Social commerce company Reevoo today announced a deal with Octopus, part of the Kuoni Group, to provide authenticated reviews of cities and hotels offered as destinations by Octopus. The deal heralds the beginning of the end for the problem of fake reviews, consigning to history the kind of allegations that have dogged some travel review sites.

“Travel review sites have been the subject of allegations regarding the authenticity of their reviews on several occasions. This is damaging for all parties because it plants doubt in consumers’ minds,” explained Richard Anson, Reevoo founder and CEO. “But Reevoo only collects reviews from authenticated customers. This, and our independence, means travellers and holidaymakers can be confident that, wherever they see the Reevoo brand, the opinions they are reading are from people who have been on a particular holiday, stayed at the hotel, or gone on that trip.

“As we roll out our service throughout the travel sector, consumers will be quick to cotton on to the fact that sites which continue to display unverified reviews may be making a conscious decision to do so, because they know it doesn’t have to be that way,” he added.

Reevoo’s strategy of proactively contacting people who actually stayed in a hotel or visited a particular city, to invite them to write a review, overcomes the problem of fake reviews. This strategy is at the heart of the Reevoo manifesto announced in September, which focuses on the authenticity of its reviews. The UK Government welcomed Reevoo’s initiative via the Consumer Minister Ed Davey MP.

Research also shows that the independence of reviews is an important factor in determining how they are perceived: consumers trust reviews and opinions provided by an independent provider such as Reevoo three times more than reviews provided by the brand which stands to benefit from them.

In addition to reading reviews, visitors to the Octopus site will be able to ask questions of previous hotel guests directly, via an “Ask a guest” button, helping to provide reassurance and encouraging them to make their booking. Consumers will also be able to rate their own experience with Octopus and see how other travellers rated Octopus, providing continuously updated ratings including the percentage of satisfied customers who would book again through Octopus. Yet more social functionality will allow Octopus to respond in real-time to questions asked or issues raised in reviews.

A spokesperson for Octopus said: “For many people a holiday is the biggest single purchase they make in any year, paying up to thousands of pounds. It is absolutely right that they should know what other people genuinely thought of their own, similar trip, without worrying that the review might not be all it seems. We’re delighted to be leading the way in our sector by making that possible with Reevoo.

“As for allowing people to rate us, we’re confident about putting our money where our mouth is. Knowing what people like and dislike about the Octopus service sits well with our business ethos of listening to customers and continually improving our service. Conversations about our service will happen with or without us, so it is far better to be part of them and to learn from them,” he added.

[ends]

Notes to editors
- Reviews for Octopus-offered hotels and cities are provided by Reevoo Mark.
- Service reviews will be provided by Reevoo Reputation.
- Reviews are ‘crawlable’ by search engines. This enables Reevoo Traffic to provide Octopus with valuable, user generated, constantly refreshed, keyword-rich content for SEO purposes.
- The product that allows potential guests to ask questions directly to past hotel guests is Reevoo Conversations.
- The product that enables Octopus to respond in real-time to questions and reviews is Brand Response.
- The research mentioned here is from a consumer survey carried out by Fly Research in September 2011, with 1016 nationally representative UK consumers.

Sony, Currys, PC World, Dixons.co.uk, Everything Everywhere, Best Buy UK, Jessops and Toshiba are among major retailers and brands that have given their support to a new quality mark and manifesto intended to protect consumers from misleading consumer reviews. The manifesto and quality mark are intended to renew consumer trust in such reviews, which has been damaged in the last two years by allegations of fake reviews, paid-for reviews, or the selective display of only good reviews.

Created by leading social commerce company Reevoo, the Reevoo Mark and its accompanying manifesto meet Government objectives for a quality mark to identify authentic social media content. Its desire for a self-regulating quality mark for consumer reviews was described in its consumer empowerment strategy document ‘Better Choices: Better Deals – Consumers Powering Growth’, which was published by the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation and announced by Consumer Minister Edward Davey in April.

