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Will the Almost Ubiquitous Rebtel VoIP App Nudge Skype to the Background?

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Will the Almost Ubiquitous Rebtel VoIP App Nudge Skype to the Background?

July 20, 2012

By Mini Swamy, TMCnet Contributor

Windows Phone users now join the clan of Android and iOS users, who revel in the fact that the Rebtel (News – Alert) app enables them to make high quality, international calls to friends and family without having to worry about the cost.

The Rebtel app allows users to select any contact, with an international phone number from the address book on their phones and start talking almost immediately at rates that the company claim to be 98 percent lower than that of an average operator and 60 percent lower than even Skype (News – Alert).

“Today, we are thrilled to take the next step towards offering the most comprehensive suite of mobile apps for low-cost international calling by announcing Rebtel for Windows Phone (News – Alert),” said Andreas Bernström, CEO at Rebtel.

Rebtel, which routes international calls made from mobile phones and landlines to local numbers with the specific aim of reducing the cost of calling abroad, has been reportedly made possible because of Rebtel’s local number network being available in more than 50 countries.

Instead of using a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, Rebtel claims that it uses wireless plan minutes to connect calls. The app also enables platform-independent free calls between Rebtel users, labeling these contacts as “free” in the app’s contact list.

With the Rebtel Windows Phone app seamlessly integrating with the native address book, users straightaway get to know the current Rebtel rates to all contacts and groups with international numbers and the kind of savings that they can make on each one of them.

Very thoughtfully, the app also allows low-cost international text messages to be sent to friends in more than 170 countries and goes one step further by allowing friends to reply to a message for free by selecting the Collect Reply box and including a link in the message.

Given Rebtel’s goal of providing free or low cost international calling to as many people as possible across the world and with the Windows Phone market share predicted to touch 19.2 percent by 2016, a VoIP app for the Windows device was but a natural development according to Bernström.

Rebtel celebrated a milestone recently, hitting the 15-million user mark. Part of the success is due to the early decision to offer its communication service to a variety of platforms associated with both mobile and desktop.

Gigamon (News – Alert), the VoIP management specialist, also recently surpassed Skype three times over in the average revenue per user column. Some speculate that Rebtel’s early decision to offer its VoIP management solution to a variety of platforms that reach a multitude of devices was what drove the success it enjoys today.