Piggy-backing on what some experts call the most significant IT product release of 2008, a Danish VoIP company says it’s tailoring its flagship IP telephony system to support the Apple iPhone (News - Alert).

 

Officials at Copenhagen-based GoIP International say their company is an approved Apple Developer that can help service providers launch customized iPhone VoIP services with their so-called “VoIP in a Box” solutions.

 

“The iPhone has already revolutionized the way we use mobile communication,” GoIP officials say. “GoIP International sees great growth potential for service providers to offer their own complete iPhone VoIP services, as an add-on to their existing telecommunication portfolio, or as a stand-alone solution.”

 

Researchers are reporting today that the iPhone, with its touchscreen technology, is becoming so popular that it’s hurting sales of smartphones such as those made by Nokia (News - Alert) and Research In Motion.

 

Officials at Gartner say that although 32.2 million smartphones were sold in the second quarter of 2008 – a 15.7 per cent increase from the year-ago quarter – sales increased at a slower rate than in the previous year.

 

“The current economic environment continues to negatively impact the market, limiting consumer spending and replacement purchases in general,” said Roberta Cozza, a principal analyst at Gartner. “In addition, smartphone sales slowed down as a result of new compelling touch technology mainly available on enhanced phones (based on proprietary operating systems) rather than smartphones.”

 

According to the study, Nokia held the number one position with a 47.5 per cent market share in the second quarter of 2008, though its year-over-year growth was about half of the market average. The company is facing increased competition in the market, Gartner said.

 

Research In Motion saw a near-doubling of its market share, from 8.9 to 17.4 percent, while HTC (News - Alert) also saw a sharp increase in market share, from 2.2 to 4.1 percent.

 

The figures pale beside Apple’s projected iPhone sales. According to GoIP, Apple makes nearly 1 million new phones every week, and the devices don’t stay on shelves long.

 

The company says its VoIP platform will help service providers offer iPhone users free calling among device owners, VoIP calls through WiFi (News - Alert), location-based service access, GPS use and multilingual front and back-end systems.

 

“(For) example, ISPs could add additional services like locating their nearest hot spot to access their VoIP service, or use the GPS for other location based services via the GoIP iPhone client,” GoIP says. “Each customer with an iPhone and the GoIP VoIP application will be able to travel the world and access a multitude of services on the fly.”