After so many emails and interest in Vitaero (formerly Skype Headset) we wanted to get the inside track on their thinking and plans for VoIP based products, so this month we lead with an exclusive chat with Team Vitaero.

What was the thinking behind vitaero?

We started working on the concept of vitaero one and a half years ago when we saw the potential for innovation in the intersection between two emerging technologies.

Skype were providing good quality voice communications across the Internet - for free – even at an early beta stage and this proposition was threatening to shake up the telecommunications industry. Their focus on delivering a great user experience ensured that they would build a sizeable and loyal community around the service and their decision to open up the softphone functionality through a third-party developer API was inspired.

Bluetooth headsets were improving in quality and also being given away for free with new mobile phones – driven largely by new legislation introduced in the UK that made it illegal to use mobile phones without a handsfree kit while driving.

We didn't like the idea of being tied to the PC with a wired headset and we wanted to produce a solution that would easily allow a Skype user to make use of their new Bluetooth headset.

Bluetooth on PCs is a complicated and fragmented environment - with several providers of Bluetooth drivers at different levels of maturity and with Microsoft providing an incomplete Bluetooth stack in Windows XP - so right from the start our aim was to hide this complexity  behind a simple and helpful user interface. We find that most of our tech support is actually related to fixing peoples' Bluetooth problems before they can even use our product.

What does the future hold for VoIP?

VoIP, especially when combined with other services such as Instant Messaging and Presence, provides a compelling platform for connecting people and communities together across the world in real time and at low cost. These technologies provide the foundation for that elusive bridge between mobile, PC and Internet services that will enable new forms of ad-hoc collaboration, entertainment and commerce. You won't have to decide how to make a connection with someone or something… you will just do it… and the technology will be transparent.

If you were heading up a telco would you be worried or embracing the change?

We would be looking for ways to provide a range of seamless integrated services to users at an affordable price and through a range of appropriate devices and networks. The most popular use of phones is, perhaps not surprisingly, to talk with other people - with text  messaging a secondary less-intrusive way to share ideas. VoIP, Instant Messaging and Presence can provide a richer, wider-reaching and more immediate way of locating and connecting with friends, family and colleagues. Telcos that are still trying to lock people into
their walled-gardens of so-called compelling mobile services should be worried about the more enlightened competition including broadband ISPs who are looking at VoIP as a way of getting a share of the telecoms market.

What features of vitaero are you most proud of?

Although it looks deceptively simple from a user's perspective – and that's one of our goals – it has a lot of built-in intelligence about VoIP in order to know when to control the headset audio connection and how to respond appropriately to button presses from the headset or the Skype user interface. We keep track of the all the interesting events during a Skype session – when the user logs in or out, the list of active or inactive Skype calls, their incoming or outgoing status, the Voicemail waiting indicators and your participation in conferences and then decide the correct thing to do when you press a button. In this way we can maintain a low power connection to the headset to preserve battery life and only open a full connection when necessary.

We also handle all of interesting problems that are introduced by Bluetooth devices such as headset on or off, is it within range and can it establish a connection after your notebook has suspended and resumed.  We are most proud of hiding this complexity so that the experience is seamless and intuitive for the user. We have also provided an API so that developers can easily integrate a Bluetooth headset within their own applications without having to understand and deal with several layers of the Bluetooth stack.

Where next for the product?

We are celebrating the first birthday of vitaero in March and it has been very rewarding to listen to our customers and their many suggestions over the past twelve months. We have a number of concepts in development with our VoIP and device partners that will come to fruition this year. While holding true to our philosophy of keeping the user interface simple and uncluttered we are expanding the product in several new directions - for example, providing seamless integration of Bluetooth stereo audio devices into Windows Media Player and Apple iTunes.

What gadget do you value / use the most?

Our iPods and we can't wait for the day when they will come with a Bluetooth stereo headset ;-)

What do you see as emerging technology in 2006?

The re-emergence and growing popularity of Windows CE-based smartphones with VoIP
applications such as Skype Mobile running over 3G or Wi-Fi networks.

Cheers guys

You can see Stuart and Kamal's hard work at vitaero.com

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