Rok goes after conferencing calls

THE COMPANY that brought you mobile phone TV, Rok, has soft-launched Rok Talk. This Symbian app allows mobile phone users to make cheap conferencing calls.

Talk is a mixture of GSM, VoIP and text. The app makes a simple voice (GSM) call and Rok's servers then connect multiple other parties using VoIP technology.

Bruce Renny, Rok's marketing guru, reckons Talk takes about five seconds to invite as many as 30 other people to the same conferencing call.

A major attraction to this service is that it is absolutely free to receive a mobile phone call from a Rok Talk user. Plus only one person actually has to be running the Talk app - unlike Skype, for example, where everybody needs it.

The service is currently in beta but expects to go live in about five weeks. If you're fast enough, however, you can sign up to the free trail. Just mention the INQ in the comments box of the application screen.

Presently, Talk only currently works under Symbian but a Java/J2ME version is under construction and Windows Mobile will eventually be offered.

Using Rok Talk is simple. Firing up the application causes it to read in all the entries in your handset's addressbook.

Mark up the numbers you want to connect to - they don't have to be mobile, fixed line works as well - and then press Start.

The handset then makes a call to Rok's servers.Next participants receive a phone call and a text asking them to participate in the conference call.

Press 1 and you'll find yourself hooked up. Voice quality is good as far as the INQ could tell.

Significantly, Rok's business model with Talk is network operator friendly. Just like EQO and unlike Truphone, Rok doesn't anticipate any carrier blocking it.

Rok is hoping that ordinary consumers will sign up to Talk which is expected to cost around €3 per month - plus the cost of calls to fixed lines.

For example, all the members of the Old Farts Drinking Club could use Talk to speak simultaneously. They could then play Mornington Cresent and work out which pub to meet in. µ

L'INQ
Rok Talk