A British Telecom, US acquisition has released a rival to Google Voice, potentially more far reaching and advanced than Google’s offering, which is built around a single VoIP softswitch which can speak to a client on almost any handset. The beta service is called Ribbit Mobile Beta and is currently free, though is eventually intended as a hybrid free and paid service (basic free, advanced paid) once it is fully developed in the middle of 2010.
And the whole idea could instantly dump the idea of App Stores, in favor of one server or cloud side application development effort so that once an application is developed it can be used on ANY phone.
The APIs for the cloud based applications offer support for Flex, Flash, REST, PHP, HTTP and XML and other programming environments which means that voice can be added on any device. Flex is the Adobe development environment for Flash.
Ribbit boasts that the applications it already has allows users to merge multiple phones using a conditional call forwarding system, route mobile calls to other phones and answer mobile calls on an internet connection, as if you were using Skype.
Ribbit Mobile is built on the Ribbit Platform, a platform with open APIs that lets developers add features. It can convert voicemail into text and send it to users as an SMS, IM or email. Because it is connected to a remote softswitch and then to any other application server, messages can be stored permanently, then indexed and searched, and can age off from your handset to the cloud, automatically.
The system can also be connected to Skype and other services such as MSN or Google Talk, through applications on the softswitch. The entire service came out of a proof of concept service called Amphibian, which Ribbit developed in 2007, which is what attracted BT to the company.
By creating a new type of caller ID online calling will carry the same caller ID as your mobile. An added benefit of this is that if you lose your phone, all your calls can still be received through an internet connection.
There are lots of application ideas on the Ribbit web site but the live applications currently include an SMS widget; a chalkboard phone to stay in touch with mobile messages on your PC; My Messages, which accesses messages from any social network; and a conferencing application from your handset. The Ribbit web site has an ideas wall, and it lists all the applications that might be built using its APIs, such as recording both incoming and outgoing calls, make notes on your phone about a contact, which are called up when he or she calls, and receiving faxes on your phone. So far 34 ideas for apps have been posted.
The Ribbit communications platform is aimed at supporting a community of developers designing voiceware applications for Ribbit. Through the Ribbit-BT partnership, developers will gain access to a global telecom infrastructure. And, unlike platforms such as Apple or Google Android, applications built on Ribbit are not locked to a specific carrier, device, protocol or operating system.
Ribbit will implement a “Developer Rewards” program which will compensate developers based on how much their applications are used, even if their applications are offered for free to end users. It is envisaged that Ribbit developers offering free apps will be rewarded based on network usage, which generates revenues.