A programming contest for the most innovative and useful applications on the AIM Phoneline platform will pay out $4,500 in prizes.
AIM Phoneline debuted in May 2006. The service offers a free incoming phone number and voicemail for its users.
It proved so popular that parts of the country, namely the old Kentucky home of Murdok, still do not have numbers available due to heavy demand.
A for-pay version of AIM Phoneline provides outbound calling for a single $9.95 monthly fee.
This gives unlimited calling to numbers in the US, Canada, and 30 other countries, according to AOL.
The start of the developer contest coincides with Boston’s Fall VON 2006 conference, also beginning on Monday.
At the conference, AOL should talk more about three new APIs they will provide for developers and phone manufacturers, as noted in a statement from the company:
• Personalize the AIM Phoneline service by adding ringback tones and unique ring tones for frequent callers.
• Enable a wide variety of USB devices such as speakerphones and phone adapters that will allow standard cordless phones to initiate and receive calls with the AIM Phoneline service.
• Build new call management functionality into the AIM Phoneline service such as context and relevance-based call handling that could treat each call on the basis of rules that use Caller ID, online presence, calendar activities and more.
A couple of companies will be on hand in Boston to put examples of what can be done with the APIs on display:
iotum(TM), a Voice 2.0 company that will show intelligent handling of incoming calls using their iotum Relevance Engine(TM), and MyNuMo, an online content community that enables artists to create, show, and sell digital content that will be demonstrating ringback tones allowing for personalization by caller.
The hardware device API will also be featured, and Mvox Technologies will demonstrate examples of its handsfree and wireless MV900 and USB MV100 speakerphones with AIM Phoneline.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
