The chaps over at HulloMail (kind sponsors of the Future of Voicemail video series here on MIR) have released the next version of their iPhone application. I got a sneak peak when I popped into the HulloMail offices a few weeks ago and they’ve done some nice refinement.

Here are the latest updates:

- NEW! HulloMail is bringing your address book to life. The HulloMail logo next to a contact means they also use HulloMail and you can send Hullos directly to their phone. But don’t worry you don’t have to be a HulloMail user to receive a Hullo. Where you see the envelope icon, you have their email address and can send a Hullo to them that way
- We’ve now made recording and managing your personal greeting easier as it can all be done on your iPhone
- You can now decide whether you want to be notified of missed calls or not. You can switch this alert on or off via the app Settings menu
- To minimise costs when you travel you can choose to be notified by SMS rather than Push (UK users only)
- We’ve changed the way the app looks to go with our new style, hope you like it

Remember if you’ve got an iPhone from Orange, Vodafone, Three or T-Mobile, you wont’t have visual voicemail facilities as that’s only been implemented by o2. Instead, tap the voicemail button on your brand new iPhone and you’ll be expected to… wait for it… yes, call your voicemail box. Ridiculous. That’s why a ton of non-o2 iPhone users have turned to HulloMail. The service is free and you can get the app on the iTunes store (iTunes link) and they have apps available for BlackBerry and Android too.

Welcome to the first in the series of videos exploring the Future of Voicemail, supported by award-winning, smart voicemail experts HulloMail.

I’m delighted with the feedback we’ve had from part 1 of the Future of Voicemail Series featuring Olivier Sichel of Sofinnova Partners so I’m delighted to bring you part 2.

Today’s episode features Tim Rea of ePlanet Ventures discussing his pain points with voicemail as it stands and the future of the medium. I hope you enjoy…

Download M4V Video | Subscribe to Podcast | Embed video

Olivier is one of the chaps on my list to feature in my new video series, The Future of Voicemail. I was particularly interested to get Olivier’s take on the way ahead given the fact he was Chairman of Wanadoo during some of the company’s most interesting times in the industry. I wanted to get his insight into how voicemail should be managed. What’s fascinating is that his views — without any prompting and despite coming from totally different ends of the marketplace — appear to closely match those of Andy Munarriz, founder of HulloMail.

HulloMail, if you recall, helped me make the Future of Voicemail series a reality by agreeing to become sponsor. I’m going to be getting Andy on camera too so it’s going to be particularly illuminating to contrast them.

I won’t spoil it though. I’ve got to edit the video — but all things being equal, it should be up sometime next week as the first episode in the series.

Thank you for taking the time this morning, Olivier!

Have a watch:

In fact I actually interviewed regular contributor, Barney Craggs, last night at MoMo/Swedish Beers and he commented on this, thinking it was weird that we had James Whatley of SpinVox interviewing Andy Munarriz of HulloMail.

If you wnat your voicemails by text — I do — then SpinVox delivers. If you want to ‘own’ your own voicemails — that is, keep them in one place (e.g. your email) and be able to reference/forward/reply to them easily through your mail client, HulloMail is the way ahead.

I don’t think they’re competitors per se. I think they are offering alternative services — and that you’re very much one or the other.

However increasingly I’m finding that I’d like both.

I’d like to keep my voicemails in my inbox — AND get them immediately transcribed and delivered to my handset’s SMS inbox. I wonder if there’s a way for them to do business together?

And if you’re a Gmail user (for example), the power and potential of HulloMail really begins to shine through. You can keep every voicemail yourself. You don’t need to worry about constantly dialing up to retrieve messages. If you’re an iPhone user or, better, a G1 user, it’s gorgeous — because you simply click on the attachment and it plays on your handset.

Get a free account at HulloMail now and check it out (it’s free for the time being and they’re aiming to offer premium services and fund the free service with advertising).

You can see it working in the video below…

MIR Show – Week 44 – Andy from HulloMail from Mobile Industry Review on Vimeo.