iSoftPhone risks Apple's ire

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 06 February 2007 09:58

Your IT - Home IT

Germany-based Xnet Communications has risked the ire of Apple by dressing up its Megafon standards-based VoIP softphone for Mac OS X with an iPhone-style skin and describing the result as iSoftPhone.

This is not a Skype or iChat style application, it is a true SIP-compatible softphone to be used with any of the VoIP operators that have sprung up around the world providing cheap and sometime even free calls. Unlike most softphones, it allows for simultaneous connection to as many as five VoIP providers.

The software does provide for free calls between iSoftPhone users.

Other features include integration with the Mac OS X Address Book and a simplified setup. Xnet is still working on the ability to exchange SMS with mobile phones and other iSoftPhone users.

iSoftPhone is not a cheap program: a single licence costs $US99. By comparison, CounterPath eyeBeam only costs $US60 for single unit purchases, while its X-Lite softphone is still free of charge.

Xnet is probably best known for its Captain FTP software, a Mac OS X FTP client with collaboration features.