of social networking, bringing mobility to the party. Now you can reach all your friends when not online with just a local call. There are no exorbitant long distance charges, and you’re calling right from your mobile phone, not chained to your desk.”

Reb Me on Facebook!

On Facebook? So are we! This week sees the launch of our new Facebook application, Reb Me. The app brings Rebtel functionality to Facebook: once installed, you can instantly create local numbers for your friends, directly from Facebook. You can also display a box on your profile that your friends can click to generate a local number that connects to your mobile, and earn free credit by inviting contacts to install the application. Reb Me brings voice to the world of social networking, expanding the number of ways in which Facebook users can interact with each other by providing a cost-effective, real-life means of communication that segues seamlessly with their chosen networking platform. “Nice“, says the Guardian. What do you think? Try it today!

A developer’s take on our new Facebook app

We’re about to launch our new Facebook app, Reb Me. Developer Ola Sundvqist takes a moment to fill me in on FBML, server loads, data protection and how Rebtel plans to fight ‘app fatigue’…

Can you briefly describe Reb Me?

OLA: It’s like a web service that converts your mobile or international number into a landline number. When calling this generated number our servers connect you over the internet, charging almost nothing for it so you save tons of money calling abroad with mobiles or landline.

Why should Facebook users be excited about the Reb Me application?

OLA: Facebook is a huge global community expanding with some 100 000 users per day. People are connecting and nothing beats calling a person and communicating in real life. With this application any Facebook user can create numbers and call any of their Facebook friends really cheaply. The Rebtel website is super-advanced and quite heavy to load. The Facebook app is sleek and lean to use. We even provide free minutes to the Facebook users to try it out. Charging your account won’t be needed until those run out, and charging your account is the only thing you can’t do with the Reb Me application due to security etc.

What safeguards are in place to protect theft of data or other similar problems?

OLA: When signing up with Facebook you sign up to allow your information to be sold. This is one of the major revenues of Facebook. Rebtel don’t sell information and have a strict policy of privacy. No information is saved into the Facebook database when using the Reb Me application. When logging in to Rebtel.com, security socket layers are always used to protect information.

Can you talk a little about the technologies used to create the Facebook app (FBML, FQL, etc.)

OLA: I have used FBML as much as possible, and when it was not possible I studied the source HTML and CSS of the Facebook website to keep things as similar as possible. This makes the application to melt well with design and what Facebook users are used to, keeping it tidy and simple. FBML is converted into HTML that matches out-of-the-box classes provided by Facebook. This saves loading times and whenever there’s a minor bug in the FBML code, the page won’t work at all. This keeps things in good health as everything has to be perfect to run at all, much like the C# that needs to compile before it can run.

Was it tricky to conform to Facebook guidelines on appearance and content while still maintaining a Rebtel identity? Or did you find the restrictions to be useful in any way?

OLA: I love restrictions. This keeps things in place and working on majority of all platforms. It was tough keeping a balance of the company brand and the Facebook layout. In the end we stuck to keeping it look and feel like Facebook with our logotype and symbol for branding on all pages. In the profile the branding of Rebtel is with emphasis using a rounded corner box as container for the shortcut links where the links are also coloured with the “Rebtel blue” colour. In order to make the pages branded and more fun to look at, we also included most of our “Hippies”. This makes it feel a bit personal and lightens up all that textual content. Learning the FBM language was quick as I’ve worked with markup languages since the mid 90’s and there were not that many tags to learn. We had to do a little workaround to put all custom styles in once place using a master template rather than including and external stylesheet document as this is not allowed on Facebook.

What do you feel are the main concepts that entrepreneurs and investors should understand about the Facebook platform? Do you think Facebook apps are set to replace consumer-facing websites?

OLA: Remember, Facebook is just another website. It’s popular today and I agree it’s as good as it gets by 2007 standards. With some time and skills, anyone can set up something similar based on Open Source platforms like Joomla and Community Builder. Any company should build an app on Facebook as it can be done in days. It’s also important to profile your company on Facebook with your CEO having a page and a company that can be selectable from the lists as employers on Facebook.

Facebook has 24 million active users – any worries about server load?

