WISHES DO COME TRUE?
Back in May, I wished for a way a cell phone could morph into a VOIP (internet telephony) phone, as technology forces broke down today's verticalized wireless carrier barriers (no rhyme intended). Specifically, I said:
"Once wireless networks like Wimax, championed by Intel and others, are rolled
out and are able to handle mobile devices, internet telephony, or VOIP becomes a greater reality for mobile communications. The cell phone would then morph into a VOIP phone, which can be embedded in the LifePC, accessible by bluetooth headsets, or a small VOIP, stylish Motorola RAZR phone of the future becomes a real possibility."
Well, we may not have to wait that long.
As this post by gadget blog Gizmodo notes in a post titled "Skyping your cellphone", a company in Korea is about to introduce a pretty remarkable USB device (and regular readers know how much I like USB gizmos).
Apparently, the "IMphone USB" can be plugged into a Bluetooth-enabled laptop, that 
would then enable a user to use their Bluetooth enabled cell phone to make calls via the laptop through a VOIP service like Skype, thus bypassing their cellular provider's network and "per minute" and/or "roaming" charges. As the original article explains:
"You simply plug it into the USB port of your laptop or PC ; it gets automatically detected and then pair it with your cell phone. The IM Fone is compatible with two services at this point of time, imtel and Skype.
Both Skype and imtel allow you to call any land-line on the planet for a small fee. Needless to say it is very cheap as compared to the normal international tariff that you may have to pay.
The IM fone allows you to use your cell phone and its contacts as usual, the difference being that you are not actually using the cell phone service network but rather the internet to make and receive these calls."
Pretty nifty, if it works, and of course assuming your cell phone carrier doesn't cripple the bluetooth feature on your phone, as they're already doing in many cases, and getting sued in the process.
One can always get an "unlocked" phone, that isn't modified by the carriers, but of course that costs more. It would cost far less if a USB gizmo like this is actually available at an affordable, mass market price.
But looks like this device, or something like this from someone else, could be an important enabler of one of my other wishes, described in a post on VOIP back in April:
"...my long-held belief that voice telephony as an "expensive, regulated, global, must have service", is soon going to turn into a "mostly free, unregulated, global, will-have-it-on-whatever-device-you-want-it application", courtesy of the wired and wireless broadband Internet."
Looks like it's around the corner.
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