Microsoft to make own VoIP phones

FEELING SHUT out by the likes of Skype, the Beast of Redmond has decided it needs to make its own hardware to take advantage of its VoIP/Internet telephony software.

One of these devices, the Microsoft Roundtable (previously known as the Ringcam) was originally shown off late last year (2006).

It now looks like the Roundtable will form part of a suite of telephony products. The other two will comprise of a basic headset plus softphone software and a desktop handset with a 5.24 inch colour touch-sensitive screen.

According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, at least one of these will go on public trial on Monday (26th March). This should be the basic softphone which will comprise of a USB style PC dongle married to a - probably Bluetooth compatible - headset.

The newspaper reports Microsoft's Gurdeep Singh Pall as saying the Beast's software is "so disruptive" that none of the conventional hardware suppliers would touch it. More likely is the fact that the Beast is anxious to counter widespread support for arch rival, Skype's software.

The Beast has already fallen behind.There are numerous examples of independent hardware vendors providing Skype compatible products. No less than Nokia is supplying mobile operator, 3, with the N73 handset which has built-in Skype support, for example.

With the basic headset, Microsoft's approach is logical if it intends to use a Bluetooth headset. Brit upstart, Rok, introduced VoIP software called Viper, which utilised Bluetooth for the voice connexion. Sadly the INQ could never get Viper to work.

By supplying its own hardware - in the shape of a PC dongle - Microsoft would overcome the obvious support nightmare if it tried to claim compatibility with all-and-sundry Bluetooth headsets.

The Beast's passion for videoconferencing is also intriguing. As usual, it claims the Roundtable will cost a mere $3,000 compared to at least $20,000 for a conventional videoconferencing suite.

Curiously Chipzilla tried a very similar trick with a videoconferencing system card for PCs which utilised ISDN lines for the connexion. That disappeared without trace.

It will be interesting to see how expensive the desktop handset will be. An inexpensive device which can hook into the standard Microsoft Contacts database might proof quite successful. µ