CANNES, France-A variety of players were among the companies making announcements on the push-to-talk front, further evidence that players across the globe are gearing up to offer the service.
First, Fastmobile Inc. announced a deal with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to ensure its Fastchat Instant Communication technology will work in Samsung mobile phones. The two companies also announced plans to jointly develop and market the technology. Samsung also said it will add PTT technology to several mobile-phone models this year and next using Nokia Corp.’s Push to talk over Cellular technology, which is aligned with the Open Mobile Alliance’s PTT standard. The move is notable as Nokia, Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. have already announced major support for PTT handsets.
Separately, Fastmobile announced a new partnership with technology giant IBM Corp. to promote its technology to wireless carriers. Fastmobile said the deal will allow it to offer its PTT technology on an application service provider basis or installed as a core feature in an operator’s network.
In other PTT news, Siemens showcased its new push-to-talk application dubbed Picture Chat, which the company said allows users to exchange photos and videos anonymously and then switch to the push-to-talk mode to talk to each other directly.
Motorola said it will license out its Push-To-Talk over Cellular technology to handset makers and software developers.
“As a company with decades of experience in push-to-talk systems and devices, we enthusiastically support all efforts-through our active engagement in standards development and making our PoC client available,” said Murali Aravamudan, vice president and general manager of the Winphoria Division of Motorola’s GTSS. “We support the harmonization of PoC specifications among all vendors, and have designed our network solutions to be compatible with the standards as they evolve.”
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. said it would use PTT technology from startup Sonim Technologies in its handsets.
In other PTT news, three Asian-Pacific carriers announced plans to launch the service. AIS in Thailand and Optus and Telstra in Australia said they will use technology from Nokia to offer push-to-talk services.
