Late Wednesday, I read on HuffPost that AT&T has changed their stance and will now be allowing users to make VoIP calls with their iPhones over 3G. This is great news. After just a little bit of FCC prodding in late summer, AT&T is loosening a little in its innovative (syn?) stranglehold which has thus far limited iPhone owners in using our magical devices to their full potential. On September 25th, AT&T also opened up an innovative new feature in the world of mobile devices - MMS for iPhone. Of course, we're still innately limited by AT&T thanks to their 3G network. All in all however, I do believe that AT&T is making a push to fix its image among iPhone owners. Perhaps this is in anticipation of a Verizon iPhone to be coming next summer?
The next step is for Apple to go ahead and follow the route of their exclusive carrier and approve the Google Voice app. From Engadget: The original reason Apple rejected the GV App, according to Google's response to the FCC inquiry, was "Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone. The Apple representatives indicated that the company did not want applications that could potentially replace such functionality." Apple has insisted otherwise. "Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google." It's clear that there was either a phenomenal misunderstanding between Apple and Google in their discussions or that someone is not being entirely honest in their public statements.
AT&T's change of heart will now put the pressure on Apple to get this app approved and I'm thinking we'll be seeing it in the coming weeks. With that, I'm hoping that I'll finally begin using my Google Voice number and all of the awesomeness that comes along with it. If you donno, check it out below.
Google Voice is the revolutionary service that provides its users with one phone number for eternal use. You give this one phone number out to everyone you know and when they call you, it will ring all of the phones that you want it to ring (cell, home, work, a random payphone?) It also transcribes (poorly) voicemail in a "gmailesque" web interface, allows users to send free SMS messages and allows users to listen in on their callers' messages while their being left, amongst many more features. Watch the video below to find out more.
It's still an infant service and is available via invite-only.
Update: Apple to Amend iPhone SDK Agreement to Get VoIP over ATT 3G Apps Into the App Store ASAP
