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TalkPlus is a mobile voice application that markets itself as a second line for your existing mobile phone (with cheap rates of course!) in addition to providing visual voicemail functionality. The application is really quite unique in that all calls use your carriers voice network, however it is the phones internet connection that enables the “smarts” for the second number and the visual voicemail to operate. In this interview, Jeff Black, founder of TalkPlus, describes what makes his product so powerful.

How does TalkPlus work?
Black: TalkPlus is a full Voice 2.0 communications solution, providing more than just low cost calling. TalkPlus provides greater flexibility and control, by adding multiple lines to your existing mobile phone (up to ten). US or international numbers can be added to your mobile phone for both making and receiving calls(e.g., a London number on your California phone). We provide international presence, by providing inbound international numbers from over 30 countries that ring on any phone – home, office, or mobile. For example, get a Mexico City number that rings on your U.S. phone for 3 cent/minute. Mexico City family can now call you for the cost of a local call. Mexico City customers feel that you are “local” even if you’re in Texas, because you have a local Mexico City number.

What about outbound long distance?
Black: TalkPlus provides low cost, high quality outbound calling to 192 countries. You can call someone in London from your mobile phone for 3 cents/minute from your mobile phone. TalkPlus offers lower cost dialing than Skype, iSkoot, and Rebtel to most destinations. TalkPlus quality is also generally superior, since TalkPlus calls are conducted over the voice channel instead of the data channel.

What other technological innovations have you made?
Black: We have fully integrated Smartphone support for Treo, Symbian E and Nseries, and BlackBerry. Plus Visual Voicemail:TalkPlus has a unique patent-pending technology that allows users to see their home, work, and mobile voicemail from their mobile phone, web browser, or even within their email. [Ed: the iPhone includes a feature with the same name, but different functionality.]

How is TalkPlus different than other mobile companies?
Black: TalkPlus is unique because it offers customers greater control over their mobile lives – they can decide how they are reached or how they reach people by having multiple phone numbers and voicemails. Doctors like us because they can now call their patients from their mobile phone, while displaying the clinic’s number on the Caller ID. So it’s more likely that the patient picks up; if the patient calls back, they call the clinic. Lawyers like us because they can dedicate numbers to particular clients, which provides a higher level of service and makes billing much easier. In general, TalkPlus is the only company to provide a multi-line solution, visual voicemail, and universal dial-by-handle capabilities for calling GoogleTalk, Gizmo or other SIP-based services.

Device independence and compatibility is a major problem, of course. How well does TalkPlus deal with that challenge?
Black: TalkPlus works on hundreds of phone models today. We have applications that are tailored to particular devices, such as our upcoming smartphone applications for a business audience (e.g., Symbian, Treo and BlackBerry platforms). We also work through the mobile internet (WAP), so that we can be used by a broad range of phones. The sound quality for both is the same high level, since our calls are completed on the voice channel. It’s one of our huge advantages over other players in this space.

What does it take to accomplish that?
Black: Any application provider that truly wants to support today’s mobile phone on a global basis will have to heavily invest in purchasing handsets from around the world, test those phones on multiple carrier networks, and build a QA staff to re-certify these phones every time a new version of the software is shipped. Being a global solution for mobile phones is not easy nor cheap, which is why most of our competitors have chosen to only support a limited number of smartphones.

Do you think your company is prepared for the mobile future?
Black: TalkPlus is definitely at the forefront of the mobile future. In fact, TalkPlus’s patent-pending solutions were the first to ever demonstrate Dial-by-Handle calls to Skype users, true mobile-based visual voicemail and many other features that are being introduced into the market.

So your customers appreciate your innovations?
Black: In general, our customers are simply amazed at what they can do with their TalkPlus-enabled phones. And we’re continually working on ways of improving our service, to get that endlessly gratifying response “I didn’t know that my phone could do that.” In the long term, TalkPlus will appear to be more of a “universal communicator” for your mobile phone than the simple cheap long distance solution that many of our competitors are chasing.

Michael M.