One would think that rumors about the iPhone would have died now; this post is proof of that being anything but true. Steve Jobs said that the iPhone was going to be a revolutionary product. It’s due to that statement why I believe Apple has some more secrets up its sleeve over the iPhone. One thing that I believe the iPhone will have integrated into it sooner or later is support for VOIP (voice over IP).
I believe that Apple will integrate VOIP functionality into iChat. Within iChat, a user will have the ability to not only make calls to fellow iChat users (it supports this already) but to also make and receive calls to and from landline phones. A version of iChat will then be made available on the iPhone giving users the ability to make VOIP calls on their mobile phone.
Some advantages to adding this functionality into the iPhone is it allows for users to save money when making calls in places were Wi-Fi is readily available (not to mention free). The user will be given the choice of making the call using iChat VOIP (if a Wi-Fi connection is available) for free or by making the call through the carrier. When no wireless access point is available the phone will make the call through the carrier by default. This is will provide the user with a great way of saving minutes (and money) on their calling plan.
VOIP integrated into the iPhone also makes the Cisco iPhone and Apple iPhone issue even more interesting as the Cisco iPhone not only has the “iPhone” name but is ALREADY a VOIP phone.
Again, this is based on nothing but mere speculation however, I see the possibility of they’re being VOIP support in iChat and the iPhone as being high and is something I really hope Apple strives to make a reality.
Wouldn’t a Skype widget be far more likely? My Cingular Windows Mobile 8125 phone already has this.
I read a direct quote somewhere from an Apple representative saying that VOIP would not be allowed on the iPhone. The same story carried a now-infamous Apple statement about not allowing third-parties to write applications for the iPhone, further confirming Apple’s pernicious closed-box tendencies in this area.
What possible interest would Apple or Cingular have in allowing VOIP? Apple gets a cut of the revenues that Cingular earns from the device, and the mobile providers have a very strong interest in keeping VOIP from spoiling their party in the same way it has for fixed-line and long distance voice. Of course a hack might appear, but the iPhone’s closed platform makes this harder.
Maybe DU should stick to citing actual news instead of some nerd’s baseless speculations.
pedro once again shows his ignorance when he confuses “mac” with “apple”. This idiot thinks the company name is “mac”.
OS X is innovative and the other OSs are still trying to catch up, and getting close. It’s the iPhone from Apple that’s playing catch-up with features, but innovative in the some of the way it operates, steals features from other phones, and is behind in others. It’s not a end-all be-all “thing”. But I’m not as stupid as pedro and just throw the baby out with the bathwater and automatically hate anything that has Apple written on it. I mean, come on.
It’s just fricken technology pedro…why not try growing up for once? Why do you even care? You don’t own anything Apple, your life isn’t dependent on anything Apple. You could live your entire life and never touch anything Apple. So why do you FUCKING care? The only reason I’m wasting my time here writing this is because I’m totally sick of seeing your idiotic ramblings here. Just wish I could filter you out…you won’t be missed.
#3: I’ll be sure to cite your comment should Apple enable VOIP on the iPhone. If Jobs thinks it will make money for Apple, he’ll reverse course just like he did on using Intel processors, DRM, etc.
Ok, I love Apple’s products a lot but can we get this “innovative” thing out of the way for the love of god?
Apple doesn’t innovate – rather they take existing concepts and do them right.* The Mac wasn’t new – it was just better because it took concepts that had been around and put them together in an elegant, efficient way. same with the iPod, the iPone, and the Apple TV.
That is what they do. Perhaps it is an innovation to actually do things right in a consumer product, but that’s a stretch. They are a market leader for quality electronics goods, a force for good in a bad world of products, but they don’t really innovate.
What they are good at doing is changing the game because they put things together correctly.
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*for a given value of right, some people hate the iPod, most love it.
I’m not going to post here anymore.
I’ll be around to catch Hell for it if I’m wrong, but I think you missed the obvious.
I say the iPhone will support iChat – with live video. It’s 100% inevitable, and Apple will be the ones to make it real, a lot sooner than anyone expects.
#6 – pedro, old boy
You really don’t pay attention, do you? Stereo audio, hi-res audio, DV, HD video, every form of multimedia, were all supported by the Mac before the PC, sometimes long before. The PC has always been the one playing catch-up, since Windows has always been an imitation of the Mac. Ever heard of Logic, Abelton Live, Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, ProTools, Peak, Deck, the list just goes on and on – any of those ring a bell in yo’ brainpan? They were all developed for the Macintosh, later ported (aometimes without features that Intel CPUs couldn’t handle) to the PC platform.
You really need to touch base with the real world once in a while, d00d… Like the man said, you got some kinda unhealthy obsession with knocking Apple. Like I asked ya before, did Steve J run over your dog or something??
