Calgary's Hookflash is the LinkedIn-Powered Mobile App That Will Render Your Business Phone Obsolete

A Canadian startup is looking to accelerate the death of the traditional business phone.

Calgary's Hookflash has launched a LinkedIn-powered iPad app that uses the professional network's vast database of business users to create a powerful communications app.

The free iPad app—it will arrive on the iPhone soon—offers video and voice calls, plus text-based messaging with a user's full LinkedIn network, and it works on both 3G and wifi.

Quoth GigaOm:

Users will be able to see the profile of who they’re talking to and will see their latest updates from their activity feed, so there’s helpful context for each call. If a recipient is not available to receive a call or message, they will get a push notification that takes them into the app. … The service will also get calendaring, scheduling and other productivity tools as it evolves. Multi-party video calling is also on tap later this year.

“Most of the people I communicate with from a business perspective are all on LinkedIn; it’s my business Rolodex,” co-founder Erik Lagerway told Ryan Kim of GigaOm. “We want to make sure we use that directory in a way that’s absolutely seamless.”