Corporate VoIP to challenge Skype

Welcome Voipster

Europe in Brief Amsterdam-based Voipster will introduce a corporate competitor to Skype, the popular free Voice over IP client, by next month. The Dutch company is targeting business users and will charge a monthly fee for unlimited calls, four way conference, voicemail and sharing documents. Some features will be free until further notice, including voicemail.

Voipster's VoIP will be avalaible for Windows, Linux and MacOSX.

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Finland: small mobile operators are winning

Finland’s three largest mobile operators - Elisa, Sonera and DNA - have lost more than 200,000 subscribers between them in the first three months of this year, Helsingin Sanomat reports.

Many mobile telephone users have switched over to the networks of small operators, who offer low prices, and in some cases, free calls. The trend began in July 2003, when it became possible to change mobile operators while keeping the old number. Sonera has lost most of its subscribers: a total of 107,000.

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Germany: end to pop-up blockers?

Falk eSolutions AG, a global provider of ad delivery and management solutions, has launched a new ad targeting option to automatically detect pop-up blocker software on computers and instantly convert pop-up and pop-under inventory to alternate formats.

Falk AdSolution internal tracking has seen its publisher customers losing up to 50 per cent of pop-up/under ad impression inventory, causing substantial accountability problems for publishers, who charge for ads displayed. The dynamic serving technology is available with the upcoming release of Falk's AdSolution FX product.

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Sweden: Record PC sales

Personal computer sales (both PC and Mac) in Sweden during Q1 amounted to 333,000 units - a record breaking 18 per cent up on the same quarter of 2003, IT Research Sweden reports.

The bulk of the sales was made up of desktop and notebook units to businesses, with a 37 per cent and 22 per cent growth, respectively. However, PC sales for personal use seems to be dropping - consumer sales were down 4 per cent. The results are better than 1998 levels, which was the previous record year. Leading brands were HP, followed by Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens and IBM. Dell held the leading position in consumer sales. ®