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Comment by sciurus | Hacker News Reader

Brian from Voxeo Labs here: I'm really excited that this has publicly launched. I worked on the call management api from the operations side of things, and I'll be happy to answer any questions I can.

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Can you give a brief overview of how the API works. I can't really understand the press release on what solution does the API provide.

I agree. They start out by talking about video and phone integration in apps. But then they are like, you have 1 million api calls, and it will translate text for you. Please pay us money for our babel fish. Also we will populate forms for you sometimes.

So they're talking about all of the AT&T APIs with respect to the 1 Million API calls which includes things like Watson translation and other such niceties.

Does that help explain?

The short version is that anything you could do with Tropo (e.g. inbound and outbound calls and sms, text-to-speech, speech recognition) you can now do at AT&T in conjunction with AT&T's other APIs (e.g. Payment, MMS, and Location).

We have a presentation up about what you can do with the API at http://www.crunched.com/access/dc387b73d0aa876e67a173e7b1fdf...

You can find tutorials, sample applications, and documentation at http://developer.att.com/developer/forward.jsp?passedItemId=...

"...customer's existing mobile numbers are no longer tied to a single device..."

Does this mean if the customer has an AT&T iPhone (for example) you can receive copies of SMS sent to their handset via the API, or is it still the case that you need a new virtual/tropo number or port your number away from the device?

Are the apps subject to individual review and approval by AT&T (as opposed to direct through Tropo or Twilio where you can launch on your own)?

We developed a location service that met all of AT&T's and CTIA's consent guidelines yet they were the one carrier to reject the app - and without good reason.

Applications developed on the Call Management APIs do not require approval by AT&T. The APIs offered by AT&T that require approval tend to be those that interact with subscriber devices. If you can take over a mobile handset with it or grab someone's private info, AT&T wants to approve your code.

Would this be an example of implementing the new API?

Have calls to your mobile number ring to a phone or computer in your house (wifi or wired).

No, this API is not for reusing your existing number. It's about building applications with new phone numbers.

Thanks for the quick response. Would be neat to do with existing numbers, but I know that would involve a great deal more trickery or porting of numbers.

We think it would be neat to do this sort of thing with existing numbers, too. That's why we released Ameche a couple of months ago. http://voxeolabs.com/ameche/overview/

Built by the same folks as Tropo was, so the couple hundred thousand Tropo developers will find the Ameche API familiar.

As it gains carrier support, you'll be able to do all this with your existing mobile number.

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