Jabra adds headset support for Siemens' OpenScape

There are a litany of problems with conducting business calls on the go, but wireless device maker Jabra and Siemens' Enterprise Communications arm seek to solve one of them by partnering to support the latter's OpenScape Mobile Call Swipe feature, which allows you to switch devices without losing connection or switching headsets.

Here's how it works: with a swipe, you can move a voice conversation from an office phone or laptop to a mobile device. It's all part of the "unified communications" trend that essentially aims — through technological cooperation — to make conversations about who you're talking to, not how you're talking to them.

Jabra's Holger Reisinger says that the feature is "solving a longstanding, low-tech challenge for mobile workers, moving from the office to the car without having to interrupt the call to change device," but I wonder how pervasive this problem really is. Is seamless device switching a nice-to-have feature, or is it really solving a productivity-killing issue at the office?

Just how inconvenient is it to ask someone to call you back?