Google Voice and FaceTime are Threats to Carrier Voice

The future in mobile communication is being written at the application layer by Apple and Google, smaller startups such as GroupMe and Twilio, and not at the infrastructure layer by the AT&Ts and Verizons of the world, some now argue. "The carriers had a chance to provide a better voice and messaging experience with 4G, and to charge a toll for that experience, but they are missing that window," says Steve Cheney at TechCrunch.

When iPhone 4 was released, people wondered why Apple made FaceTime an open standard. Scale is the reason. A closed standard may have caused an overly fragmented market for video-calling.

Google Voice and FaceTime – Why the Carriers Are Losing Their Voice