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Visual Voicemail for BlackBerry Bold gets realer
So, those curious Visual Voicemail shots we saw last week? Evidently they weren't just some random effort in Photoshop. According to the Boy Genius Report, the new feature is indeed coming to AT&T's BlackBerry Bold, though an exact release date isn't disclosed. We're told it could be sooner rather than later for "at least some customers," so yeah, you're now free to get your hopes up just a wee bit.
Visual Voicemail purportedly appears on BlackBerry Bold
We can't exactly say we know what's up with the image above, but word on the street has it that this just popped up on a BlackBerry Bold running v4.6.0.219 on AT&T. Upon trying to launch it, the user was greeted with a conspicuous error about provisioning being unsuccessful, but outside of that, it's shrouded in mystery. So, has anyone else seen hints of Visual Voicemail anywhere? Consider our curiosity markedly piqued.
Verizon caves, settles Klausner visual voicemail suit by signing license
We figured back in August that Verizon (and LG) would eventually be forced to pay up in order to keep visual voicemail on its handsets, and sure enough, that's exactly what has gone down with the former company. Verizon and Klausner Technologies have quickly settled outstanding patent litigation by way of Verizon entering into a patent license agreement for using visual voicemail. To date, Verizon is the 15th company to ink such an agreement, ensuring that the suits at Klausner can remain firmly parked in Grand Cayman, Aruba, Maui or any other blissful location they please for the remainder of their Earthly lives. As for LG? We'd say the outcome is all but imminent at this point.[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of MyDigitalLife]
Klausner says "not so fast," sues Verizon and LG over visual voicemail
So patent holding firm Klausner Technologies figures it has this whole litigation thing down to a T at this point, having already sued a who's-who of companies having anything to do with visual voicemail in the past and ultimately coming away with a whole bunch of lucrative license agreements for its efforts (eleven, to be exact). Needless to say, any new company that tries to break into the game at this point is probably going to get treated with the same warm, fuzzy love, and Verizon and LG are experiencing that firsthand. Klausner has announced that it has filed suit against both companies in Texas federal court, presumably in response to Big Red's recent launch of the refreshed Voyager featuring visual voicemail software on board. Given the track record Klausner has, guys, you might just want to cut to the chase here and pay up.
Singaporean iPhone 3Gs drop visual voicemail, iTunes
Just how badly do you want the iPhone 3G, Singapore? Badly enough to do without two of its headline features? SingTel kicks off sales today (local time) along with a whole host of other countries, but neither visual voicemail nor the iTunes WiFi Store will make the cut. In the case of iTunes, the reason is kinda obvious: Singapore has no iTunes Store at all, and it never has. The explanation behind the mysterious absence of visual voicemail is less clear, other than carrier laziness in getting the feature implemented on its back end. The silver lining here seems to be pricing, though -- subscribers will be able to pick up the phone for diddly squat, assuming they sign up for a S$205 monthly package (about $145).[Via mocoNews]
Verizon gets official with Visual Voicemail service
There aren't exactly all that many details left to announce, but Verizon has just gotten official with its late to the party Visual Voicemail service which, for the time being at least, is only available on the LG Voyager. As we had heard previously, the service will run you an extra $2.99 per month on top of your usual bill, and you'll be able to store up to 40 messages for 40 days, with an option to create up to 10 greetings and 20 distribution lists. Unfortunately, Verizon didn't take the opportunity to announce any firm plans for a roll-out to any of the other phones supposedly in line to get the service, with it only going so far as to say that additional devices will be getting it in the "coming months."
Official details on visual voicemail seep through Verizon's pores
Seems like things are coming along nicely for the launch of Verizon's downloadable visual voicemail service, with some preliminary information briefly hitting VZW's interwebs before seemingly being pulled. As we'd previously heard, a retooled LG Voyager -- creatively named Voyager Refresh -- will be one of the first devices to get access to the service, while current Voyager owners will be able to download the app required to get hooked up. Unlike what we'd previously heard, though, it seems that Verizon has opted to offer the service at no additional monthly service charge (a wise move, may we add). Since the entire lowdown has been taken offline, there's no telling exactly when we're actually supposed to know that VVM exists or when we might be able to sign up for it, but all indications suggest it'll be sooner rather than later.[Via phoneArena]Update: We're hearing that the $2.99 / month fee is still in effect. For shame, Verizon!
BlackBerry Thunder, touchscreen Motorola on board for Verizon's visual voicemail
Details are still trickling in on this whole visual voicemail sitch on Big Red, but we're starting to wrap our noodle around it. In addition to the four devices we've already mentioned -- the Voyager refresh, Chocolate 3, Blaze, and Utopia -- it turns out that none other than the mighty BlackBerry Thunder will be among the first devices to benefit from sooper dooper 22nd century high-tech voicemail management.We've also learned that it's actually the Vu30 (little close to the LG Vu, eh, guys?) that's being called the Motorola Utopia, while the Blaze will be some heretofore unknown touchscreen device -- pretty uncommon by Moto standards, particularly in the States where we don't get to benefit from the MING series' awesomeness. As always, we'll roll out more info as we get it.
