Press Release: MO-Call provides cheap VoIP calls for the iPhone

LONDON – Morodo Limited is pleased to announce the release of a new MO-Call application for the iPhone that offers cheap mobile VoIP calls and low-cost roaming. MO-Call for the iPhone is available in the iTunes store or simply go to http://mo-call.mobi on the iPhone to open a free account and install the application.

Morodo Managing Director, Andrew Reid, said. “Apple created the most important mobile device of the last decade, we’re delighted to offer customers MO-Call mobile VoIP calling on the iPhone. Apple continues to lead the way in usability, both on the device and in the Application Store, Morodo will continue to lead the way in providing better value communication for everyone.”

“We’ve supported the iPhone with browser-based calling since it’s release in 2007.” Said Morodo CTO, James Barnes, “With the advent of the iPhone 3GS this summer and the release of version 3.0, the platform is reaching maturity and can better support the usability that our customer’s demand. We found Apple to be very supportive of our work, the team in Cupertino were highly responsive to our demands throughout the project ”

MO-Call enables low-cost international calling and SMS direct from a mobile phone or computer. Offering seamless connection of low-cost and free calls, MO-Call provides savings of up to 90% over Traditional mobile and Fixed Line networks. MO-Call works through a browser or plug-in software applications that can be downloaded, free of charge, from the MO-Call website www.mo-call.com

Merry Christmas from Morodo

The Morodo team wishes you all a very Merry Christmas.

It’s the time of year when, traditionally, we over-indulge a little. In the event of any accidents or mishaps, you might find this advice from the Wired How To Wiki, how to save a wet mobile phone, rather handy.

There’s no rest for the wicked: we’ll be working throughout the festive season, online and available as and when you need us.

Remember, if you can’t be with them, MO-Call them.

More Mobile and Internet predictions for 2010

ReadWriteWeb has posted the readership’s top ten products of 2009. No major suprises here, in the USA, everyone is Twittering, Googling and on Hulu; if I make one prediction for 2010, it’s that Android will enjoy a comfortable position in this top ten next Christmas.

On the subject of predictions, Dean Bubley’s predictions for 2010 are not only insightful but also a joy to read. As he suggests, from now on, I will be referring to Mobile Networks as Happy Pipes instead of Dumb Pipes.

My own occupational language overuse bête noire is the term ecosystem ascribed to, variously, Operating Systems, App Stores and Development Environments.

Mobile end of year reports

Two weeks until the end of the decade and the mobile industry reports are starting to come in. First up, on the report-lite front, the GSMA’s round-up of 2009 begins with these suprising words from Matt Ablott:

“It’s amazing to think that mobile application stores didn’t exist 18 months ago..”

That’ll be news to Get Jar, Handango and Handmark then, these mobile application download aggregators have been around since WAP was a boy. Get Jar’s Ilja Laurs is not the kind of fellow you’d want to upset, this week he’s already got up close and personal with Nokia over the cellphone giant’s claim to the coveted number two app store spot.

On the report-intensive front, Morgan Stanley weigh in with a 424 page meisterwork: The Mobile Internet Report. Quite generously, this has been posted for anyone to download. There’s plenty to take issue with here but also a wealth of facts, figures and plain old data. Taken from the report summary, here’s a superb example of how fast things change:

It’s a contentious document, that’s for sure and it’s already ignited a few heated discussions in our office; great stuff for the grey cells. I’ve no doubt we’ll return to this again and I’m certain there will be a few more reports, top-tens and best-of-decades to discuss before we see out 2009.

Nokia flagship stores closing

Old news I know but Ewan at All About Symbian has posted an amusing question, Top Ten Things Nokia Could Have Done With Their London Nokia Store.

No. 7 on the list is the key for me, the helpful addition of a cash-till might have made all the difference. Obviously, Nokia didn’t want to actually sell phones in the store, that might have upset their other customers, the Mobile Network Operators. Ridiculous.

iCall up for grabs – Morodo up for everything Mobile

It’s been reported that Apple is interested in acquiring Mobile VoIP company, iCall.  Figures such as ‘$50 million’ and ‘100,000 customers’ have been bandied about and there  has even been idle speculation that Apple might be buying the company for the name alone.

