wifitalk.ca

The CBC is carrying a story about a consortium of 24 international wireless carriers including giants AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica who have joined forces with hardware manufacturers Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson to provide an app store which will be ubiquitous across all carriers and platforms. Wind Mobile is Canada’s only participant.

The goal of this alliance is “to create a wholesale applications ecosystem that — from day one — will establish a simple route to market for developers to deliver the latest innovative applications and services to the widest possible base of customers around the world. In the immediate future the alliance will seek to unite members’ developer communities and create a single, harmonized point of entry to make it easy for developers to join.”

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/02/15/wireless-carriers-app-store.html?ref=rss#ixzz0fdEEx1P7

The current system of app stores (iPhone App Store, Google Marketplace, BlackBerry App World, Nokia Ovi World) seems to work well for consumers if you are only ever going to stick to one platform. However, what happens when you want to switch phones? Maybe you have an iPhone today, but tomorrow you want to go with an Android-based phone? Or what if your job gives you a BlackBerry? All of your purchased apps are now stuck on the old platform and there’s no way to bring them over, even if the same app is available on your new phone.

The current system is no friend to developers either. If a developer wants to reach the different platforms, they have to code up as many different versions of their app as there are platforms, often in different languages altogether. Different APIs, different rules, different features, and different platforms all need to be accounted for and supported.

Just about the only group that benefits from segregated markets are the established app stores. Forcing users to double-buy means that they get that extra cut  on the extra sale, however this is a double-edged sword. For an established app store like the iPhone’s, it provides user retention – someone who has spent $100 on apps isn’t likely to switch to another platform and lose access to their apps. For up-and-coming app stores it’s a rather sizeable barrier to entry. Why should a user with $100 invested in the app store switch to the new guy?

The app developers do get some benefit as well, receiving double revenues on double sales, however these aren’t expected to be very high, and if they are putting in quadruple the amount of work to develop and support multiple versions of their app, it’s of little benefit.

It looks like the Skype client’s ability to make calls over 3G may have to wait until Apple releases iPhone OS 3.2.

The LA Times is reporting on a conversation with an Apple spokesperson who confirmed the recent VOIP over 3G developments in the new iPhone OS 3.2 beta SDK licensing agreement.

“We revised our Program License Agreement in conjunction with our updated Software Development Kit for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad Apps,” wrote an Apple spokesperson.  “Included in this update is the ability for developers to create VoIP apps that utilize cellular networks.” -LA Times

The reason why Skype has not yet updated their client to allow this functionality is because their current app and current iPhone users are still under the licensing terms of the 3.1.2 version of the iPhone OS. This version, which is currently running on most devices, forbids the use of VOIP applications over 3G, instead restricting them to WiFi-only. Skype spokesperson Chaim Haas has said that Skype is waiting on Apple for clarification of this issue. “As soon as we have that clarification, Skype will submit its application for approval.”

What this likely means however is that we will have to wait until iPhone OS 3.2 is released so as to not be bound by the restrictions of version 3.1.2.

There seems to be a mad rush to enabling VOIP over 3G on the iPhone today. First, iCall announced VOIP over 3G, then Fring hopped on board, and everyone was waiting for Skype to join in. The discussion even hit slashdot, and people started testing it out.

Well, according to at least one slashdotter, Skype works over 3G without issue now too.

I just tried skype on my iPhone…went through on 3g with no problems

If nothing else, this at least means cheap long distance on the iPhone, and possibly quite a bit of free talk as well if the calls are skype-to-skype. Some reports are that VOIP over 3G is of spotty quality. Any users care to chime in?

edit: it seems the skype client still doesn’t work, but you can use Fring to call out over 3G using skype-out

That didn’t take long.

Fring Blog

You wanted it, immediately after Apple allowed it, fring launches its 3G-friendly VoIP app.

With fring on 3G, users get unrestricted, mobile communication. Now iPhone fring users can call, video call, chat and more for FREE over 3G and wifi!