OLA: So far we have been worrying too much about server load and to little about spreading the word. We have a nifty load balanced solution and any issue can be solved with hardware. According to my own guess Rebtel needs about 1 million users to look good and 2 million to get those happy 2.0 vibes going.

Any concerns about timing? It’s been suggested that Facebook users are already suffering from ‘app fatigue’… how does Reb Me plan to work around this?

OLA: There were about 2000 apps on Facebook when creating the Rebtel app and that will likely grow fast from now on. Good apps will succeed anyway. I still believe the purpose of the Reb Me app is unique and that it’s a great service we are providing for people. There may be fatigue about all those ‘fun’ applications with never about anything as useful as this.

Do you think that Rebtel on Facebook is better for the consumer? How is Rebtel functionality improved through Facebook integration?

OLA: I think we are improving our usability and flows. People internally almost prefer using the Facebook app rather than the real Rebel website as it is so lean and clean. I believe Rebtel will have to improve on letting users increase their personal privacy security levels when putting external applications out like this.

What do you feel differentiates Reb Me from its competitors’ Facebook apps? (Jangl, SkypeMe, etc)?

OLA: I’ve always felt that Jangl and SkypeMe are very connected to a computer while Rebtel is connected to a standard phone. I don’t even see us as competitors. Rebtel has a unique angle in the market. When it comes to the Reb Me app, the Jangl and SkypeMe apps seems like hasty jobs where not that many features have been put into the app. We have focused on putting as much real functionality as possible into it. A large focus has been on copywriting and icons as well, constantly improving the app.

“rebtel 6 out of 31 non-american web 2.0 companies to watch”

According to CNN that is, and we’re not contesting their opinion. We’re mighty pleased that we’re mentioned among such companies as Joost, Ohmynews and Bliin. And we can only concur with the rest of CNN’s write-up:

Rebtel is similar to Skype, only it doesn’t require customers to download special software or use a separate device for making phone calls. You provide them an international number, they provide you a local number. When you dial, Rebtel switches your call to the Internet, allowing for cheap international, mobile-to-mobile communications. Rebtel says users have opened “several hundred thousand accounts.”

What a great way to start the weekend!

Update: we were geographically mapped here. Many thanks to Erick Schonfeld

Truphone, T-Mobile, Skype, and the Federal Communications Commission….

The US market is highly regulated when it comes to sending text messages to consumers. Due to the fact that users there pay for receiving SMS messages, to be able to send text messages from a service like Rebtel we’re required to go through a certification process by each mobile operator in the US.

This is great, as it protects users. But two of the largest operators are declining our application because we’re cannibalizing on their international call revenue. Yet another example of network operators abusing their dominance in the market preventing new entrants from bringing value and innovation to the customer.

However, it does look as though some small headway is being made. T-Mobile has just been ordered to stop blocking WiFi rival Truphone’s calls. Truphone, which routes calls via WiFi when handsets are within range of wireless hotspots, accused T-Mobile of abusing their dominant position in the market, and yesterday the High Court granted an intermin injunction, forcing T-mobile to connect calls made to Truphone numbers.

James Tagg, Truphone’s chief executive officer, says:

“The injunction is good news not only for Truphone but for every company trying to develop internet-era services and for every consumer wanting freedom of choice and lower prices. We are determined to bring better-value mobile calls, text messages and other innovative services to mobile phone users, and it’s right that we should not be prevented from doing so.”

Over in the US, meanwhile, Skype are petitioning the Federal Communications Commission (under the “Carterfone” rules) in an attempt to force US mobile operators to loosen controls on what kinds of hardware and software can be connected to their networks. If the rules of the upcoming Federal Communications Commission auction of 700MHz spectrum (probably due to take place in January 2008) are written in such a way as to encourage ‘open access’, the wireless market might finally be able to evolve into an open, thriving, innovative network, free from the stranglehold the mobile operators currently have on it. With Truphone’s case set to continue later this year, it looks like this winter might be an interesting one…

iBlend

Rebtel’s all in favour of disruptive forces in mobile telephony, but maybe this is taking things just a touch too far…