The Consumer Minister said: “In the Government’s consumer empowerment strategy, Better Choices, Better Deals, we highlighted the importance of feedback and review schemes. Where the methods used in publishing reviews are robust, transparent and trustworthy they help consumers make decisions, and this in turn leads to businesses improving their goods and services. I therefore welcome this initiative by Reevoo, as informed consumers play a key part in a competitive and fair economy.”

Reevoo’s manifesto sets out the core values of the Reevoo Mark, a quality mark that reassures customers they can trust the online reviews on the websites of all participating brands and retailers. The promises contained in the manifesto provide explicit guarantees that all reviews provided by Reevoo are genuine, come from verified purchasers of that product, include both good and bad reviews, and are not paid-for.

Richard Anson, co-founder and CEO of Reevoo, said: “We share the concerns of Government that confidence in online reviews could be damaged. It’s all very well telling people they can trust reviews; now this manifesto makes it totally clear why they can trust our reviews. And the Reevoo Mark says ‘the manifesto applies here’.”

“Reviews are terrifically powerful and extremely valuable – they play a vital role in helping people decide what to buy based on real customer opinion. This is a real step forwards for consumers, who can now buy with more confidence, secure in the knowledge that they can trust the information they use to make their choice.”

Reviews are immensely influential, with 81% of online shoppers claiming they use reviews to decide what to buy (YouGov, 2010).

Signing up to the manifesto and use of the Reevoo Mark also assures the authorities that the retailer or brand is fully compliant with the letter and spirit of the ASA’s current guidelines that stipulate user-generated-content on sites must be ‘legal, decent, honest and true’.

Notes to editors
There have been a number of allegations over the last two years regarding bad practice in the field of user-generated-content. These include the well-publicised allegations against a well-known hotel recommendation site that unverified purchasers were leaving reviews; allegations of payment for reviews and allegations of fake reviews or cherrypicking and only showing good reviews.

Online shoppers are clearly aware of these incidents: research by Reevoo in January 2011 suggested that 38% of online shoppers are unsure who writes reviews and whether they can be trusted; 35% expressed concern that positive reviews are paid for; and 30% worry that only good reviews are shown.

The manifesto states that consumers can trust Reevoo reviews because, together with their partners, Reevoo will always strive to ensure that:
1. All of our reviews are from genuine, verified purchasers.
2. No fake reviews ever make it in.
3. We show the good with the bad. We do not tolerate anyone editing or removing negative reviews or showing only the reviews they like.
4. Our reviews cannot be manipulated.
5. We are always transparent: where a response is from a brand or retailer this will be crystal clear.
6. Our reviews remain impartial and independent.

About ‘Better Choices: Better Deals’
The Government launched its consumer empowerment strategy, ‘Better Choices: Better Deals. Consumers Powering Growth’ on 13th April 2011. The strategy sets out what Government and others can do to help increase consumer power in a rapidly changing and demanding economy. It aims to put consumers in charge so that they are better able to get the best deals for themselves, individually and collectively. It also looks at ways of helping the most vulnerable and disadvantaged who may not otherwise benefit from rapid technological and social change.

An innovative non-regulatory approach, working in partnership with businesses, consumer groups and 3rd sector bodies, it will contribute to economic growth by putting information and influence into the hands of consumers.

Download Better Choices: Better Deals – Consumers Powering Growth (PDF, 761 Kb)

The UK’s love affair with gadgets, toys and gizmos shows few outward signs of running out of steam. But over the last 12 months, ‘austerity gadgets’ – appliances, toys and gizmos from less well-known manufacturers – have become the nation’s new must-haves, according to new statistics from Europe’s largest social commerce company, Reevoo.

In eight out of the 19 gadget and appliance categories that it monitors, Reevoo found that the product rated most highly by real owners in the last 12 months is either a model from a less well-known, less-expensive brand than the obvious ‘market leader’, or is a budget version of a product from a leading manufacturer.

