Push-To-Talk comes to Orange, Treo 600 now, more to follow

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Orange have forwarded me the following Press Release with regards to Talk Now, their forthcoming Push To Talk service.

The launch is on the Treo 600, but with further devices (including the Smartphone i'm told) due to follow in Q2.

I'm not surprised to see this TBH, it was inevitable with improving GPRS networks, if the networks themselves didn't do it, someone else would (and maybe still will), and potentially threaten voice revenues!

I look forward to seeing it in action...

P

ORANGE LAUNCHES TALK NOW SERVICE

·    first operator globally to launch international service of its kind

·    group instant voice and messaging communication

·    an easy way to see who is available in real time

·    customer trials include IBM and RAC

·    availability: UK and FR Q2 2004 - a total of 10 countries by year end

·    one million users expected 12 months after rollout

London/Paris. 13 January 2004. Orange today launched a unique international service, offering instant voice communication and easy-to-access group calling and messaging with the added benefit of a real-time availability icon, so you can see who is available and who is not.  The service is initially being trialled by business customers.

Talk Now - similar to the US Push-To-Talk service but with a more advanced feature-set and richer functionality - will give Orange customers a new way of communicating alongside their existing voice and messaging services. Talk Now will be launched in 10 countries this year, starting with the UK and France in

Q2 2004.

Building on the Orange Experience, which promises to be simple, compelling and personal, Talk Now creates an immediate connection between two or more mobile phones so minimal time is spent searching for or dialling individual telephone numbers. You can see who is available to speak or receive single or group messages instantly. Talk Now will also allow Orange customers to:

·    create buddy lists that can be used to facilitate instant conference

calling

·    know when contacts are available to talk and when they are busy

·    speak to or message a contact who has selected themselves as available

·    record a conference call and send it to others if they are not available

·    send a voice message to other Talk Now users at the touch of a button

Talk Now will be available internationally allowing customers easy, instant access to colleagues, friends and family in a different country who use the service. Orange expects to attract one million users to the new service in the

12 months following rollout.

Speaking at the launch in London this morning, Sol Trujillo, CEO, Orange Group,

said: ''As we are the first to launch in the world we are offering something no other company can offer. Talk Now provides the business community with an immediate and reliable way to better manage teams of people within an organisation. It addresses a real need amongst businesses to disseminate or communicate time critical information quickly and efficiently.  The service also provides consumers with an ideal way to keep in touch with friends and family by making it easy to instantly communicate with each other as a group at the touch of a button.''

The launch follows Orange research into customer needs, and successful customer trials by companies including IBM and the RAC. The RAC is already actively exploring the value of instant messaging and is looking to see if this can be extended into the wireless arena.  The RAC is investigating the Orange Talk Now service as a possible wireless Instant Messaging solution.

The service is scalable and will benefit from added functionality throughout the year. Talk Now will initially be available on the Orange Treo 600 - an Orange Signature phone - with further handsets announced later in Q2, including rugged devices for field-workers and consumer-style handsets.

With the added functionality that it offers, Talk Now will be offered as a premium service. Full pricing details will be available nearer commercial availability, with pricing bundles geared toward specific customer markets.

Trujillo added: ''Talk Now offers a level of functionality and a feature-set that is relevant to every single one of our 47 million customers ? instant access to each and every one of their family, friends and colleagues.''

[Guest kevlar]

So in a nutshell this is?

Kevlar

[Guest Coucou]

Sounds to me like this is basically a Messenger style service for voice and text. Sounds good though :)

[Guest graham]

And only 10p per message?

:)

[Guest mcwarre]

According to the IEE Review, Nokia has announced that all its new handsets will include 'push to talk' (both GPRS and WCDMA).

A more accurate comparison than a walkie talkie link is a store and forward service like text messaging - the difference beingthat response times are faster and messages are sent in almost realtime. Push to talk (PTT) is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem and possible over GSM/GPRS networks. Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens have helped to develop it.

PTT over cellular (PoC) is based on a half duplex VoIP connection and uses packet switching rather than circuit-switched cellular services. Its features include the ability to listen to multiple groups at the same time and fleet management facilities for corporate users.

The new Nokia 5140, due Q2, will be the first of Nokia's symbian based phones

[Guest kyrkesmith]

If I understand correctly, it shouldn't threaten their voice revenue that much. It would be too disjointed to have a conversation across it. Do you think they'll integrate it with MSN on the Smartphone, or will MS not be interested?

[Guest sleepnow75]

I was recently in California and was impressed by this. Nextel phones - which I found quite popular out there - provides this functionality. My mates were able to use thier phone almost like a walkie-talkie and it was free! Now, if this was free, was was trans-atlantic... how cool would that be. At the moment, I'd be satisfied just by being able to send SMS messages to the states. They seem to be on par with us as far as phone technology now, and thier networks are aren't far away from being superior.

[Guest kingdom master]

SOUNDS good i remember the nextel phones when i was in new york. seemed really cool function. i think this will be a app add on for smartphones i hope they bring it out fast cause id use it.