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I’m going to make a conferencing app for the Ovi Store. Want to help? (Updated)

Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. And please keep a close eye on your heartbeat — get the crash team on speed dial.

I don’t want to surprise the hell out of you.

Because the headline is true.

I am seriously considering making an application and putting it into the Ovi store.

I know I’ve been telling the world just how bollocks Nokia has been in some aspects, in the past. But I think it’s time to put that behind us.

I think it’s time to pat Nokia on the back and say, ‘This Ovi thing… you know, the store… that ain’t half bad… let’s give it a go, eh?’

It’s time to put my money where my mouth is.

Nokia has a future. Symbian (I can’t actually write the text ‘Symbian’ without wincing, I have that bad an opinion of it) has a future. The Ovi Store has a lot of potential.

People still like Nokia devices. They are still nifty handsets. Well built, capable…

Time to make it happen.

Here’s what I want to do. I’m sick and tired of waiting for someone to develop and release a decent conferencing application for my N95 8GB.

Howler Tech / ROK Talk did it. I’m not entirely clear on where that’s gone or what precisely happened to it. All I know is that I don’t have it on my N95 and that quite simply isn’t good enough.

I want to do conference calls. Anyone working with large companies needs to do conference calls. And I can’t tell you how FLIPPING annoying it is when someone sends me their ‘conference details’.

It’s like being back at infant school. It’s like living in the 19-sodding-hundreds.

‘Here is my 0870 bollocks number’

‘Here is the PIN code you need to type in’

What am I? The brain of sodding Britain? No. I don’t want to be given your bollocks PIN number.

I don’t want to call some idiot-per-minute number.

Furthermore I’m sick and tired of the shite service offered by conference providers. To be clear, they can do the telephone bits fine. But the ‘service’ around it is 100% screwed. It’s because the conference provider doesn’t give a flipping flying flip about HOW you use the service. There’s no decent online click-here-to-start. There’s no decent mobile-activated conference system. I want to click, click, click in my address book and hit GO.

And I don’t want to pay 0870 ‘national rate’ rubbish call rates for the privilege either.

I have had enough of turning up to a group conference call at 2.30pm and spending the next 15 minutes dicking about waiting for Bob, or Bill, or Jim, or Linda to actually join.

10 minutes after that — so at 2:55pm, we actually get started. One guy’s had to pull over because he was driving and thought we’d be calling him. Another can only stay for two minutes because he’s ‘got a 3 o’clock’.

It’s rubbish. It’s not good enough. I want a system that just calls everyone at the appointed time. Better still I want it to send out reminders 5 hours from the time of the conference call. AND crucially, I want the ability to be able to do a live, off-the-cuff phone call immediately.

It’s time the market was served by something a lot better.

And I’d like your help to make it.

Who’s up for it? Are you a Symbian developer? If so, we need your help.

Are you interested in owning a bit of history and helping put our money where our mouth is? I need a few grand from a few people, I reckon.

Or, frankly, I’ll just pay for it myself.

Who do I need to speak to at Ovi to get the app on their store? Does anyone know?

As ever, I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com. Let’s talk.

Update:

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, responded right away with this gem:

you can submit apps to ovi store directly. there is a 3 step process to having applocations accepted/screened by nokia

Ah. Interesting stuff. Nice one Kerry. OK so that part of the process looks pretty straight forward…

25 COMMENTS

  1. Forgive the heresy, but what's wrong with just dialling someone then hitting Menu -> Add Participant? Fairly certain that's there on Symbian, it's certainly available on my BlackBerry.

    The one thing I'd like in a conference app is the ability to record the call. Either from the phone or the conference system.

  2. Laughed at this. Would be funny if it weren't so true:

    “I have had enough of turning up to a group conference call at 2.30pm and spending the next 15 minutes dicking about waiting for Bob, or Bill, or Jim, or Linda to actually join.

    10 minutes after that — so at 2:55pm, we actually get started. One guy’s had to pull over because he was driving and thought we’d be calling him. Another can only stay for two minutes because he’s ‘got a 3 o’clock’.”

  3. You heretic!

    Only kidding.

    I want to add 5 people. Now. Or 9 people Now. I'm not talking one or two people. I'm talking sometimes big teams. AND recording and various other cool tools.

  4. can i suggest you pay for BT Conferencing – local free numbers, US toll free numbers etc etc – the 0870 numbers are just cos the people you are dealing with are too cheap to rent an actual teleconferencing service.

    Also, having the service on your N95 8gb (i'd have thought you would have a better phone by now sir 🙂 will not mean that the bloke in the car will not be in the car when you call, or however the call is initiated, and people aren't late to the conference call because they are not using a nifty calling system, they are late cos they are no good at keeping time (like me!)

    not sure how an app would solve that…

    (hmm this wasn't meant to sound like a rant, but i cant be bothered to go back and change to “polite english” i am way to busy, have a global teleconference system using BT Conferencing in a couple of mins, and i dont wnt to be late)

    also – try Adobe Connect – it's lovely – and wait for the Flash Lite version (oops did i say that out loud 😉

    Hope you're well sir

  5. The N95 8GB is the only handset I have that actually makes proper telephone calls!

    People are late in my experience, Ilicco, because they're busy doing other stuff. They're happy to take the call but their priorities are not based around me, usually. So they can't be arsed to read the PIN number details. They just wait-and-see-what-happens. I want to be able to initiate a dial-out to everyone from my handset.

    BT Conferencing?

    Really, Ilicco, I thought you were… you know, cool.

    British Telecom? The people who used to deliver the mail?

  6. We'd fire people who acted like. Not much you can do about people outside the company, especially if they're paying.

  7. Actually, most of the Conf Call systems I use have a single number to call – no need to bother with a PIN. I've not seen one for ages which doesn't offer at least a couple of international dialling numbers.

    Haven't used BT though.

  8. I think it's super if your culture is attuned to dial into conference calls with a + or – of 30 seconds each way. I don't think I've ever experienced 100% attendance within 60 seconds of the start time, ever….!

  9. as pointed out earlier many of the problems with Conference bridge systems are down to humans, either late, in a noisy environment, or in a room with other participants and arguing over each other so no-one else can talk/hear. Many people appear to not be able to mute their phone and prefer to stick the microphone IN their mouths or up their noses and the list just goes on.

    The reason there isn't a decent one out there is that technology does not solve it, lot's of people have tried and most system have tools to enable a decent call to happen.

    What I'd like is the ability to see the signal/noise ratio for each participant and if I am moderator mute them out, if this sort of thing was available to all then people could 'vote' people out to mute, reminders sent to phones are good, if you want the system to call them then there has to be a way for the person to accept still before joining the main call in case they are doing something 'noisy' at the time.

    I especailly hate the system (can't recall which it is) that announces each caller as they join and then again when they leave so when people start leaving the call is interrupted with the endless messages

    IF you can get it working let me know and I'm sure I'll have several customers, however in the end it's all about people and making sure they are properly motivated to have a good call….

  10. T-Mobile customers can have a 20 person conference call, Check on the T-Mobile website for 'Group Call'. Its available to all contract customers

  11. T-Mobile customers can have a 20 person conference call, Check on the T-Mobile website for 'Group Call'. Its available to all contract customers

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