Yesterday, we saw a Vonage app hit the App Store, which seemed to go against Apple and AT&T’s previous stance that VoIP apps that work over the 3G (and 2G) network would not be allowed in the App Store. Turns out there’s been a policy change. AT&T has just announced that it will no longer restrict VoIP apps that use its network on the iPhone, a move which is long overdue considering that it was already allowing these on other phones.
But don’t be fooled. A rumor earlier today about the move suggested that AT&T was thinking about letting Google Voice on the iPhone alongside Skype, Vonage, and other VoIP apps. There’s two problems here. First, Google Voice isn’t actually a VoIP app. Second, AT&T did not have anything to do with the Google Voice rejection (or non-approval, whatever), that was all Apple.
Apple has never said it blocked the Google Voice app because it was a VoIP app (which would have fallen under its agreement with AT&T to do so), it blocked it because it said it emulated many of the features of the actual phone portion of the iPhone, and would confuse customers. That’s pretty much crap, especially considering that the Vonage app which was just approved also looks like the iPhone’s phone portion.
And here’s where things get really interesting. Since the Vonage app does look so much like the iPhone dialer, maybe it is a signal that Apple is gearing up to do the right thing and allow the app into the store. We’ve stated from the beginning that we thought that was likely to eventually happen, following the huge negative reaction about the rejection.
But again, that has nothing to do with VoIP apps now being allowed in the store, because Google Voice is not one of them. Google Voice does not place calls over the Internet. Instead, it uses a current phone line to both place and receive calls. It simply gives you a new number to use as well as records certain information routed through that number, this is not VoIP. That’s not to say it will not do VoIP eventually, but right now it does not. And if Apple tries to now allow Google Voice in the store under that guise (that VoIP is now okay), that would be extremely disingenuous.
This move seems to be simply AT&T looking at scrutiny from the FCC (brought about by the Google Voice thing), and also seeing moves like Verizon teaming up with Android to do phones that will offer Google Voice, and attempting to make sure that it is not again portrayed to be the bad guy here. Of course, at the same time, they’re also petitioning the FCC to look into Google Voice, which we think is fair (but also hypocritical) under net neutrality ideals — even if Google doesn’t think it should.
Look for more shake out from all of this.
While this is good news for IPhone users, this also starts the countdown until their network completely fails. If they weren’t having enough problems handling the data usage they sure will now.
maybe, but to go back to an old point, if at&t can’t handle some of this stuff, it should not have the iphone exclusivity, or at the very least, should not be charging us for a fully functional network.
well, GV is VoIP, but it dials out to GV using minutes, and then goes VoIP from there.
I thought it was based on callback
well we can all keep talking about what VoIP actually means, but the key point is that AT&T does not consider Google Voice to be VoIP. From its letter to the FCC:
“It is our understanding that Google Voice is not a Voice over Internet Protocol service that enables a user to send or receive voice calls in IP format from a wireless handset.”
Apple also does not consider it to be VoIP or it could have rightfully rejected it based on the AT&T contract and taken none of the blame.
Question: Is GV VoIP on Android devices (in other words, does it take over more functionality) but not VoIP on the iPhone, BlackBerry, etc.?
Well, yeah, the calls out from the GV centers are VoIP, but that’s not happening on your phone. It doesn’t get anywhere near your phone.
Like I keep saying: Google Voice is just a big, free answering service for everybody with a bunch of cool features. There wasn’t a single word in their statements to the FCC or their customers about the app that was remotely true.
But we already agree about that, I guess.
Indeed, one or both of those should definitely not be true.
Yeah, I do constantly wonder why Apple picked the notoriously worst carrier in the US for the iPhone exclusivity deal. Happily, this has just cleared the way more for Android – and hey, look, Google just made BFFs with the much-vaunted *best* carrier in the nation.
Apple married AT&T, Google’s just dating Verizon. Which one’s the Smartest Company In the Room, again?
Um…. if not VoIP then what is it?
currently, Google Voice requires that you have another, actual phone line that you can place and receive calls from. it could do VoIP eventually, but right now it isn’t.
That is, unless you’re also using Gizmo5. Then it’s VoIP with free calls.
Would work so much better with Google Talk though.
why does crunchbase say it uses voip?
Because everyone has an agenda. Voice fanatics like to say, “it doesn’t do VOIP, it doesn’t do VOIP” over and over — they think it is a jedi mind trick or something. I’m pretty sure MA said it a few times, despite his admission in this thread. Then they look at VOIP apps as case studies as if they mean anything. (You can find any kind of contradiction you want in the 85,000 apps in the Store.)
No one cares about Vonage, and there are numerous examples of dialers already that have been looked at a hundred times months ago. Contradictions with “the duplication of core functionality” reason cited abound.