The eight categories in which the best-rated product is not from the obvious brand leader or is a budget model, are: Compact camera (Casio Exilim EX-H5), Coffee maker (Essentials C12FCB10), Cooker/oven (Beko OIF22300XR), Dishwasher (Beko DFN1000X), Fridge/freezer (Daewoo FRNY22D2W), Mobile phone (Nokia 2323 Classic), MP3 player (Apple iPod Shuffle 4th generation), Printer (Brother HL3070CW), Vacuum cleaner (Numatic Hetty).

“We’ve been running this analysis for several years, and these results are quite unprecedented,” said Reevoo CEO Richard Anson. “There are only two plausible explanations. Either the brands that people previously perceived as being less desirable have suddenly become very good, and very cool to own. Or, more likely as we all have less money to spend, value has become the most important criteria by which people measure how good their purchase is – as or more important to them than functionality, style, design or cool-ness.

“Who would imagine that the best-rated mobile phone would be a three year old Nokia [the Nokia 2323 Classic] available SIM-free for just £40? It’s incredible to say it but, with everyone poorer yet no-one wanting to go without ‘toys’, we’re into an era of austerity gadgets,” he added.

For the full list of best-rated products in all categories, visit Reevoo (http://www.reevoo.com/b2b/news-events/best-and-best-value-products-according-to-reevoo-data/).

Of the less well-known appliance manufacturers, Beko consistently rated well with Reevoo reviewers. Overall, owners rated products from Beko most highly in two categories – for dishwashers and ovens/cookers – while its products were also rated as the ‘best value for money’ in four categories washing machine, dishwasher, fridge-freezer and ovens/cookers.

One or two obvious favourites do make the list. Apple may not usually be lauded for good value for money but, in the MP3 player category, its iPod Shuffle is at the bottom of the range in specification and price. Its high rating suggests shoppers recognise it as a great-value, entry-level MP3 player, providing all the usual usability and style that people have come to expect from Apple but at a much more affordable price.

London-based Reevoo, founded and run by successful British internet entrepreneur Richard Anson, develops social commerce technology. Its software enables online retailers including Best Buy, Jessops, Dixons and Tesco to invite real customers to rate products they have actually bought, so that other potential buyers can read real reviews before they, too, decide which product to buy.

Reevoo trawled and analysed all of the reviews it has collected for all of its partners during the last 12 months – some 650,000 reviews – to determine which electrical appliances and gadgets are rated most highly by real people that actually bought and own them.

Ratings and review sites like Reevoo often enable consumers looking for a great deal to find premium products at low prices by displaying current prices from multiple retailers and allowing the consumer to choose which retailer’s site they want to visit. Reevoo also offers discount voucher codes, enabling customers to reduce the price they pay still further.

[ends]

All company, product or service names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Notes to editors
1. For the full list of best-rated products in all categories, visit Reevoo (http://www.reevoo.com/b2b/news-events/best-and-best-value-products-according-to-reevoo-data/).
2. Best-rated products were calculated by examining the scores from all published reviews written by UK consumers in the 12 months from April 2010 to March 2011, and refer to the product with the highest overall rating in that category. Best-value products were calculated from the “value for money” ratings for the same body of reviews, and must have a price in the lowest third of the current range for that product type.
3. Using Reevoo’s proactive reviews collection strategy, only verified purchasers of a given product are able to leave a Reevoo review for that product, the retailer from which it was purchased, and the item’s manufacturer – eliminating the problems of ‘fake’ reviews and ensuring the validity of Reevoo’s statistics.