I put down mac because I cant afford one. i never used one either. I’ve seen screenshots of os x though so I know what I’m talking about.
C’mon, pedro, you can’t afford $300-450?
Go look on eBay or in the want ads. Get a 500MHz G4 with 512M. Use the KDM you already have.
You can run 10.4.8, and I guarantee it’ll run 10.5 when it comes out. Once you try it, you’ll never go back. Nobody does.
Problem is, then you won’t have nearly as much to bitch about – but you do get a nifty “Fanboi 4ever!” pin…
Bah! Sorry for the double posts. Blame me, firefox and XP….ok, just me.
12. Lauren- “Once you try it, you’ll never go back. Nobody does.” I like your posts, generally, but please dispense with the bullshit. Because I tried it, didnt like it, still dont, and went back, so your wrong.
pedro- try just iginoring it once in a while, they eventually will go back to making their pretty photo albums.
Whoa, lots of comments… well, one at the time:
#10 Lauren “old boy”
I usually refute your Mac views, but no this time, it’s juste you forgot one thing that debuted on the mac Excel and Word… the irony of things…
#12 Old boy again:
Don’t be cruel. A 500Mhz Mac can be better than a 500 mhz P3 running XP but a 400$ old mac is no match for a brand new 499$ PC even running on a Celeron.
#15 and #16
3D was OK on the Mac. In my heyday I just loved the ease of use of Infini-D, that was Mac only. The trouble was that if you compared it to 3D Studio, although being a Dos app, 3Dstudio just put ol InfiniD to shame in performance. That coupled with the fact that a decent Mac platform for 3D (A Quadra at the time) could cost as much as 3 beige PC boxes explains a lot.
I was a Mac fanboy and not anymore (contrary to Lauren’s opinion @ #12) but the reason is not that I think Macs are inferior to PCs. No, I just don’t buy anymore the PR coming from Cupertino, and having removed that veil of reality distorsion from my mind, can see things as they are: I can’t afford a MacPro at home and can’t justify it in the workplace. I can do every bit of stuff I do on a Mac with any PC running windows. And I can tweak the specs of the PC so much further away from Apple’s offerings on a tighter budget that really I can say I have no desire to buy a Mac.
In my view of things (I maybe wrong, but this is my view, ok?) the models Apple makes for home use have some itch on every model:
the mini is too limited and underpowered for what I’d like to be my home experience. The iMac is nice but if you weigh in the fact that you are buying an indissociable monitor with the CPU, you get a dead end in upgradability. The portables are not justifiable, because I don’t work on the run, so I have no need for a portable and they have all the negative shortcomings of the iMac. The MacPro is sweet, but is overkill for home. Using a Xeon and server chipset coupled with FBdimm memory takes the $$$ so far higher of whar a top home system can be using the DualCore2 Q with regular DDR2 memory.
But this has nothing to do with the iPhone. The iPhone is sweet too, but has so many things that are just not sensible… IMHO is a wow machine to make you impulse buy it. It’s just a toy for a big boy…
Not pratical to be used as a phone: too expensive, short battery life and inability to swap batteries makes it a dud. But hey, it was just previewed and it’s not really available. I bet Apple will launch a somewhat enhanced production model. They’d be crazy not to. But then again…it never stopped them before…
#17: The double posts seem to result from people not waiting for a story to appear if it gets caught in our spam system. On occasion, even regular posters will have a comment caught. You have to wait until one of us editors ‘releases’ it. Don’t resubmit it.
I was obviously refering to the Core2 Quad like the one on this Gateway:
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2924
(and just for the record, I’m not craving it either…)
Screw the iPhone!!! OMG is is obsolete already.
The current hot rumor is that the Zune phone is gonna do not only wifi voip, but wimax voip, with Microsoft getting behind wimax deployments.
http://tinyurl.com/2jtzy3
Now with international squirting!
#3 — and probably a few others — should try researching a topic the old-fashioned way, e.g., read the original statement.
As an example, Jobs statement was to the effect that 3rd-Party add-ons have to be approved for use on the iPhone. The same sort of procedure used to validate add-ons for anyone’s package — Mozilla, OS X, Ubuntu, whatever.
You want to go ahead and load buggy software that hasn’t been tested against a standard for an OS or browser, whatever — go ahead! Along with clicking on links in your email. From Nigeria.
I don’t think Apple is releasing the VoIP capable iPhone thinking it’s groundbreaking, but VoIP technology on cell phones is still relatively uknown to the general population. By releasing an IP capaple phone, Apple, with its ENORMOUS fan base, is going to be up there with profit because of it. Innovative or not, Apple is going to make VoIP very very popular if enough people utilize the iphone’s capabilities.
http://nationwideLD.com
I think the Apple iphone is very innovative. This is great news for cell phone carriers and high speed internet providers bc this will make greater competition. This will help http://t1-lines.net make even more revenue.