Metaswitch continues to push right Thrutu 'buttons'

Metaswitch may not have been the first voice over IP vendor to go the open API/developer program route, but it is showing it has staying power. This week, the company announced it had opened up APIs to its Thrutu mobile app to third party developers, and announced 11 new buttons, each of which add functionality to the Android-based mobile phone sharing app (Briefing Room: Thrutu Pushes the Phone Call Further with More Buttons, Including PayPal, Meet Me, Shared Search and Doodle)

Metaswitch debuted the Thrutu app earlier this year (CP: Metaswitch tries new tack with Thrutu mobile app play). The vendor has been trying to improve the VoIP call experience for some time; now it’s simply “taken all of that and extended it to the mobile phone,” Steve Gleave, Metaswitch vice president of marketing said of the Thrutu mobile app, available on the Android market.

Thrutu is focused on improving to the mobile calling experience by adding a variety of in-call sharing capabilities. When a call is established between two Thrutu-enabled phones, the app launches via a transparent “drawer” that opens up, overlaying the phones standard call screen. Inside the drawer are buttons that let users interact during the call by, for example, sharing location data, contact info, photos and more.

This week, Metaswitch said it had opened development of new buttons and new sharing capabilities to third party developers. It also announced 11 new buttons adding a variety of capabilities, including PayPal payments, meet me location services, shared search and a slew of simple shared games including tic tac toe and mood ring. Users can now also customize the Thrutu drawer.
Developers can join the Thrutu developer program and gain access to the APIs at http://developer.thrutu.com.

VoIP players like BroadSoft, Alcatel-Lucent and others have worked to establish developer and open API programs with mixed success at best. The challenge is attracting developers to their carrier-centric platforms that lack the massive scale and global reach of, say, an Apple iPhone or Google Android.
By moving its application and developer focus from solely its VoIP platform to focus on integration with mobile platforms like Android, Metaswitch aims to address some of those issues – though making Thrutu a mass market hit remains unlikely.

What it is possible, however, is to use the app, APIs and developer program to not only bring a cool new app to its carrier customers (and their customers) but also demonstrate what’s possible in a world of converged IP networks and devices. Metaswitch also recently announced a new portal-based softphone app to address this application opportunity for its customers (CP: Metaswitch aims to re-imagine the softphone).

Metaswitch said it expects to have iPhone and Blackberry versions of Thrutu available soon.