Mobile IM application Nimbuzz partners Voxbone in new VoIP agreement
Mobile instant messenger application Nimbuzz offers users VoIP calls out of 3G or Wi-Fi range
Nimbuzz, a mobile instant messenger application, has today announced a
new partnership that will allow its users around the world to make voIP calls from their mobile handset without internet access.
The partnership with telephone number provider
Voxbone will provide Nimbuzz users with a Voxbone local access number when 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity is unavailable from their handsets. This means that Nimbuzz users can continue to make free internet calls to their contacts on popular instant messenger applications including
Skype,
Windows Live Messenger,
Yahoo! Messenger,
GoogleTalk and
AIM.
Nimbuzz?s head of communications Tobias Kemper explained that the partnership with Voxbone will help push the service to be a truly mass-market application. He went on to say, ?(the application will) not be one limited to this mobile platform, or that chat/calling network, or a particular click sequence. By adding DID (direct inward dialling) numbers supplied by Voxbone, we can provide reliable mobile VoIP outside of internet range and over 2G networks in over 50 countries, with any internet-enabled handset and no change in user behaviour.?
Under the agreement, when a
Nimbuzz user wants to make a voice call using the application, the service will detect when the handset is out of normal internet range and then request the users permission to automatically dial a Voxbone local access number. This call, which will be charged at a local rate according to the users price plan, will then be routed over the internet through the Voxbone service.
The company, which launched in May 2008,
recently appointed Neal Fullman as its chief marketing officer. Fullman left as international communications director at Fring, arguably Nimbuzz?s biggest competitor.
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