Google Says Skype Not Blocked on Android Phones

As Apple now it admits it alone was responsible for the initial rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone, and AT&T reaffirms that it had no say in the decision, Google has found itself in a bit of the same position as Apple, as Android mobiles are alleged to use a "less than fully functional" version of Skype on Android devices.

Some have suggested that Skype had been similarly blocked from Android phones, but the issue really is the functionality of Skype on Android devices. Google says on its blog that the Android operating system did not, at first release, support any full-featured VoIP applications.

That now has been rectified, Google says. That said, both Apple and Android devices are subject to any existing carrier policies on use of VoIP over their mobile networks, though it does not appear any such policies are involved either in the initial attempt to make Google Voice available on the iPhone, or the initial attempt to get a full-fledged version of Skype running on Android devices.

Apple, Not AT&T, was Behind iPhone Google Voice Rejection

So it turns out AT&T was telling the truth all along: it had nothing to do with Apple's rejection of the Google Voice application for the iPhone.

"Apple is acting alone and has not consulted with AT&T about whether or not to approve the Google Voice application," Apple says on its Web site. "No contractual conditions or non-contractual understandings with AT&T have been a factor in Apple’s decision-making process in this matter."

AT&T has been insistent on this from the start of the controversy. "Let me state unequivocally, AT&T had no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application for inclusion in the Apple App Store," says Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs.

To be sure, Apple claims the rejection of the application was because of user interface implications, not a blanket rejection of VoIP or Google's approach to providing services, which is better described as Web activated than VoIP.

Apple says it has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it. The application has not been approved because, "as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail," Apple says.

"AT&T was not asked about the matter by Apple at any time, nor did we offer any view one way or the other," Cicconi said in a statement, accompanying a response to a regulatory inquiry into the rejection of Google's voice application by Apple.

On an iPhone, the “Phone” icon that is always shown at the bottom of the Home Screen launches Apple’s mobile telephone application, providing access to Favorites, Recents, Contacts, a Keypad, and Visual Voicemail.

The Google Voice application replaces Apple’s Visual Voicemail by routing calls through a separate Google Voice telephone number that stores any voicemail, preventing voicemail from being stored on the iPhone, Apple says.

"In addition, the iPhone user’s entire 'Contacts' database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways," Apple says.

AT&T, Apple and Google have been asked by the Federal Communications Commission for clarification of the issue.

What is interesting is that most observers seemed to think AT&T was behind the ban, attempting to protect its mobile voice business. Some suggested Apple was developing its own voice service.

To be sure, the wording of the Apple statement seems to imply that if the user interface issues and data privacy issues can be worked out, that the Google Voice app would be reconsidered.

In fairness to Apple, its stated reasons for rejecting Google Voice--user interface and functionality--are things the company tends to be meticulous about. Given Apple's past fastidiousness on that score, the initial rejection is not unusual.

What remains to be seen is whether Google Voice can be reconfigured to Google's satisfaction, as well as to Apple's. The big news is that AT&T was not involved in the decision.

O2 Germany Now Fully Supports Mobile VoIP

Generally speaking, potentially-disruptive innovation in the mobile business happens when a smaller provider launches new assaults. That appears to be the case in the German mobile market, as Telefónica's O2 Germany business launches mobile Internet packages that allow users total access to VoIP services at no extra charge.

The operator is pushing two data plans in particluar: Internet-Pack-M and Internet-Pack-L. Pack M gives the subscriber a data limit of 200 MB per month for 10 euros. The larger plan, Internet Pack L, increases this limit to 5 GBytes for 25 euros a month. Neither of the plans actually cuts users off when they hit those limits, but connection speeds are reduced.

“We operate one of the most modern and most rapid mobile data networks in Europe and our customers are to experience it without limitations, no matter whether they surf, email, use instant messaging or make phone calls”, says Lutz Schüler, Managing Director Marketing & Sales, Telefónica O2 Germany. “By opening our mobile high-speed network for VoIP services, we set new standards in the area of the mobile internet.”