OK, well, here at Morodo we’re not sitting waiting with baited breath for that call from  Motorola, Morrisons or Mozilla about MO-Call, but we do see this as an emerging trend for 2010 and beyond: First Google snapped up Gizmo, Packet8 has alleged suitors,  Orange ON is pitching VoIP outside it’s network footprint and now this. Operators of all kinds, Manufacturers and Brand Owners have finally realised that voice is the killer app.

Pat Phelan asks whether other service providers should be worried. Not particularly  bothered Pat, quite pleased in a right-place-right-time kind of way. Morodo is first and  foremost a mobile software company and we’re happy to sell our services to anyone, so,  dear reader, if you want a mobile dialer for your brand, do get in touch, our software works on almost 1,800 different mobile devices, not just the ones you read about in the PR press.

And if you want cheap international calls from your mobile, come and join MO-Call.

Google Nexus One in New Year Sales

In case you have not heard, Google have made a mobile phone and given it to their staff to test. This news should be a suprise to nobody – you make a mobile OS, might as well build at least one device to showcase it’s capabilities.

For a comprehensive rundown on the hardware, start with an informative post from Phandroid.

For a reasonable assumption of the Do No Evil marketing machine’s strategy, you could do worse than read GoMo News. Seems like a logical conclusion to me.

For frankly nauseating love-fest reportage, try Techcrunch – that post must have been written with tongue firmly in cheek, surely?

I rate Android very highly but I think it’s biggest problem is going to be a lack of standardisation in ODM/OEM reference design. HTC don’t have a great record in this respect so I sincerely hope that the Nexus One helps Google whip them into shape, for the sake of all of us.

Mobile search savers

Last week Google slipped out an image search app for Android 2.0, Goggles. Over at Mobile Marketing Watch, Justin wonders whether this might bring Mobile Image Recognition mainstream. As the nice lady from Google says, it’s a start. This kind of thing has been popular in Tokyo for some years now and works well within localised Layar-like AR apps.

In my view, it’s more likely that AR will overtake mobilised image search.

Elsewhere the Do No Evil trendsetters posted out QR code window decals to the 100K most popular favourite place stores in America. In a few weeks time, to use Mountain View parlance, we’ll be able to say “this is sooo last decade.”

Given Google’s massive database, indexing capabilities and developer talent I am suprised not to see them sweat that asset and release an Android app rivaling European services such as smart apnoti, whose iBarcode app seems to be exactly what the harrassed and cash-strapped Christmas shopper requires.

A mobile education

Just had to repost this great app review from Japan Trends, a wonderful mash-up of the old and new.

Without a doubt, education apps will be increasingly popular, nobody wants to deny their kids new tech these days. A low-cost smartphone OS, such as Android, could really clean-up in this segment; not sure how many people are willing to shell out on iPhones for pre-schoolers, hardly a mass market proposition.

Press Release: MO-Call offers cheap SMS from every mobile and PC

LONDON – Morodo Limited is pleased to announce a new feature of its popular MO-Call service, low-cost SMS. MO-Call SMS is available in the MO-Call application for computers and from customer accounts at the www.mo-call.com and http://mo-call.mobi websites.

Morodo Managing Director, Andrew Reid, said. “Adding SMS to the MO-Call feature set was a logical next-step, our customers asked us to help them save more money on their phone bill and we listened to their feedback. MO-Call SMS can be used from the MO-Call computer app for Windows and Linux and from every connected device via the browser. We’ve begun adding MO-Call SMS to our mobile apps for staggered release over the coming weeks.”

“At Morodo, we never lose sight of the fact that it’s the consumer’s mobile; everyone should be free to use whichever service they like to make calls and send SMS,” Added Mr. Reid, “Whether the customer uses browser or application, we want to put them back in control of their communication costs.”

“We’re very pleased to offer such fantastically competitive rates on International SMS,” Said Morodo Sales Director Peter Reid. “There’s no reason why anyone should pay over the odds for SMS anymore.”

MO-Call enables low-cost international calling and SMS direct from a mobile phone or computer. Offering seamless connection of low-cost and free calls, MO-Call provides savings of up to 90% over Traditional mobile and Fixed Line networks. MO-Call works through a browser or plug-in software applications that can be downloaded, free of charge, from the MO-Call website www.mo-call.com