• “I use Palringo both to send myself reminders at home (I have an account for my cellphone as well as for my home connection) and to stay in touch with friends all over the world. One of our favourite things to do is have ‘movie showings’ where two or three of us all watch the same movie or tv show and use Palringo to send comments back and forth… it’s almost like having a friend there in person to share the show with you.” – RP

• “Palringo is the only way I can use Google Talk on my phone. I have a lot of friends that sit on their computers and don’t answer their phones and, if I wanted to talk to them, I had to go home and log on Google Talk – or go to their houses. Palringo has saved me a lot of gas money!” – XW
• “I was recently on a snowboarding trip to Vail, Colorado. With the nice weather on the mountain I was able to chat it up with a few online friends. I could send them instant, high-quality pictures of the snowboarding and scenery. I enabled the GPS function and my wife could get a good idea where I was on my trip! I’ve also used Palringo to send instant pictures of IT-related issues I am troubleshooting at work. I have recorded small conversations and sent them to co-workers in real time.” – MS
• “Ever since I’ve had my iPhone 3G I’ve used Palringo with my MSN account when I’m on the road for my job. Because Palringo is very stable I can always be in touch with my colleagues, no matter were I am.” – BV
• “Besides my full time desk job, I also have a part-time, ‘home health’ job. Palringo is very handy as the patients I see contact me via whichever service they use.” – KN
• “I’m a long haul truck driver from North Carolina. My wife and I use Palringo to stay in instant contact and it allows me to send her pictures from the road. Your service allows me to be 2000 miles from home but be able to say ‘hello’ in milliseconds.” – WB
• “Palringo keeps me in touch with my husband who lives in another country. With Palringo, we can manage the 4-5 hour time difference; I’m on my iphone at work while he is at home. It’s a relationship-saver.” – D
• “My daughter got married in Cancun last month and it seemed like our only option to talk to each other in Mexico was paying 59 cents per minute with a monthly additional charge from our phone company of US$4.99 for the service… until my son-in-law found Palringo. We talked to each other across the resort the whole time with no charge!” – L
• “My daughter has some health issues. We allow her to spend time on her computer, but I instant message with her often, just to make sure she’s alright. I use Palringo to continue to IM with her even when I’m out of the house. That connection makes me feel better, and I’ve not used anything else which offers me the options Palringo does.” – TR

Please contact us for further information on these.

• User experience now slicker and more intuitive than ever before
• Account management outpaces anything else available
• Application faster than ever before – now native on the handset
• Radically improved call quality

Following hot on the heels of the launch of Truphone 3.0 for the Apple® iPhone™, Truphone today launched Truphone 3.0, a major new upgrade to its mobile VoIP application for the Apple® iPod™ touch.

The new version dramatically builds on the success of previous versions of the VoIP application for the iPod, enhancing the instant messaging and account management experience, making Truphone faster than ever before and delivering a new standard for call quality.

Among the many improvements in Truphone 3.0 are increased ease of use, speed of function response, intuitiveness and simplicity – all designed to enhance the user experience. Truphone has also improved voice quality making the app for the iPod better than it’s ever been before.

Using Truphone’s integrated messaging tool that unifies all IM communities in a single place, users can now simply manage all their IM communication from a single page within the application, eliminating the need to constantly jockey between different applications or even different pages within an application. IM services currently supported include Skype, MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk.

“Following the successful launch of Truphone 3.0 for the iPhone we were keen to follow-up as quickly as possible for all our iPod touch customers. That’s what we’ve done to ensure that they can take advantage of all our new improvements: improved UI, account management and call quality. We believe Truphone 3.0 sets a new benchmark in terms of quality and performance”, said Geraldine Wilson, CEO Truphone.

“With these improvements, we believe Truphone 3.0 is the best application to turn your iPod touch into a Wi-Fi phone and staying in touch with all of your IM communities.”

[ends]

Resources

• Additional screenshots: Truphone for iPod touch, v3.0
• Truphone press office
• Truphone web site

Truphone already enables…

Free calls when in Wi-Fi to:

• Other Truphone users
• Skype and Google Talk users

Free Instant Messages when in Wi-Fi to:

• Skype
• MSN Messenger
• Google Talk
• Yahoo! Messenger
• AIM

Incredible savings on calls to:

• Call landlines and mobiles around the world at cheap rates

Great account management:

• See rates for calls before initiating a call
• Display recent call history, showing the Truphone customer exactly how much a call just cost and how long it lasted with the ability to see a summary of calls made month by month
• Top-up from within the application, without the need for web windows to open separately
• Top-up in a variety of ways: credit card or PayPal
• Change calling tariffs within the application

About Truphone
Founded in 2006, Truphone is a global mobile communications provider in the business of innovating how people converse in our globally connected world. As the industry’s first mobile Internet operator, the company makes it easy and affordable for users all over the world to keep in touch with friends, family and business contacts overseas or whilst roaming. Truphone is the trading name of Software Cellular Network (SCN). SCN is privately owned, funded by both venture capital investment and angel investors.

Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Google and Android are trademarks of Google, Inc. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Ltd. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Palringo users exchange voice, picture and text-based messages with contacts on many popular messaging services including Microsoft’s Windows Live/MSN Messenger, Facebook™, AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Apple’s iChat®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and QQ. This means that Blackberry users can chat, and share photo and voice messages, with all of their friends on many different IM and social networking services using just one application instead of switching between multiple, single-service applications.

Palringo first became available on BlackBerry devices in April 2009 [see here].

Video demonstration: click here.

1. Palringo’s Groups Gallery is a browsable directory that makes it easy for people to find Palringo groups they’d like to join and participate in.
2. The addition of Groups Gallery means that Palringo groups are significantly more useful than before: until today there was no way to find out about specific groups other than by word of mouth or guesswork.
3. Now, the Groups Gallery enables people to meet others who share similar interests, all in the same virtual place.
4. Groups are also a useful way for groups of friends or colleagues to stay in touch. Businesses are using Palringo groups as well as the location functionality to enable better communications between staff and to respond more quickly to customer needs.
5. Using a Palringo group for messaging enables voice, text and photos to be shared simultaneously with everyone in the group.
6. Statistics: there are more than 21,000 groups on Palringo, and 50,000 Palringo users are members of at least one group. More than 4 million group messages were sent last month. The largest group has 1,995 members.
7. Group owners manage how their group is seen in the Groups Gallery by editing the description, adding a photo and selecting the most appropriate category for the group. For privacy, group owners may designate their group as ‘ex-directory’, ensuring their group is excluded from the Groups Gallery.
8. Group owners also have tools to manage their community of group members, by promoting other members to help them administer the group or removing rowdy group members.

Quotes
Martin Rosinski, CTO of Palringo, said:

“The number and variety of groups in existence on Palringo is fabulous. Because it’s easy and free to create a group, if you can’t find what you’re looking for you can simply create your own group. Then you can promote your group in the gallery to attract new members.”
“The versatility of Palringo, the way it works across all sorts of mobile phones and operating systems, means it’s extremely inclusive – no-one is excluded because they’ve got the wrong handset, for example. The group functionality takes that a step further because everyone in a group can communicate with everyone else yet only needs to send one actual message. Now, by adding the Groups Gallery, Palringo has just made it a million times easier for new members to find and join any group.”

Links and resources

• Palringo Groups Gallery
• Screenshots
• Palringo press office
  

About Palringo
The Palringo service combines walkie-talkie style voice (vocal instant messaging), the real-time text chat functionality of instant messaging, the ability to share pictures, location and presence – all within the context of a discussion. Supporting connections to other popular instant messaging services, it enables both one-on-one and group discussions, and enables real-time dialogue, for users from across the globe, on any mobile network or connected PC. Palringo is a privately-held company based in Newcastle, UK.

SIM4travel, a Truphone company and the leading supplier of global travel SIM cards, is offering United Mobile customers affected by the termination of the United Mobile service a free SIM4travel SIM with free £5 credit when they top-up £10.

United Mobile customers have been left without service just as many are preparing to go away for Bank Holiday weekends or as they prepare for their summer holidays.

SIM4travel is able to offer a continuation of service for those customers affected by what has happened recently with United Mobile to ensure that, as much as possible, they are not left out of pocket and out of service. Customers interested in the offer should visit www.sim4travel.com/replace for more information.

