We just launched a new web-based program that will allow Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) to certify their service with our Bria for iPhone softphone.
It's a pretty cool change for us as a company. We have spent a long time perfecting our desktop softphone and more recently, transitioning that knowledge and expertise successfully into the Mobile VoIP market.
One of the things we quickly recognized though, the Mobile VoIP space moves much more quickly than our previous desktop app lovers. In fact, it wasn't just the downloads that exploded out of the gate when we launched our first mobile application last summer, but the strong market response we received regarding the support of either a VoIP service or having multiple account capabilities embedded in the VoIP softphone.
Within weeks of the initial launch of our Bria softphone on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, we added multi-account support. Now as a technology lover, or someone who loves to tinker and toy with applications in the early stages of their release, this addition to our client was satisfying enough. Those early adopters would see that they simply had to modify their SIP settings with the credentials from their preferred service provider. Sounds easy enough…right?
Adding SIP credentials into your softphone is easy if you know exactly what settings you need, where to add them, and how to adapt to varying field names that may be different between companies. What does that mean? Your IT manager can do it in his sleep and your friend down the hall who was Tweeting four years ago shouldn't have an issue. But Mom, Dad and the girl next door may have more difficulty because they don't know where to even start. It's akin to traveling to a large US city, such as New York, for the very first time and have no idea where to go other than the address you jotted down for your hotel. You arrive at the airport, grab a taxi and head to the City's downtown core. Once you arrive and check in for your stay, you head outside looking to start taking the city in. You are quickly overwhelmed with thoughts of where do I start, what do I do, what shouldn't I do, and you are really really hungry.
So where do you get one of the fantastic deli sandwiches everyone told you about? Check your mobile smartphone! Seriously though, wouldn't it be great if when you downloaded your Bria application that it automatically populated your account screen with myriad of ITSPs to select from? You wouldn't have to wonder which settings to change, what SIP credentials were required, or what would happen if you interpreted a field name incorrectly. Well…that is precisely what we just did.
Our ITSP Partner Program is a web-based program that enables our ITSP partners to certify their service with Bria. Once certification is complete, the next time the Bria softphone application launches it automatically provisions the settings required for users to run the application over the selected VoIP service. Pretty slick if I say so myself.
Now before you run out any buy your Bria mobile softphone application and expect it to run automatically, there are a few things you need to know:
- The program only supports Bria iPhone Edition for the first phase and the feature that supports the auto-provisioning will be made available at the end of April.
- Bria Android Edition will be added in the coming weeks.
- In order for you to access the service for your selected ITSP, you must have an account with them. If not, you will not be able to launch the service until you sign up. You will be able to do this through the prompt field on your Bria application or you can manually search for a preferred ITSP on the internet.
And finally…if you are an ITSP who came across this post and are interested in joining the program, please come check it out at www.counterpath.com/itsp-partner-program.html.
'Til next time…happy VoIP'ing.