The issue in the U.S. market is probably when, not "if" some provider ultimately will decide to take that gamble as well. And it might not even be an upstart provider, though that likely makes the most sense. At some point, leading providers with their own termination facilities and backbone networks might well conclude that it makes sense to do so.

When AT&T launched its "Digital One Rate" plan, which eliminated the distinction between local and long distance calls, it revolutionized pricing industry wide.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire would seem perennial candidates to launch a disruptive attack, in part because they have no landline voice revenues to cannibalize.

That was one reason AT&T thought Digital One Rate would work (before its acquisition by or merger with SBC Communications, AT&T had no significant local access customers, and none supported over owned facilities).

Right now the leading providers probably are right in concluding they are better off avoiding such disruption. Voice revenues still are too important to risk. But that will change with time. And then an O2-style move will make more sense.

Zer01 Severs Ties with Buzzirk Mobile

Zer01 Mobile says it has severed its business relationship with Buzzirk Mobile for distribution services, based upon breach of contract. It isn't immediately clear what impact the termination will have, as Zer01 is a mobile virtual network enabler and can supply its unusual and interesting approach to mobile voice to other distributors, but Buzzirk seems to have been the most-active of the MVNO marketing partners.

What remains interesting is the approach Zer01 has taken to creating its "VoIP over mobile" capabilities. Essentially, the company uses what it says are national interconnect agreements with GSM providers, and VoIP from VoX to create its service, instead of the traditional MVNO route whereby customers buy wholesale capacity from networks, repackage and resell those capabilities.

Zer01's approach has been to establish itself as a "carrier" for purposes of interconnection, which allows it to exchange traffic with other carriers using the industry-standard rules without buying capacity on one or more networks to resell.

It remains an intriguing approach, though the effort has been clouded by some controversy, which Zer01 now appears to want to put behind it. Zer01's corporate parent is privately held, and has no obligation for the fuller reporting a public company must provide, but a bit more transparency would not hurt, one might argue.

Google Voice "Not Really VoIP"?

There has been a fair amount of chatter over the last week about Google Voice "not really being VoIP." That misses the point.

Users don't care about how we label things, nor do they care how things get done. They only care about value, utility, fun and other things of a useful nature.

Whether Google Voice is "really VoIP" or not misses the point. People like and use technology the way they want, not the way we think they "should."

FCC Investigates Google Voice Blocking

The Federal Communications Commission has opened an investigation into the blocking of Google Voice from the iPhone App Store.

James D. Schlichting, acting chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, has asked for answers to several questions. The FCC wants to know what role AT&T played in the decision. Keep in mind that the FCC already is looking at wireless open access and handset exclusivity, both of which seem for those reasons to bear on the status of Google Voice on the iPhone.

The FCC further wants to know what role AT&T might play in restricting other iPhone apps. The agency also wants to know what roles Apple and AT&T can play, by contract, in the development of iPhone apps.

The FCC wants to know whether Apple consulted with AT&T in the process of deciding to reject the Google Voice application. Documents relating to any such discussions must be produced.

The FCC also wants an explanatiion of how Google Voice might differ from any other VoIP application that al4ready is authorized to be used either on the iPhone or on AT&T's network.

The agency wants detail on any conditions included in AT&T’s agreements or contracts with Apple for the iPhone related to the certification of applications or any particular application’s ability to use AT&T’s 3G network.

If there are terns of use limiting customer use of third party apps in general, the FCC wants to know what those limitations are.

The FCC wants to know about AT&T’s role in certifying applications on devices that run over AT&T’s 3G network.

If there are any differences in AT&T’s treatment of apps running on the iPhone and other devices used on its 3G network, the agency wants to know what those are.

Please list the services/applications that AT&T provides for the iPhone, and whether there any similar, competing iPhone applications offered by other providers in Apple’s App Store. The agency wants to know whether any other devices that operate on the AT&T network can use Google Voice.