SIM4travel and Truphone are committed to helping consumers manage the costs of using their mobiles abroad – by offering great call rates back home and the ability to receive calls for free in most countries. SIM4travel prides itself on the call quality, reliability of service and the value for money its SIM card offers, and is committed to maintaining its position as the premier global network.

SIM4travel guarantees:

• Customers will receive calls for FREE in 36 countries
• Great rates in 100+ countries
• Customers get a UK number starting +44 7509
• No tie-ins or lengthy contracts, just pay as you go
• 24/7 customer support from anywhere in the world, 365 days of the year

“It’s never a nice thing to see a business struggle, particularly in these tough economic times, but we’re keen to ensure that as many customers as possible continue to make great savings on their roaming charges – and with SIM4travel quality offering that’s what they’ll get”, said Geraldine Wilson, CEO of Truphone.

[ends]

How it works
SIM4travel is a GSM SIM card service designed to be used whilst roaming. There’s no contract required so there are no tie-ins. It’s a prepaid service, and it’s easy to top-up with a credit card. Customers simply purchase a SIM4travel pack, pop the SIM card in to their mobile phone, then activate the prepaid account by registering their credit card and loading cash credit. Customers can then start making calls from the moment they land, all at a massive discount compared to standard network charges, in over 100 countries around the world. What’s more, by using the exclusive SIM4travel mobile number (+44 UK) calls are free to receive in most major destinations around the world. SIM4travel will save money for anyone who uses their mobile whilst abroad – business people, holiday makers, everyone can benefit.

About SIM4travel
SIM4travel is a trading name of, and Truphone is a trademark of, Software Cellular Network Limited. SIM4travel operates its own Pay As You Go global network. Using a SIM4travel international SIM card there are no charges for inbound calls in the EU, and calls home are just 25p per minute. Worldwide, savings of up to 80% are possible in most countries worldwide.

For more information visit www.sim4travel.com and www.sim4travel.blogspot.com.

Truphone today launched Truphone 3.0, a major new upgrade to its mobile VoIP application for the Apple® iPhone™. Truphone 3.0 dramatically builds on the success of previous versions of the iPhone’s first ever VoIP application, enhancing the instant messaging and account management experience, making Truphone faster than ever before and delivering a new standard for call quality.

Among the many improvements in Truphone 3.0 are increased ease of use, speed of function response, intuitiveness and simplicity – all designed to enhance the user experience. Truphone has also improved voice quality, making the app for the iPhone better than ever before.

Truphone’s integrated messaging tool unifies all IM communities in a single place, meaning users can manage all their IM communication from a single page within the application – eliminating the need to constantly jockey between different applications or even different pages within an application. IM services currently supported include Skype, MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk.

“Customers tell us they want three things: simplicity, quality and a good deal. Those principles drive our innovation, and Truphone 3.0 delivers on all three. We’ve dramatically improved our UI and account management tools. We’ve eliminated the need for compression through new advances in signal processing, making calls crystal clear. And, just as we always do, Truphone 3.0 sets a new benchmark in terms of quality and performance that competitors will have a tough time matching,” said Geraldine Wilson, CEO Truphone.

“With these improvements, we believe Truphone 3.0 is the best application on mobile for our customers’ international calling needs as well as staying in touch with all of their IM communities, in or out of Wi-Fi.”

Similar improvements to Truphone for the Apple iPod® touch will be announced soon.

[ends]

About Truphone
Founded in 2006, Truphone is a global mobile communications provider in the business of innovating how people converse in our globally connected world. As the industry’s first mobile Internet operator, the company makes it easy and affordable for users all over the world to keep in touch with friends, family and business contacts overseas or whilst roaming. Truphone is the trading name of Software Cellular Network (SCN). SCN is privately owned, funded by both venture capital investment and angel investors.

Resources

• Truphone press office
• Truphone web site
• Picture: Geraldine Wilson, Truphone CEO (Flickr)
• Screenshots: Truphone 3.0 (Flickr)

What Truphone already does

Free calls when in Wi-Fi to:

• Other Truphone users
• Skype and Google Talk users

Free Instant Messages when in Wi-Fi to:

• Skype
• MSN Messenger
• Google Talk
• Yahoo! Messenger
• AIM

Plus: incredible savings on calls to landlines and mobiles around the world.

