Developers will be able to build applications to integrate AIM Call Out into devices with wi-fi connections as well as SIP-enabled devices, and softphones.

Once Call Out has been integrated via the Open Voices APIs, users of the application will have access to international rates of a few pennies per minute. Anyone who has ever paid the going rate to telcos for international calls should find Call Out a pleasant change of pace.

Users have to pay for Call Out blocks of time, with the lowest bundle of call credits going for $5.  IN a few examples, callers can reach London for 2 cents/minute, Moscow for 1.5 cents/minute, and Sydney for 1.8 cents/minute.

Features for the Open Voices API appeared at AOL’s developer site:

This API allows any client application which supports the following industry standards to ‘just work’ with AOL Voice Services:

• RFC 3261 - Session Initiation Protocol
• RFC 2833 - RTP Payload for DTFM Digits, Telephony Tones and Telephony Signals
• RFC 4028 - Session Timers in SIP
• ITU-T E.164 - Formatted Telephone Numbers
• RFC 2617 - Basic and Digest Access Authentication

Though email and instant messaging help people accomplish a lot through communication, sometimes the best option for contacting a remote person and resolving an issue needs to happen by phone. At a low cost point, even modest reliability of developer applications for devices will be a significant gain for callers who have to foot the bill.

Posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 11:11 am. Permalink