We’re all waiting with bated breath for the results of an FCC inquiry that’s currently investigating why Apple has banned Google Voice from its App Store — each company is due to submit their answers to the FCC today, and Google may well be the only company to emerge without egg on its face.
But this morning USA Todayprinted an article that cast doubt Google’s supposedly benevolent and open approach to mobile software. The article alleges that Google has blocked a full version of Skype from its Android platform, instructing the company to build a new version that didn’t have full VoIP capabilities — a move that sounds ridiculous after the Google Voice/Apple fiasco. But it looks like USA Today’s story may be misleading.
From the USA today piece:
Consumers who use Android, the Google-developed operating system for wireless devices, can’t use Skype, a leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. A pioneer in free Internet calling, Skype allows you to talk as long as you want without draining cellphone minutes.
Android users get Skype Lite, a watered-down version of the original that routes calls over traditional phone networks — not the Internet. As a result, long-distance calls are still cheap or free, but cellphone minutes are gobbled up every time a Skype Lite call is made.
Ben Scott, public policy director of Free Press, a consumer advocacy group, says Google “is in an awkward spot. On the one hand, their application is being blocked on the Apple App Store. But on the other hand, they engaged in similar behavior” with Skype.
So did Google really block a VoIP app at a carrier’s request, or perhaps on its own accord? The truth, according to Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of Mobile Platforms, is much less sinister: earlier versions of Android didn’t support Skype because of technological shortcomings, but subsequent software updates have enabled full VoIP solutions. From Rubin’s blog post on Google’s Public Policy Blog:
“Here are the facts, clear and simple: While the first generation of our Android software did not support full-featured VoIP applications due to technology limitations, we have worked through those limitations in subsequent versions of Android, and developers are now able to build and upload VoIP services….
As we told USA Today earlier in the week Google did not reject an application from Skype or from any other company that provides VoIP services. To suggest otherwise is false. At this point no software developer — including Skype — has implemented a complete VoIP application for Android. But we’re excited to see — and use — these applications when they’re submitted, because they often provide more choice and options for users. We also look forward to the day when consumers can access any application, including VoIP apps, from any device, on any network.”
Also worth noting: even if Google did block an application from the Android Marketplace, users could still download apps elsewhere because Android isn’t a closed platform. We’re following up with Skype and Google to get more details.
Oh how I’d love to see Arrington and MG Seigler comment on this. I’m sure we’ll have a lively debate as to how this impacts their Iphone/Android WAR!
from where is USA today getting all this Onion News or The Colbert Report?
Hmmm… could this be because Skype buys its line termination from AT&T so AT&T makes money from each call?
No
Actually Android is not an closed platform, this itself confirms that Google has not blocked Skype.
Oh, but the denial of Google Voice on the Iphone certianly *does* have something to do with AT&T. Just read up here:
http://ow.ly/15LAj3
And the USA Today has definitely failed here, straying from the facts in their article. Tsssk.
Full VoIP application are possible since Android 1.5 Cupcake and release of first Android NDK (Native Development Kit on June 26th). You are free to implement whatever you wand just bring in your own voice codec implementation, unfortunately they are not provided by Android OS itself.
I use the Android Skype application all the time. I only wish it had voip capabilities like the IPhone version.
You can still use Skype on Android, it just that it eats up your local cell phone minutes.
Still great when I’m on lunch break at work and I have to call China. It sure beats the hell out of $300 cell phone bills from T-Mobile.
Google is just as bad as Apple and AT&T and so many others…. and all you Americans think you live in the land of Freedom and Liberty!!!! FCC Inquiry over such a silly BS thing is a fine example you lost that long ago!
What. You just noticed?
FWIW: sipdroid.org
“We’re following up with Skype and Google to get more details.”
what about an update (more like an apology) from USA Today?
Seems TechCrunch is kinda biased towards google. Whatever G does is always right to techcrunch. Loosing interest in TC.
Yea, don’t let the facts get in your way buddy!
So apparently Apple/AT&T own a journalist at USA Today. And that journalist is obviously not very subtle.
So any stories written by Leslie Cauley are full of lies, skewed to suit whichever company is paying.
That’s right. There is still the debug console for uploading software without using android market. And, is Google voice a kind of complete VoIP solution?
There is an application called Crolix Communicator. It is available on the Android market. It allows VoIP through 3G or Wi-Fi.