Most importantly all these communication opportunities are also available outside of Wi-Fi by using Truphone Anywhere for calls (charged at a local rate in your home country and then routed over Truphone’s network – not for use when roaming), and 3G for Instant Messaging.

Account management:

• See rates for calls before initiating a call
• Display recent call history, showing the Truphone customer exactly how much a call just cost and how long it lasted with the ability to see a summary of calls made month by month
• Top-up from within the application, without the need for web windows to open separately
• Top-up in a variety of ways: credit card or PayPal
• Change calling tariffs within the application

Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the United States and other countries. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Google and Android are trademarks of Google, Inc. Truphone is a trademark of Software Cellular Network Ltd. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Truphone is not a replacement for an ordinary telephone service and emergency calls cannot be made using Truphone. However Truphone does not prevent emergency calls being made via a handset’s normal cellular service provider. Truphone cannot advise on the legality of VoIP services in specific territories or jurisdictions. It is the user’s responsibility to confirm that use of the Truphone VoIP software and service is permitted in the location in which they use it.

Key points

1. Palringo for BlackBerry now includes the option to share your location with other Palringo users. Location and proximity [distance] of contacts are shown, both on the buddy list screen and on map displays for even greater precision.
2. User feedback on the initial beta version of Palringo for BlackBerry has been instrumental in refining the gold version. In particular, the connection issues identified in the beta version have been resolved.
3. Palringo is available now for the BlackBerry Pearl™, BlackBerry Curve™ and BlackBerry 8800 series. The application is free and downloadable from http://www.palringo.mobi/.
4. Palringo users can exchange voice, picture and text-based messages with contacts on many popular messaging services including Microsoft’s Windows Live/MSN Messenger, Facebook™, AOL® Instant Messenger®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger®, Apple’s iChat®, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ®, Jabber® and QQ. This means that Blackberry users can chat, and share photo and voice messages, with all of their friends on many different IM and social networking services using just one application.
5. Palringo enables users to form and administer groups. Many businesses use Palringo Groups as an additional tool to enable communication with staff, whether they’re out in the field or in the office.
6. There are presently thousands of active groups on Palringo, ranging from entire businesses to special interest groups to sports clubs. There is no need to be online to receive messages; the conversation history can be read whenever a user logs in.
7. Palringo is designed for use on mobile phones, but versions are also available for Windows-based PCs and for Mac OS.
8. At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona [February 2009], Palringo was shortlisted for a 2009 GSMA Global Mobile Award – the most prestigious annual awards in the world of mobile. The shortlist of five, in the Best Mobile Internet Service category, also featured Nokia and Bharti Airtel.

Quotes

Martin Rosinski, CTO of Palringo, said:

“We know of businesses using Palringo to gain a business edge over their competition, simply because it enables them to react more quickly to a situation: they either get to the customer first, or they keep the customer happier. Palringo shows [via status] which staff members are available and their location indicates whether they’re near or far away – so colleagues can send the right person the right message at the right time.”

“Getting Palringo right on BlackBerry is obviously an important step because so many business users have a BlackBerry and the device itself is the ‘permanent fixture’.”

“The new version of Palringo is a huge improvement on the previous beta version. Some elements of the application have been completely rewritten, particularly where we were unhappy with the quality of the original user experience. We’re confident that BlackBerry users will find it a valuable, useful, and fun addition to their device.”

Links and resources

• Screenshots (Flickr): Palringo for BlackBerry
• Video (YouTube): Palringo for BlackBerry

Microsoft and Windows Live are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Symbian and all Symbian-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Symbian Software Limited. Java™ and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. iPhone and iChat are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ICQ is a registered trademark of ICQ Inc., a division of America Online, Inc. JABBER is a registered trademark of Jabber Inc., and its use is licensed through the XMPP Standards Foundation. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.