Canadian iPhone users are the guinea pigs for Facebook’s latest offering: open source VoIP calling — a service similar to Skype.
Canadians with devices running iOS can now use Facebook’s messenger
app to call a contact by tapping the “i” button in the upper right
corner and selecting “free call.”
Users must update the app to the latest version to use the new
feature. There is no extra charge to make the calls — it uses the
caller’s existing data plan.
The service, which is still in the testing phase, will be rolled out to Facebook users in other countries if deemed successful.
Facebook has also added a new service for all Facebook users on iOS
and Android platforms: voice mail. The service enables users to record
voicemail messages of 60 seconds or less to send to a friend.
To use the new feature, users must tap the “+” symbol next to the
message box, press record and hold the button down while speaking. To
send the message, the user simply releases the record button. To cancel
the message, the user must slide his finger off the button. Once again,
users must update to the latest version of the Facebook mobile
application.
So far, there is no indication Facebook will add either the
voice-messaging or calling service to the Web version of the social
network.
The calling and voice mail services are two more offerings in a recent string of changes to attract users.
Last month, Facebook made its messenger app available to all, not just account holders.
Non-Facebook users are now able to sign up for its messenger app using just their name and phone number.
The move is a bid to broaden the social network’s appeal for those
who are not Facebook users, Peter Deng, Facebook’s director of
communications product management, told CNet.
“It could lead to other parts of the Facebook product — post a status message or share an album,” Deng said.
It also makes Messenger more competitive with SMS and other
third-party messaging services such as WhatsApp, which only requires a
phone number to sign up.
Facebook is also testing a system that allows its members to send
messages to other users outside their social circle for a price: $1.
The “small experiment,” which began Dec. 20, will be evaluated to
determine its “usefulness” to the social network’s American users.
The test will give a small number of Facebook users the option to pay
to have a message routed to the Inbox rather than the Other folder of a
recipient they are not connected with.
For the time being, the new messaging feature is only for personal
messages between members in the U.S. and will be limited to a maximum of
one per week.
Facebook most recently released Poke, a mobile app that enables its
users to send photo or video messages that disappear seconds after being
sent. The app enables its users to send messages that “self destruct”
after one, three, five or 10 seconds.
Post from: SiteProNews
Facebook Tests Skype-Like Calling on Canadian iPhone Users