The obvious fact is: Google Voice is pure VOIP. Voice over IP. Sure, it uses the carrier’s line, but it turns voice calls into an Internet service. Some people, on the other hand, want to use the features of “crappy VOIP” circa 6 years ago as THE definition for VOIP. VOIP is a bundle of services that continues to grow and evolve. GV competes with, makes redundant or obsolete, duplicates, or enhances numerous services offered by carriers/providers and device/software developers. (That’s another strategy. Acting as if GV doesn’t compete with anything: “it doesn’t compete with the carriers, it costs minutes,” “it doesn’t compete with Apple, it sells iPods.” And it has much more potential to explore, and Google’s goals are limitless. Plain and simple. Apple will not allow its platform to undermine its own company.
They are clear about it in a very Clintonian way. They never past blame on AT&T, and they did clearly say this from the beginning, when they released the SDK. Observers were only creative enough to consider iTunes competitors — which Apple is actually allowing to thrive with Spotify, Simplify, Pandora, Last.fm, Rhapsody, and several great traditional radio applications that aggregate 1000s of international radio stations and streams. Because Apple is smarter than blog commentary. They are cognizant of monopoly issues in some markets and more aggressive competing in others.
This is a big boost for many general VOIP apps (even if there is already more freedom of choice on other platforms), but measures out as comparable to getting flat 99 cent pricing on songs (but not as big as eliminating most DRM for songs). Some people will still pretend this is a big “gotcha” for Apple because of their own agendas.
No. Google Voice does not use voip. It works the same way RingCentral does, and RC has two apps in the app store. MG Siegler described what GV is. Read what he said.
“Voice fanatics like to say, “it doesn’t do VOIP, it doesn’t do VOIP” over and over — they think it is a jedi mind trick or something.”
No, it’s just that it’s the truth. I think “reality distortion field” applies more than “Jedi mind trick” does. You got sold a bill of goods, bud. Apple likes doing that – it’s why they make things all religious and personal with their customer base, so when you’re presented with Actual Truth that counters Apple Truth, cognitive dissonance will kick in and you’ll respond by reinforcing the Apple Truth.
GV isn’t a VoIP app. It just dials into a call center, at which you can check voicemail and send SMS and make free or cheap calls out. There’s no VoIP crap happening on your phone at all, though – that’s happening at the call center.
GV’s pretty simple, and there’s no way Apple didn’t get it or had to study it further – that’s as idiotic as their claim to have invented the touchscreen phone dialer. Like a lot of Android users, I don’t even have it installed on my phone. I use a direct dialer, instead, that allows me to call into GV via the number I’ve added to myFaves, which means when I can settle for lower-quality calls, I can make all my calls in North America for free.
And they’re lower-quality calls you have to settle for, BTW, at least for now. So the claims that everybody would use them instead of paying AT&T for…oh, wait, we’re talking about AT&T. So Google Voice calls probably actually work and sound better.
Apple and AT&T had every right to be concerned, I apologize.
veggiedude and Robert E. Lee, did you read what I said? I know perfectly well what GV does. If you want to pretend that VOIP is solely voice telephony that originates on IP and ends on IP — feel free to live in the year 2000. If you think VOIP has evolved to mean telephony that becomes unshackled from the traditional landline carrier networks and becomes a powerful internet service, whether or not any transmission ever occurs on the traditional carrier networks, you have to admit that GV is possibly the supreme example of VOIP… you know, as Arrington seems to be doing now above.
Definately voip, but it is not the issue for apple. Expect apple to offer services similar to google voice. The debate is moot.
If I was using just Skype over wifi and 3G and had to call 911 in an emergency but could not speak would I be screwed?
Have they updated 911 to know your location on a VOIP wireless connection?
911, maybe. E911, not yet.
This definitely shakes things up. Just read Mr. Anti iPhone’s post on this topic and agree that this still doesn’t jive well with the Google Voice situation (even though it is not voip).
But is he hot?
I don’t know if it is only AT&T greenlighting this or Apple and AT&T are greenlighting it. I think both of these companies are in it together. I think FCC pressure is affecting these companies.
Apple hates walled gardens when they are on the outside and very publicly say so.
Apple promotes walled gardens when they control it.
This makes them entirely hypocritical and people are finally starting to realize it.
This is also very similar to their refusal to allow Flash on the iPhone:
http://www.talk...he-iphone-1625/
Has nothing to do with Flash. They are not allowing Flash because it will soon be a thing of the past.
http://www.appl...icktoflash.html
“They are not allowing Flash because it will soon be a thing of the past.”
I love how the Apple faithful always sound like the characters in Jerome Bixby’s classic “It’s a Good Life.”
What, no Flash? That’s because Flash is going to die tomorrow! (Android phones don’t do Flash, either, but…I just think that sucks. I don’t have to qualify it because I’m not in love with Google.) No Copy and Paste? That’s because Who Wants Copy and Paste if Apple Didn’t Give It To Them? No MMS? That’s because The Cell Networks Will All Explode If Anybody Ever Attaches a Picture to a Text!
Seriously, on that last one…I almost got an iPhone when they came out. T-Mobile was hung up with the NSA on 3G, and I thought about switching. MMS was a big factor in not doing so.
If I’d done that, I’d have spent the last few years unable to send photos to my kids on their dumber phones. Or 95% of my extended family. Or my girlfriend. Or half my friends, at least.