The FCC also wants to know whether apps rejected for the iPhone are allowed to run on other devices on AT&T's network.

"Please explain whether, on AT&T’s network, consumers’ access to and usage of Google Voice is disabled on the iPhone but permitted on other handsets, including Research in Motion’s BlackBerry devices," Schlichting has asked.

People sometimes forget how powerfully regulatory and legal policies bear directly on the telecommunications business. This is just the latest example.

Apple, AT&T Ban Google Voice, Put Restrictions On Google Latitude

In the never-ending debate about whether usrs benefit more from "open" amd "closed" application environments in the mobile space, Apple has tended to be the best example of innovation and consumer benefit provided by the "closed" model, even though many would likely argue the evidence tends to suggest "open" leads to more rapid innovation, as a rule.

"Closed" can lead to benefits if the provider can optimize performance of all applications and devices, while at the same time delivering better user experiences. Apple has excelled, on that score.

But Apple's recent decision to ban Google Voice from the iPhone App Store is a salient reminder that the ability to optimize user experience can come at a cost.

To be sure, nobody is quite sure who was the driving the ban. AT&T obviously has incentive to protect its existing voice business. If Apple drove the decision, the reasons are more difficult to discern.

Google Voice allows free domestic calling and texting and cheap international calls, and will in the near future provide number portability. That AT&T wouldn't be too happy is obvious. But why would Apple support such a move, beyond the clear interests of its partner?

Could perceived competition between Apple and Google, which traditionally has been quite well mannered, be moving to a new stage more analogous to the ways Microsoft and Google now compete?

In what might be a related move, Google Latitude for iPhone and iPod touch. available as a Web application running in Safari, might have been "forced" to operate in a more restrictive way than the same app runs on other mobiles.

Gooble says it worked closely with Apple to bring Latitude to the iPhone in a way Apple thought would be best for iPhone users. But afterwards, Apple requested that Google release Latitude as a Web application "in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone, which uses Google to serve maps tiles.".

"Unfortunately, since there is no mechanism for applications to run in the background on iPhone, which applies to browser-based web apps as well, we're not able to provide continuous background location updates in the same way that we can for Latitude users on Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile," Google says.

Again, there are reasonable user experience reasons for Apple to avoid user confusion. But one suspects there might be more than that going on here.

Skype in Patent Dispute

eBay says in a regulatory filing that it is set to go to trial on June 10, 2010 on what appears to be a key VoIP patent dispute with Joltid Limited, which licenses peer-to-peer technology to Skype..

Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid.

EBay wrote in the quarterly filing that it recognized that pending litigation over the technology behind Skype could ultimately have an "adverse result," so it had begun to develop alternative software to the technology it licenses from Joltid Ltd for Skype.

In its regulatory filing, which contains the typical disclaimers about the potential damage if eBay's position is not upheld, eBay made the statement in typical legalese that if the company is not successful, it might have to shut Skype down.

That could, in a worst-case scenario, lead to Skype being shut down, but that typically is not what happens. The parties come to some sort of settlement. Remember the wave of patent infringement lawsuits back in 2007 that started with Vonage?

One way or the other, this will be settled. Joltid doesn't win if its customer goes away, and eBay is developing alternate methods in any case.

Will Skype and Google Voice Dominate Mobile VoIP?

Skype, the global leader in PC-based VoIP, has been preparing for mobile-based VoIP as well, but Google Voice might wind up being the market leader in mobile VoIP, says Jeffrey Lindsay, Sanford A. Bernstein analyst.

"It's probably the biggest current threat to Skype," says Lindsay. Ultimately, Google might grab as much as 60 percent market share in the mobile VoIP space, he predicts.

Google Voice Now Open to New Subs

Google Voice now is available to new subscribers. Users who already have requested an invitation on the Google Voice site or on the GrandCentral site should be getting email invites shortly.

Once you receive your invitation, just click on the link and follow the instructions to setup your new Voice account.

Google Voice has added a Google number picker that will allow users to personalize by area code and text. The idea is to allow users to pick numbers, letters, a specific word or a number combination.

