Apple has issued an update to its iPhone SDK, which will allow third party iPhone applications to offer VoIP based services to iPhone users over carrier's 3G network.
This was announced by VoIP solution provider iCall in a press release today.
You might recall that VoIP over 3G had not been enabled by AT&T till October of this year. Following an investigation by FCC into possible violations of net neutrality, AT&T finally relented and opened up their 3G network for VoIP based services late last year. However, it is only now that Apple has removed the restrictions from their side.
It is not entirely clear why it has taken so long for Apple to clear up the barriers from their side though. Earlier this month, Skype had claimed that the company had a 3G-capable version of their iPhone app ready, which was not been introduced simply because of Apple's restrictions. Back then we had speculated if Apple was planning to introduce their own VoIp over 3G application.
However with this update, those rumors may be laid to rest. This could also mean that we may expect a new version of Skype that supports VoIP over 3G calling to be available on the App Store very soon.
Jailbroken iPhone users who have been using VoIP iPhone apps over 3G thanks to hacks like Unrestrictor or VoIPOver3G, do tell us if the quality of the calls is better with the 3G support built into the iPhone app?
[via iCall Press Release]
I've been using iCall on 3G for a while now thanks to Unrestrictor. I just hope the call quality over 3G is improved with this latest version.
Thank you for listening!!!
My Previous Post on the latest IPAD ARTICLE:
Get off the iPads nutts already, and get back to articles about iPhones, SHEEESH, this website has been sucking a$$ lately
As the iPad doesn't seem to support texting or calling from the SIM card, it seems there will at least be a way to talk when you're out of WiFi.