Ok, I’ll admit to drooling on my monitor a bit when I watched the Macworld expo keynote on the Apple iPhone. However it was not because of the design or the features outlined, but because of the possibilities! The iPhone seems revolutionary to me because of one big reason, and no it’s not the touch screen…it’s the possibility for real 3rd party app development. Up till now phones have been a closed and locked environment, but the iPhone could herald a new chapter for phones as real computing devices. At this point much is unclear about how 3rd party apps are going to be treated, but if anyone has the clout to crack the cell phone iron curtain it is Apple Inc.
So what does this mean for someone interested in call recording? Imagine being able to install a small remote client piece of software on your iPhone that not only records your own cell phone calls but allows you to sync with your corporate recorder and archive your recordings whenever you were in WiFi range. This could solve a huge problem facing many businesses today. That problem is recording the calls on their corporate cell phones. One lawsuit is all it takes to convince most businesses that call recording is mission critical. So the implement a call recording system, but come up against a wall when it comes to recording their business cell phones. Cell phones and landlines use a different protocol not to mention the fact that there is usually no way to conveniently tap into cell phone lines because there is no base station at the corporate office. Cell phones are now the de facto standard communication tool given to management and sales staff…just the people you really want to safeguard with automated recordings. However there is no company out there that offers a good solution for recording cell calls. What the iPhone could do is open up the closed cell phone environment to allowing 3rd party apps to no only be installed to record as the user or business wishes, but also to sync with computers via WiFi. This would create a seamless recording environment regardless of the multiple carrier formats and systems because they would all have WiFi or something like it as a connection. The iPhone won’t come out till June 2007, and likely it and the competition won’t seriously change the cell phone landscape for at least a year but the possibilities for cell call recording are now looking up.
Interresting. Steve Jobs said that they would not allow third party apps on the iPhone. He said that Apple would control everything that goes on the iPhone because of the possibility that a third party app might break something. But other phones have allowed third pary apps for years. My two-year-old Sony Ericsson allows me to record my phone calls. Then I can upload them to my network using bluetooth. I agree that there is a lot of new phone app inovation. I just think you might want to look at non-Apple products as well.
Comment by Mark Stouffer — January 16, 2007 @ 9:23 pm
Thanks for the comment Mark. You’re right about Job’s comment on 3rd party apps. The official word is no 3rd party apps. However when Apple switched to the Intel chip a year ago they also strongly stated that they would NOT support Windows running on Mac hardware. Needless to say the opposite happened. Within a few days of the Intel Macs coming out hackers had successfully booted Windows on the Intel Macs, and Apple soon after released “Bootcamp” officially allowing Windows to run on the Intel Mac.
Apple is better than most large companies when it comes to listening to what consumers want, and I think the demand for 3rd party apps will quickly change this policy. It may be necessary for now to appease the cell phone providers to toe this line at Apple PR, but if the masses want it, Jobs will likely make it happen.
Comment by callrecording — January 16, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
I have a VX 8100 verizon phone. It records calls with a press of a button on the side. The caller is recorded but I am not. Strange but it records anyones voice that calls on this phone. Play back is easy by going to the get “tones and tunes” section in settings. Now this phone is not a new phone but can be found on craigslist. I payed someone 65.00 for a used one and verizon gave it dial tone. This phone has many great features. I just finished helping someone that bought a new iphone. What a task. Must have a computer, internet service, itunes and learn the sync software. You have to be very computer literate. Mind you the iphone is cool once someone sets it up but what a headache getting it to that point. Now if you enjoy doing this type of thing then have at it….end
Comment by VX 8100 — July 23, 2008 @ 2:19 am
I bought a SonyEricsson K800i a while back and it does a fantastic job of recording 2 sided conversations in *.AMR format with excellent sounding audio. Now to find the iPhone equivellent…
Comment by Spooky — September 23, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
“Apple is better than most large companies when it comes to listening to what consumers want”
That is just rediculous! After three updates of my iPhone, I still can’t cut & paste. The iPhone has a good browser, touch screen and design, but there it stops and the flaws begin.
Comment by Jonas — December 8, 2008 @ 10:52 am
Apple fantards are so pathetic, it’s almost hilarious.
Comment by A+ — December 9, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
My palm Treo has been recording calls for years. In fact, you could do this on a Palm for about 8 years now, by my figuring. Palm has an open developer community. Palm lacks a lot of the basic whizbang feel, though, because their OS is getting ancient.
But the idea that Apple somehow has a history of “listening to their users” seems kind of misplaced. That’s what Apple’s public relations (P.R.) people chant over and over. But the job of most P.R. groups is to try to take the thing you are worst at, and make it look like your very best asset. In that regard, Apple’s P.R. is top notch.
Apple is good at taking technology which already exists elsewhere, refining it, debugging it, and making it perform in a smooth and enjoyable way … and then telling their fans that they’ve up and “invented” something “new” (which users of competitors’ products have often had for about a decade).
But to the extent that they are truly great at taking existing technology and refining/debugging it, I think my next phone will be an iPhone. They’ve [finally] got the handful of key apps I need, to ditch my Palm which is getting clunky.
Of course, they’ll lock me into AT&T for life. Seems ridiculous that if you want a good phone, you must to be forced into a phone provider that showed up as dead *last* in Consumer Reports last month. But that’s the price of dealing with someone as unholy as Steve Jobs. He’ll bone ya, but you’ll smile while he does it.
Comment by schinzzles — February 10, 2009 @ 9:20 pm
Well, if you are in the dark side of the iphone you have the spoofapp… but u pay eatch minute and conversation are saved in external server…
Comment by Alexandre Simard — May 16, 2009 @ 6:28 pm
PS: dark side = jailbroked… install via cydia
Comment by Alexandre Simard — May 16, 2009 @ 6:29 pm