Comcast is moving cross-device, and cross-platform, with Comcast Mobile Apps. In version 2.5, developers have extended Comcast Caller ID to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, the company announced yesterday on its Comcast Voices blog.
As a result, Comcast Triple Play subscribers who have set up Caller ID on their TVs and PCs can now configure it so that they also receive real-time notifications of calls to home phones on their iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
Triple Play subscribers are also be able to respond to the call via voice call or text message, at least from the iPhone. As originally designed, subscribers could use Caller ID to display the identification of calls to home phones on their TV and PCs in real-time.
Based on user feedback, Comcast has also added some personalization features to Mobile Apps. Users can now skip the Main Menu screen and have the app go directly to a particular function, such as Digital Voice, upon opening. They can also reorder the appearance of phone features on the Main Menu screen in order to reflect their own preferences and use.
In addition, Comcast’s Universal ID is now available to all customers, including video and voice subscribers, so that they can use their Universal IDs “to log into the Comcast Mobile app to use the services they subscribe to, such as video customers being able to access to phone-based features if they don’t have a high-speed Internet subscription.” Voice-only subscribers without a high-speed Internet subscription will not have access to associated phone-based features, although Comcast is working on enabling this.
Comcast is making a concerted effort to converge their products across mobile platforms, including integrating their SmartZone unified communications platform onto mobile devices. They are a great example of a ‘wireline’ company embracing mobile applications, despite not having their own facilities based wireless network.
