Never mind Viper, try free TV

AN ENTHUSIASTIC Rok group appears to have underestimated the complexities of Bluetooth when launching its Rok Viper internet telephony service recently [September 5th 2006]

So to draw attention away from this supposed 'Skype killer', Rok has just announced what it claims is the world's first free mobile TV service in the US and in the UK.

Known as FreeBe TV itwill be available via a link on Rok TV site and claims compatibility with 14 major mobile handsets.

The problem is that despite intense efforts, the INQ just hasn't been able to get the Bluetooth based Viper service to work - in sharp contrast with the AQL Nokia service which definitely works over WiFi.

After much badgering from the INQ, Rok has finally supplied a list of Bluetooth devices which it has very definitely tested the Viper software against. The list is somewhat limited, though.

Nonetheless, Rok marketing director, Bruce Renny claimed almost 6K downloads of the software in just a few days after the service finally went live.

The list of supported Bluetooth device supplied by Rok includes those running protocol stacks from Widcomm and BlueSoleil (v2.3 or higher) plus those Bluetooth devices taking advantage of the Bluetooth stack in Windows XP (Service Pack 2).

In terms of compatible handsets, in theory Viper is able to run ony any handset running Symbian 3.0 release 2 but Rok currently only caters for a handful of Nokia handsets on its Web/WAP site.

Ironically, downloading the relevant Viper app to the handset is relatively simple providing you've got GPRS sorted out on the handset. All you do is visit the WAP site http://wap.rokviper.com.

Potential users then need to register their mobile phone number and obtain an associated PIN number supplied from Rok via email.

Efforts to dig out exactly what share of the Bluetooth equipped market Rok has effectively targeted have so far proved fruitless. Rok seems to have ignored Bluetooth solutions based around Toshiba's Bluetooth protocol stack, for example.

Even purchasing a Bluetooth dongle for a mere £9 which came with the BlueSoleil stack (produced by IVT) didn't cure our problems. We also note that the Rok Viper web site has been temporarily closed for 'maintenance'.

Not one to miss a trick, however, Rok has added a user-generated video channel called 'You-made-it' to its FreeBe TV offering. Which it naturally describes as "A sort of mobile YouTube."

It would be nice to actually get Viper running, of course. µ

L'INQ Rok TV

See Also
INQ helps to debug VoIP app