Truphone - wVoIP on BlackBerry

I see that Truphone announced its support for BlackBerry yesterday, with both VoWLAN and call-through modes.

I remember writing about WiFi devices from RIM about a year or so ago, and commenting that the company needed to ensure an "open" option for WiFi as well as one tied to an operator's service.

It's good to see that "vanilla" BlackBerries are now being exploited, as well as the locked-down variants. This is quite an important move for Truphone in my view, especially as it now has support for iPhone as well, meaning that its reach goes far beyond the Nokia E- and N-series that have been the staple platform for most wVoIP services to date.

The growing adoption of BlackBerries among consumers in the US, and to a lesser degree Europe, indicate that the platform is moving outside the corporate email-warrior space to the wider smartphone enthusiast masses. Support from consumer-friendly apps like Truphone should further its reach.

Separately, I'm hoping to catch up with the new Truphone CEO soon - her background at Vodafone and Yahoo sounds like a good combination to me. It will be interesting to see if the company's historically combative stance vs. incumbent mobile operators is softened at all - it's always been striking to see the contrast between Truphone and (say) Fring, which has tried to position itself more as a partner than substitute to the MNOs. I mean, even Skype has played nicely with some of the operators....