And the best thing? You don’t have to do anything to turn the feature on!

How do I get this update?

You don’t need to do anything to get this update. Just open fring on your iPhone and you are good to go!

Well folks, a day we have all been waiting a long time for has finally come. The new version of the iPhone SDK released today for use with the iPad has removed the longstanding restriction preventing VOIP traffic over 3G. This means you can talk over your data plan for very cheap and not use your expensive voice minutes!

Engadget was alerted to the development by iCall, maker of an app which could take an incoming GSM call and flip it over to wifi/VOIP.

3G Skype coming to the iPhone?

They added the following interesting comment:

Interestingly, iCall says its 3G-friendly VoIP app is available now, and is the first and only such app in the App Store — which seems like some pretty quick turnaround on everyone’s part, but apparently the 3G restriction wasn’t anything to do with the software itself, but instead a server-side block. We just tested this out and it totally works, and while we’ll be looking for more verification that the ban has indeed been lifted, it sounds like it’s time for some cheaply connected international parties in the streets.

Parties in the streets indeed. Can anyone else confirm this?

As noted previously, Skype has a 3G capable version of their app ready and waiting for this restriction to be lifted. Considering the quick turnaround on iCall’s part, it can’t be long before Skype and others follow suit.

Update: Fring’s client now supports VOIP over 3G

Probably tired of waiting around for Apple to decide whether it will ever approve a Google Voice app for the iPhone, Google decided to do a bit of an end-around on the app store by releasing a very nice html5 web app which will work on the iPhone and the Palm Pre/Pixi.

Looks like a dialer

The app is now live and is available at http://m.google.com/voice. Google previously had a web-based interface for google voice which worked, but was not quite as intuitive. This html5 version brings almost all of the functionality of a native app on the iPhone.

And there’s nothing Apple can really do about it.

The buttons in the web app all respond as one would expect in a native app. Dialing is quick and intuitive with little to no delay.

Navigation between screens is simple when using the nav bar at the top and allows you to switch between your voicemail/sms inbox, the dialer, the sms writing page, google contacts, and settings.

To qualify the italic “almost” above, it should be mentioned that the difference lies in how you manage and access your contacts.

On the iPhone, the phone dialer has direct access to your phone’s contact list. The web app does not have such access, but it does have access to your google contacts. Getting a seamless integration of your iPhone’s contacts with google voice requires the extra step of syncing your iPhone contact list with google. As can be seen from the screenshots, I have not yet done this.

Bravo to google for giving us a usable google voice interface on the iPhone.

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“Good news everyone! Several years ago I tried to log on to AOL, and it just went through! Wheee! We’re online!”
―Farnsworth

Okay not really, but it must feel this way to Sean Kovacs, the developer of the iPhone app GV Mobile, a pretty slick Google Voice interface for the iPhone. If you happened to be one of the lucky few who got to use GV Mobile when it was on sale (me!), you’ll also be one of the unlucky few who experienced the removal of the app by Apple. I had to restore my iPod and lost GV Mobile completely, unable to re-download it from Apple and with it my ability to send free SMS messages easily.

Well, Sean has re-written GV Mobile and has gotten it approved by Apple. This is all very recent, with GV Mobile still not appearing in the app store for me.

1. January 15th – GV Mobile sent to Apple
2. January 16th – GV Mobile released on Cydia
3. January 19th – GV Mobile approved on the app store

Details on price/upgrades/features and usability will follow once I get my hands on the app, so stay tuned for that. In the future, Sean intends to include push notifications, which would be a nice addition.

theboygeniusreport is reporting some rumours from a “trusty Apple connect” about iPhone OS version 4.0. According to the source the following features may appear in the upcoming version of the OS:

• There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)
• “A few new ways” to run applications in the background — multitasking.
• Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.
• The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”
• The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

This has some pretty big implications for VOIP applications such as Skype.
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