That opens up ENUM for at least 0,5% of all mobile phone users worldwide. Or am I too optimistic.
It's a start, and a proof of concept.
No, sorry, don't get me wrong. This *does* make sense, but I hope you agree it's not the answer to the problem. The makers of the more widespread handsets will not implement something like that guess for that reason, knowing that the majority of handsets are distributed through the network operators' channels.
Two technical questions:
1.) Making the lookup does require your handset to have a GPRS / 3G Internet connection, right?>
Yes, the application works over WiFi, or 3G/Edge if enabled. It won't enable itself if all it has is GPRS.
2.) If the result of the lookup is sip:someone@mysipprovider.com, how do
you deliver the call. Again over IP? You know that you will have a worse
sound quality than GSM that way and that you will violate the contract conditions of I guess 75% of all mobile operators that way?
If the chosen record is a SIP URI, these can be called using the Sipdroid application for Android, to which I have contributed patches. The version of that software that's in the Android Market is WiFi only, although there's a developer version which does SIP over 3G/Edge (but again, only if enabled).
I mean, you may not care. But the discussion here is about widespread adoption. I can see the case where if an app like yours spreads (it could possibly we written for iPhones, S60 handsets, etc.) an operator may just decide to block all SIP traffic on his networks. That wouldn't necessarily make a good case for ENUM, would it?
This app would be a lot harder on iPhone or Symbian because it's far harder (if not impossible) to hook and intercept outbound calls. I'm not going to get into the market penetration discussion - I'm (mostly) just a tech. cheers, Ray -- Ray Bellis, MA(Oxon) MIET Senior Researcher in Advanced Projects, Nominet e: ray@nominet.org.uk, t: +44 1865 332211