Why would I do that, accept isolation from the bulk of phone users, the world over, because of the lack of a standard, expectable feature on *all* late cell phones?
Okay but when will we see the MagicJack app?!
Does this mean we’ll soon have skype work without WIFI? I hope so.
yes, that’s exactly what it means.
huh.. When did techcrunch started calling “a calling card” as VoIP ??
This is a clear case of misguide..
Skype over 3G has been available for a long time…with a jailbroken iPhone.
Are you sure Google Voice doesn’t use VoIP for international calls? I thought it was similar to the Vonage App in this respect, and thought that was the reason GV could charge less for international calls.
MG is talking about the last mile.
And talking out his ass
I just bookmarked this article because it sums up, very neatly, the issues that have gone on in the last few months. I doubt we’ll see Google Voice as soon as we’d like, but it’s a big step toward net neutrality, at least in the case of the iPhone.
What is going to happen to AT&T’s network after Google Voice is allowed? There are going to be even more unhappy iPhone users, since VOIP takes up a lot more bandwidth.
Well, luckily, Apple lied to you about the VoIP, so it’s not a worry. In fact, if Apple tries to make you worry about something, ever, you should generally do the opposite.
Maybe Apple and Vonage are in cahoots? A buyout, partnership, or takeover????
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http://www.tech...voip/trackback/
“AT&T did not have anything to do with the Google Voice rejection (or non-approval, whatever), that was all Apple.”
I don’t think it was all Apple. For one thing AT&T had a strong objection to the way Google blocks calls that would otherwise incur heavy connection fees like AT&T has to pay and cannot block. That, to me sounds like they were waiting for the FCC to come knocking and tattled on them.
I think that both Apple AND AT&T colluded to prevent any app to use voip on the cellular side of the data stream. They did this probably to prevent a massive network failure on the part of AT&T and a huge image blow to Apple. Apple wanted to freeze voip until they have their iChat mobile client ready to use on AT&T’s new network that they are in the process of rolling out.
Either that, or I’ve had a stroke.
So I can drop the standard monthly phone fee and just run the data plan?
hah, right… *sigh*
That’s what this guy does:
http://mediumjo...onth-iphone/249
Okay, okay. He uses wifi for 80% of his calls through skype and uses gophone at 30MB per month for the rest. But still….
“And if Apple tries to now allow Google Voice in the store under that guise (that VoIP is now okay), that would be extremely disingenuous.”
Are you kidding, it would be sweet! who cares what the motive is…
yeah, it would be sweet. but it would still be disingenuous.
wow great new for ((truphone)) – new and existing USERS — http://www.truphone.com is all VOIP on mobile. I has worked for me previously over 3G but now it is official. Used it over 3G from a Nokia E71 on O2 without any issues.
Perfect! We’ll be able to use Fring over 3G now to make voice calls.
As think about this I think apples concerns are less about the dialing functions of the Iphone, and more about visual voice mail.
A google voice app would potentially one up the Iphone visual voice mail.
@iPhone News: Flash is Adobe’s proprietary format; and is not optimized in any way for the processors in iPhones and iPods. It’s extremely inefficient and CPU intensive. Apple aren’t allowing Flash because in its current incarnation it’d cause their customers to return their devices.
Adobe has not yet created a lightweight version of Flash for the iPhone. Take a look at their website FFS.
Personally I fricking hate Flash and always browse with Flash disabled. OPEN STANDARDS on the Web please!
“…it blocked it because it said it emulated many of the features of the actual phone portion of the iPhone, and would confuse customer…”
This really pisses me off. Companies take way too much leeway when they globally pronounce “customer confusion”.
WTF?
“Google Voice” vs ‘iPhone” vs “Vonage” vs “Skype”….. Oh i’m so confused !! Are all of these Apple/ ATT services and Apps and features? Oh My!!
Talka about confusion…how about Google’s upcoming Wave App/ service and Adobe’s Labs project Wave ? Again – I’m so confused.
2G, 3G, and wi-fi enabled VOIP clients for iPhone have been available and working great over the AT&T network for about a year. Therefore allowing Vonage to do it too does not reflect an AT&T policy change. Truphone’s rates are higher, but you can make and receive international VOIP Truphone calls for free, and make international VOIP calls using your AT&T minutes. With much lower rates, Vonage is going to eat Truphone’s lunch, and probably Skype’s when they arrive in this space.
Don’t forget that the timing of AT&T’s mobile VoIP announcement (as well as Verizon’s Google Voice announcement) had a lot to do with the politics of network neutrality, particularly FCC chairman Genachowski’s statement that mobile networks should also be subject to neutrality rules. Explanation here:
http://bit.ly/odaf7
So when do we get Slingbox and eyeTV on 3g? That is supported on other Smart Phones on AT&T as well….
It would be great if Apple provided VOIP service themselves for MobileMe subscribers.
The reason it’s blocked is because AT&T can’t profit from Google Voice. Because the telecom thug wants their cut.
They’re getting their cut from rebtel, skype and vonage. Notice that free skype to skype calls are only free over wifi. Imagine if your isp charged you for all the skype to skype calls? That’s what’s going on with AT&T.