According to Vodafone Australia, all Vodafone iPhone 3G customers will have access to the Visual Voicemail application by close of business Friday 29 May 2009. “Over the next few days, Vodafone will proactively notify customers via a TXT message, alerting them to this new service.”

To activate this feature, just synchronise your iPhone, checking for updates in iTunes, download the latest software update and then turning the phone off and on.

[via MacTalk Australia]

But that doesn’t mean this blog was quiet this week. In fact, we found out that the iPhone firmware 2.2 has a few extra features no one noticed right away, including Emoji and StreetView support in Google Maps.

We also learned that a big group of current iPhone users actually switched from a different carrier in order to use the device. Plus, the iPhone Developer Tech Talks launched this week, bringing iPhone app creation abilities to a wider audience.

The mini-USB plugs were recalled recently, and now customers are getting their replacements. Funnily enough, they have arrived for many in huge boxes with just an instruction sheet warning customers to return the defective plugs or else.

A heart rate monitor app went live on the App Store this week as well, which makes it easier to keep track of your heart rate anywhere at anytime.

Lastly, we took a look at PhoneTag Voicemail. The service that allows users to view transcriptions of their voicemails by means of a text message or an email, was very useful and for the most part intuitive. Many will find it to be a suitable alternative to the iPhone’s Visual Voicemail capability.

The PhoneTag service makes it so your voicemails are forward to their system to be transcribed into text to be sent to you via SMS or email. This way you can read your voicemails at your own convenience. The system was rather accurate and only really had trouble with unusual names or when a lot of wind noise interfered with the recording.

Most phone systems can use the system and there are two main plans available including a $9.95/month plan that includes 40 messages and a $29.95/month plan that allows for unlimited messages. The pay-as-you-go plan makes it so you only pay for the messages you use on the service at a rate of $.35/message. PhoneTag was rather impressive and will no doubt serve as a serious competitor to Visual Voicemail.

[via SlashGear]

Also targeted are Comcast Corp, Cablevision Systems Corp and Skype, with Klausner pressing for a combined $300m damages from the three.  The company has prior form in this, with Vonage apparently licencing the voicemail technology in October 2007 after Klausner filed against them the previous year, and AOL Voicemail also a licence holder.

The $660m total is based upon damages and estimated future royalties; Cablevision reportedly are yet to see the suit, while each of the other companies declined to comment.

[via ZDNet]

So what exactly is Visual Voicemail (also watch video above)? Visual Voicemail allows you to have a visual view of the number of voicemail messages right on your iPhone, enabling you to randomly select the ones you want to listen to without going through each one in chronological order. Of course, Citrix has been offering this feature since it acquired Net6 in 2004. The technology is currently being used in Cisco’s IP phones.

Citrix has yet to respond to The Register’s request for comment about its feelings on the Visual Voicemail matter. This will be interesting to see how it plays out down the road.

Apple swipes Visual Voicemail from Citrix [via The Register]