Apple settles Visual Voicemail lawsuit
Klausner Technology Inc., owner of a telephone answering machine patent "linking displayed data with [a] recorded audio message" settled with Apple over the use of Visual Voicemail on the iPhone, reports Macworld. Klausner was granted the patent in 1994, and renewed it in March. As part of the settlement, Klausner is licensing the patents to Apple and AT&T. Klausner has already licensed it to Vonage, Sprint Nextel, and eBay. The details of the settlement were not released, but Klausner had been asking for $360 million in damages.
Verizon rolling out visual voicemail in coming months
Jump on the bandwagon much, Verizon? We're just bustin' your chops, guys -- we know it's hard to avoid jumping on the bandwagon when Sprint and AT&T (by way of Apple, of course) are starting to hustle hard with the visual voicemail trend. We've caught wind that VVM is actually shockingly close to launching on a handful of Verizon devices; the current target is late July to early August. That's the good news. The bad news, though, is that it'll run $1.99 on top of your regular plan pricing, which feels like a bit of a rip when the crosstown competitors are doing it at no additional charge. The feature will take the form of a BREW download that can be snagged and provisioned by the customer in the field without any customer service intervention, and will launch on specific devices.The first four to get hooked up will be the LG Chocolate 3, the "Voyager Refresh" (it's unclear whether this is a hardware or firmware update to the present-day Voyager), and from Motorola, the "Blaze" and "Utopia." We're not sure what those two are, either, but the rugged V750 may be the Utopia, and deductive reasoning suggests that the VU30 could be the Blaze.[Thanks, HTCKid]
More iPhone 3G details: future Apple-made chips, varying visual voicemail, and new video features
There's still plenty of emerging details and news on the iPhone 3G kicking around, but here's what you need to know from the minor bits floating around over the past few days: Jobs also told NYT that Apple's acquisition of PA Semi was, in fact, intended to reduce Apple's reliance on third-party chip makers. Specifically, he said, "PA Semi is going to do system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods." So, guess that's that. Per the feature showing up missing on a number of Apple's international iPhone 3G product pages, iLounge compiled a list of carriers which may or may not planning on implementing visual voicemail. Vodafone in Europe, for example, will not have it at launch, and will delay its rollout until later this year. A video of a new iPhone beta build running on live hardware shows videos now in portrait or landscape modes, and includes video playlists. We'll take it. Although DT's iPhone page reads differently, German paper Welt has it that T-Mobile Germany will be selling it for €1 -- so basically free, not unlike O2's iPhone 3G launch in the UK. Update: T-Mobile just made the German pricing official.[Thanks to everyone who sent these in] Read - Jobs mentions PA Semi plansRead - Visual voicemail support varies from carrier to carrierRead - Beta build with portrait-mode videoRead - DT releasing it for €1 (see also their iPhone page)
Sprint licenses Visual Voicemail for the Samsung Instinct
It looks like Samsung's Instinct won't just be kinda-sorta doing some iPhone stuff -- it will be doing actual iPhone stuff. Sprint announced that it has licensed Klausner's Visual Voicemail (yes, Visual Voicemail) for use in the familiar looking device, adding weight to the argument that this is the carrier's official play for the iPhone market. If you'll recall, Klausner sued AT&T and Apple over the feature, which it claims violated two of its patents. Now all they need to do is throw Cover Flow, Google Maps integration, and some wiggly icons on there, and this race will really get heated.[Via I4U News]
Ireland and Austria get iPhones, and the shaft
As we expected, Apple just loosed the iPhone into Ireland and Austria. €399 nabs the 8GB model while €499 takes the 16GB unit home. T-Mobile has the honors for Austria as it does in Germany while O2 carries the flag in Ireland as it does in the UK. Interestingly, Irish subscribers are not entitled to Visual Voicemail or free WiFi even though you get both on O2 UK -- neither country offers an unlimited data plan. Tsk tsk. Regardless, early adopters from those countries already had their unlocked iPhones months ago which makes the launch just a formality at this point.[Via MacRumors] Read -- Austria Read -- Ireland
Apple, AT&T hit with lawsuit over iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature
Apple's already drawn a bit of unintended attention for the iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature, and it now looks like its facing a bit more heat on the matter, with Klausner Technologies now suing both it and AT&T for alleged patent infringement. Specifically, Klasuner is claiming that the Apple and AT&T violated two of its patents by "allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display" and, according to Apple Insider, its seeking damages and future royalties estimated at some $360 million. But that's not all, Klausner also apparently filed similar claims today against Comcast, Cablevision, and eBay (Skype, specifically), with damages and future royalties in those cases clocking in to the tune of $300 million. What's more, all this apparently follows two other lawsuits over the very same patents, which Klausner's attorney says they've litigated successfully. As is often the case, however, it's now up to the federal court in the Eastern District of Texas to sort things out.[Thanks, Mark]
Did Apple swipe "Visual Voicemail," too?
We're guessing not, but El Reg has a piece up squarely accusing Apple of another swipe, this time of the term "Visual Voicemail" to describe the iPhone's voicemail UI. Visual Voicemail, which is owned by Citrix and originally developed by Net6, has been around for years and may (or may not) be what's powering Apple and Cingular's solution for the common problem of having to wait through all the voicemail you don't want just to hear the voicemail you do. And "Visual Voicemail" is, in fact, capitalized on Apple's site, meaning if legit usage of the term or licensed software isn't in the cards, Apple could soon find itself in two simultaneous pots of hot water.
