You’ve bought a shiny new iPhone, wouldn’t it be cool to have VoIP running on it? For quite a while, Apple didn’t allow VoIP apps on their smartphones, which wasn’t surprising given Apple’s proclivity towards keeping a tight lid on everything Apple. But earlier this year, Apple lifted the restriction and the new version of the iPhone SDK allows it to happen. That’s not to say it’s not an “open” phone—it’s not. Your choices for providers are still limited to AT&T, AT&T, or AT&T. That said, this new direction is very meaningful for consumers, as well as for the VoIP industry.
Just last week, Skype released an update to its own app that allows background VoIP calling on the iPhone. The new feature allows you to multi-task while you’re chatting on Skype at the same time. What it also means is that Skype can run as a background app. This is critically important, since the lack of that ability has been a limiting factor until now. If VoIP is not running as a background app on your smartphone, then you have to leave the app open at all times in order to receive or make calls, which is of course, impractical.
At the present time, iPhone owners are still able to use Skype to make free phone calls over 3G, although this is only good until the end of the year—expect a monthly subscription fee next year for everything outside of Skype-to-Skype calls.
But of course, when you’re using your smartphone, you still have a phone bill to pay, so VoIP isn’t going to eliminate those monthly charges—although you may be able to opt for a cheaper plan. What’s coming up over the next couple years? Big changes are afoot—look for more VoIP capabilities on smartphones, and for traditional carriers to get competitive with lower rates.