If you haven't signed up for a Google Voice invite, go to www.google.com/voiceinvite.

Vonage Not a Telecommunications Service, Apppeals Court Says

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that Vonage is not a telecommunications service provider, and is not required to contribute to the Nebraska Universal Service Fund.

The logic, of course, is that independent VoIP companies such as Vonage provide an “information service” rather than a “telecommunications” service. But the regulatory regime has to be considered unstable.

Cable companies do pay into the USF fund, for example. Also, the time is coming when lots of portals, Web sites and other providers will be offering such information services.

At some point, the typical regulator test--if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's a duck--will have to be addressed. The regulatory wall between "information services" and "communications services" is going to be hard to maintain, long term.

Phone.com Debuts Consumer Service

Phone.com has introduced a "Virtual Number" service, allowing one primary phone number to function as the gateway to all of a user's mobile, landline, or VOIP phone numbers and devices.

Address books can be uploaded from most major email programs, and those entries can be used to program call routing based on caller ID, to enable click-to-call, call blocking or other functions.

The Phone.com Virtual Number essentially is a consumer version of the firm's business service, and will include voicemail, free international calling to popular destinations, send fax, call routing based on a time schedule, call recording, caller-id routing, SMS voicemail notification, email delivery of voicemail as a .wav file. Voicemail transcription is also available for a small additional fee, as are other upgrades.

Prices and plans range from $4.88 to $18.88/month (plus taxes) for unlimited minutes.

http://www.phone.com/

CallVantage Closing Highlights VoIP as Part of Triple Play

AT&T is discontinuing its CallVantage "over the top" VoIP service, a move that has some observers calling AT&T stupid for turning its back on the future. But that isn't what AT&T is doing. It will focus on using VoIP as a key part of its triple-play or quadruple-play consumer offerings, instead of devoting resources to a small, if well-run service that offers little synergy or business value with the other things the company is doing.

It just makes more sense to focus on VoIP as a part of a bundle.

T-Mobile Ultimately will Allow Skype over 3G

Despite understanable teeth gnashing over T-Mobile's blocking of Skype when using the 3G network, T-Mobile ultimately will allow it, either because customer pressure forces them to do so, or because European Union regulators do so.

http://oqlz.com/t-mobile-mobile-voip-integration-inevitable/

Skype Proves Stand-Alone Long Distance is a Business

Now that it appears Skype will become a stand-alone company, we have to note the irony. Telcos and cable companies have concluded that long distance no longer is a viable stand-alone business. That's essentially why AT&T and MCI Worldcom do not exist as independent companies.

But it is worth keeping in mind that when an executive says something cannot be done, what that really means is that "I cannot, with my cost structure, personnel or technology holdings, do that." Skype will be able to compete as a stand-alone long distance provider. To greater or lesser degrees, much the same can be said for calling card providers.

As true as it may be that a service provider cannot make a viable business selling long distance alone, that isn't true for all market contestants. One simply needs a different cost structure and channel.

The issue now is what Skype actually is worth. Merill Lynch analyst Justin Post says Skype is worth $2.2 billion, and that could grow to $3 billion by the time it either goes public in 2010 or is sold.

Jeffries & Company analyst Youssef Squali values Skype at $1 billion.

Thomas Wiesel analyst Christa Quarles thinks Skype is worth $1.7 billion. Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang, meanwhile, values Skype at $1.85 billlion.

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F05579064408535224496%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list

Skype and eBay: Cautionary Tale for Communications-Enabled Business Processes

As useful as communications-enabled business apps might be, eBay's inability to wring any significant advantages out of voice-enabling eBay. Perhaps messaging of other sorts is valuable, but voice integration does not seem to have added much of anything to the eBay shopping experience.

