Push-to-talk standard approved

Ah yes, standards. Not everyone out there is likely to be thrilled about this, however we are about to see some new “push to talk” standards coming down the pipeline here soon.

The push-to-talk technology that lets mobile callers talk instantly with the push of a button has been standardized, a mobile industry group announced Tuesday at the CommunicAsia conference in Singapore.

The Open Mobile Alliance’s push-to-talk standard, called POC 1.0, has received the group’s final approval, giving sellers of handsets and mobile application servers a way to make push-to-talk work across a multivendor network. It will also let subscribers make push-to-talk calls to people on other carriers’ networks, said Jari Alvinen, chairman of the board of the OMA.

Push-to-talk makes a mobile phone work like a walkie-talkie. A caller chooses from among a group of available buddies or coworkers, presses a button and immediately starts talking…. Source: Infoworld