One of the absolutely greatest things about Web-based real time communications is that it's constantly generating new applications, including many that simply wouldn't be expected at all before actually arriving on the market stage. One such development for likely more than a few people is set to arrive from Jibe Mobile, and over the next several months, it will roll out a new desktop client that allows users to put what amounts to a complete mobile device into a PC desktop browser.
With the Jibe Mobile platform, users get access to the complete range of mobile device functions, but as part of a laptop or desktop PC. Users will be able to make phone calls, start chat sessions and video calls, send text messages and even complete files via file transfer mechanisms to mobile devices. Better yet, it requires no downloading of apps or new social networks or the like. Essentially, the PC here becomes a mobile phone extension, allowing the browser to ring when the phone does, and for SMS messages to appear in both the Web app and the phone's inbox at the same time.
While this is the kind of thing that's being done on several levels thanks to apps like Skype and Google Hangouts, there's a key difference that makes Jibe Mobile's system particularly noteworthy: it attaches all of these functions to a current mobile phone number, essentially allowing the PC in question to work as an extension of said phone. Indeed, some companies like Rogers Communications have tried something similar, thanks to its CounterPath-driven One Number system, but Jibe Mobile here too outpaces its competitors, putting rich communications suite (RCS) tools to work to augment the voice and text functions.
Indeed, some project that RCS may ultimately get its biggest boost from putting services like this to use in turning other devices into extensions of mobile devices. It gets a boost from convenience, as everything becomes inherently connected to that one mobile number, and RCS can always rapidly offer voice and text, which is in turn supported by most every breed of mobile device, meaning that at least basic functionality is assured. That helps quite well should a user be trying to contact another user, but the two don't necessarily have the same video chat app or the same voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) app to get the job done.
Basically, while this may not be the kind of development that every user desperately needs, it is likely to be the kind of app that keeps some users running, and supplies that little extra note of functionality that many users might do well to keep in a back pocket in case of emergency. There's always a certain value in a backup system, and being able to run the functions of a device from a completely separate device is the kind of redundancy that's actually useful, particularly when things go wrong.
Jibe Mobile's concept may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it may well ultimately make a good backup cup, ready to step in and provide service when a primary system goes down. That's got some value to it; just ask anyone who's ever engaged in disaster planning. Only time will tell if it proves a sufficiently good value to put to work, but it's likely to distinguish itself as, at the very least, a great hedge against system failures.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
