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VOIP on iPhone Makes Sense for Apple, No Sense for AT&T

Posted June 21, 2007 5:00 AM by Gregory Ng
Categories: AT&T News Opinions 

imageIn a post on the Internet Brands Developer Blog, Chris Holland writes that the iPhone, with its “WiFi capability, Address Book integration, and advanced operating system, is getting us one step closer” to be “the right combination of enabling devices and software to truly break (SIP) onto the handheld mainstream.”

SIP or Session Initiation Protocol is a way to do VOIP and a great way for Steve Jobs and Apple to realize a numberless communication process through the iPhone. Right for the iPhone?

There are a few SIP Providers out there. But Apple could easily roll out its own SIP infrastructure as part of the .Mac framework, increasing their chances of providing a superior out-of-the-box experience, while promoting the .Mac brand to ... competitive usefulness. From here, the sky’s the limit as to what Apple can do, leveraging iPhone’s brand and near ubiquitous and still increasing WiFi penetration. Forget about fighting over 3G vs GSM. WiFi and IP are universal world-wide.

Obviously this could be huge for Apple (who benefits from the hardware purchase and the associated paid-content for the device). But what’s the benefit for AT&T?

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Comments

  1. It also makes little cents for AT&T.

    Posted by Tanner Godarzi on June 21, 2007 8:50 AM

  2. I think a more relevant question to ask might be: “Would it actually make sense for AT&T to forbid Apple from extending the iPhone’s operating system, to natively support SIP VoIP calls”

    There just may be reasons for AT&T to embrace VoIP.

    Additionally, many contend that Apple’s reluctance to open the iPhone SDK is linked to contractual agreements with AT&T, afraid that 3rd parties would release VoIP software. AT&T would have a hard time making a case for such a restriction, as many mobile carriers offer PocketPCs and other Windows smart phones, all of which are open software platforms, and all of which have VoIP clients developed by 3rd-parties available available for download and installation.

    Posted by chris holland on June 21, 2007 12:40 PM

  3. Perhaps that is going to be the way that Apple enters the enterprise world. With more and more companies moving to VOIP, a little change here and a tweak there iPhone becomes a viable corporate device.

    Posted by Gordon Meyer on June 28, 2007 4:47 PM

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