Nimbuzz launched the NimbuzzOut service
Similar to Fring, as one of the best mobile IM/VoIP software, Nimbuzz had no clear method to make profit. This makes users like myself worry about the possibility that this excellent mobile app would be discontinued eventually just like what happened to Trutap. Yesterday, Nimbuzz made a step to change this situation — they launched their VoIP service, NimbuzzOut.
Don’t get confused, Nimbuzz started to support mobile VoIP call long time ago users can use SkypeOut, pre-defined or user-defined SIP providers to make VoIP calls to normal phones. In other words, Nimbuzz was just a platform and Skype or other SIP providers made charge when NimbuzzOut had not been launched. In the new Nimbuzz Symbian version, there is a new NimbuzzOut option other than existing SkypeOut or SIP in the VoIP provider setting, which means Nimbuzz is not only a platform but also a service provider.
The rate of NimbuzzOut can be found here. In general, the price is quite normal: 0.02 or 0.03 USD per minutes to fixed lines in popular destinations, which is more or less the same as major VoIP service providers. It seems that only credit cards are accept to recharge NimbuzzOut accounts. My question is how NimbuzOut will compete with Skype and other SIP service provider supported by Nimbuzz as a platform. The only advantage I can image is that NimbuzzOut is linked to Nimbuzz accounts directly then no extra setting needed. Nimbuzz to Nimbuzz calls should be still free.
Only Symbian version of Nimbuzz supports NimbuzzOut feature. iPhone/iPod Touch version with NimbuzzOut feature will come afterward very quickly. Whether NimbuzzOut can make profit for Nimbuzz needs to be proved according to time.