All of which raises the question of where and when voice communications, perhaps as opposed to text-based communications, adds value to another application, or adds enough value that people even care very much.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aCWYwCYVyHx4&refer=home

Sprint Upgrades Cable Digital Voice

Sprint has added new features such as Caller ID to the TV, Caller ID to the PC, and new voicemail features that include a home voicemail alert sent to a customer's mobile phone, and voicemail to email, for its cable operator customers. Sprint provides wholesale cable VoIP services to 14 leading cable companies and supports more than 4.5 million cable VoIP/digital phone subscribers, covering more than 31 million cable households-passed.

Perhaps the development to note is that the innovations are "both practical and fun." "Fun" and "playfulness" and "personalization" are among elements that have made the mobile end user experience so popular. Wired phone service has always been useful, but not as much "fun."

The new features are ways cable operators will try to change the wired voice experience, beyond simply offering tradtional value at a lower price.

Zer01 Plays the "Interconnecting Carrier" Angle

Some observers might wonder how the new mobile service created by Zer01 is different from existing applications that provide VoIP calling over a mobile handset. Recently, Skype for Apple iPhones has gotten lots of attention, for example.

“I do not really see any comparison to the Zer01 value add here,” says Mark Richards, Pervasip CIO. Pervasip provides the underlying network, billing and customer care for the Zer01 effort.

The Skype calling feature uses a Wi-Fi connection, not the AT&T data network, and can require per-minute calling charges, where Zer01 uses an IP wide area network and a GSM wireless network for access.

And Richards argues there is a difference between an downloaded application running on top of a mobile operating system, and a native application. “To run VoIP over GSM is stodgy,” Richards says. “It is not simple.”

One problem is that the downloaded app is always contending for processor resources. To run a VoIP path on top of the OS, rather than natively on the phone, compression and decompression is required, and that uses processor resources.

Calling gateways is more complex, so there is some kind of inconvenience, he argues. “I have not yet seen a seamless desktop process that really changes habits,” says Richards.

United Technologies Group has developed a mobile application that seamlessly sits on the cell phone and takes over a phone’s dial pad by replacing it with its own, Richards notes.

The other great confusion is over the business model. To date, many firms that do not own their own mobile networks have operated as mobile virtual network operators, leasing wireless capacity and services on a wholesale basis, and then selling at retail.

Those of you familiar with the “unbundled network element-provisioned” (UNE-P) model will see the similarity. An MVNO or UNE-P reseller essentially is engaging in price arbitrage.

The difference here is that Pervasip is a licensed carrier. It has the legal right of interconnection with other carriers. So Zer01 essentially and simply interconnects with GSM mobile providers around the world. It is not a reseller of their services.

VoIP Revenue Will Grow 20% in 2009, IBISWorld Says

Telecommunications and internet related services are now so ingrained in the daily lives of businesses and consumers that they will hold up relatively well compared to other areas of the economy, say analysts at IBISWorld.

"One shining light will be VoIP, which competes on price against more established service providers," the firm says. "Consumer substitution from wired telecommunications to VoIP will accelerate but a weaker economy and lack of available finance will result in many smaller VoIP providers exiting the industry."

VOIP revenue is expected to grow 20.1 percent in 2009.

http://www.ibisworld.com/recession2009/default.aspx

Global VoIP Growth Slows

Global growth in local VoIP minutes seems to have slowed down a little, say researchers at iLocus. There was a sequential growth of seven percent in local VoIP traffic from the third quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2008, apparently caused by a decline in the rate of VoIP subscriber growth.

International long distanceVoIP minutes, on the other hand, experienced negative growth quarter over quarter. "This is perhaps due to the overall decline in international long distance traffic in the fourth quarter of 2008, iLocus says. The negative growth also could be due to slight bit of consolidation in the service provider segment, as well. National long distance minutes saw a healthy growth rate owing to the growing use of IP networks by wireless carriers to transport NLD traffic, iLocus says.

In the fourth quarter users consumed 107. 2 billion local minutes, 298.1 billion national long distance minutes and 22.5 billion international long distance minutes.

http://www.ilocus.com/2009/03/voip_minutes_in_4q08_touch_428.html