ReadWriteEnterprise

RIM didn't steal my enterprise startup idea, but it did develop the next best thing: a conference call app that integrates with your calendar to offer one-click dialing for conference calls. If it actually works properly, it will actually be better than my idea for a conference calling provider that provides instant one-click dial-up since this should work with any conference call provider.

The new app, called BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing, available for free in the BlackBerry Beta Zone starting today. Naturally it's only available for BlackBerry at the moment. Call My Meeting for Android, Appt Dialer iPhone and Accutel Conference Assistant for BlackBerry offer a similar features.

You dial the conference call number. Or you can copy and paste it into Skype, or just click the link in your phone's e-mail app. Then you have to enter your 12 digit conference ID number, or whatever this particular system calls it. If you're on your phone and away from your computer, maybe you jotted it down on a piece of scrap paper. If not, you need to switch back and forth between your dialer and the app that the ID number.

You punch in the number. You wait. Nothing happens. You realize you forgot to hit pound at the end. OK, pound. The robotic voice on the other end slowly, carefully reads the whole number back to you. Are you sure this is the number you meant to dial? Yes of course it is, stupid robot! You hit "one" to confirm. You wait. Sorry, this access code is incorrect. Please enter your 12 digit conference participant ID access code number followed by pound now. Arh, that wasn't the right number after all. You try again, this time remembering to hit pound. The robot repeats it back to you again and you confirm. Finally, you enter the conference call, a bit late.

Pleasantries are exchanged, the conference gets rolling and then...someone's call gets dropped. Everyone waits for them to dial back in and run the access code gauntlet.