Hipvoice Offers Cross-Platform, Cross-Carrier Push-to-Talk for BlackBerry

A service called HipVoice is mixing up the push-to-talk scene by using voice-over-IP rather than traditional means – that means you can communicate directly with people across any cellular or Wi-Fi network without incurring your standard voice charges. This also challenges PTT offered by carriers, such as Sprint (NYSE: S)-Nextel’s and Telus (NYSE: TU)’ Mike, which are locked to their network, although I’d be curious to see if working over a data connection is as instantaneous as iDEN. They just recently finished up the beta for their BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) version launched in January, following up on their Windows Mobile product. As for everything else, the Symbian app is almost done, and they’ve got iPhone, Android, Brew and webOS in the wings. You can sign up now for $10/month, or give the seven-day trial a go.

[via CB]