Google Voice is not available in the Apple Store

The official Google, AT&T and Apple responds to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are available. The government officials got interested in why iPhone applications catalogue lacks Google Voice, free IT software.

The telecommunications service Google Voice lets one use a single forwarding telephone number to all the user’s phones, free SMS and international and long-distant calls with cheap rates. VoIP lets Google Voice users pay not according to calling service rates but according to less expensive data exchange rates.

At the end of July 2009 all the Google Voice’s references were withdrawn from the Apple Store and the on-line catalogue of iPhone apps.

As Gawker notes, journalists and officials got suspicious at once that this decision might have been forced by AT&T. Customers who signed a two-year contract with AT&T get the cost an iPhone back from this telephony provider. In case clients cut down their spending, the income of the provider will be decreased.

AT&T stated, however, that it has nothing to do with the choosing of applications for the Apple Store and with Google Voice’s disappearance as well. While at the same time the company admitted that it had had consultations with Apple on the effect some applications might have on AT&T’s telecommunication capacity.

According to a special agreement, Apple is forbidden to make any VoIP-based applications for 2G and 3G nets provided by AT&T without permission of the latter. Earlier AT&T and Apple succeeded in reducing Skype’s options in iPhones. So, at the moment Skype is available over Wi-Fi exclusively. The same thing was required from mobile television services.

Google has similarly restricted Skype’s usage in relation to VoIP in Google Android applications.

Apple accepted the fact that it was its own decision to ban Google Voice from Apple Store and claimed that this program would not be missing forever.

The company claims that it will keep investigating this application that substitutes some main characteristics of the iPhone including calls, SMS and voice mail services. Also, Apple is worried about the fact that Google will keep users’ personal data on its servers. The company wants to assure itself that this information will be used rightly.

AT&T and Apple claim that iPhone clients are able to use Google Voice via Safari web browser without installing the application.

Google has sent two statements to the FCC , one of which was confidential, while another one was public. The corporation preferred to keep in secret the details of the discussions held between Apple, AT&T and Google on Google Voice’s usage in iPhones.

Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt has recently left Apple’s Board of Directors because of the misunderstandings. Both companies have already become competitors in the web browsers business, while smartphones working on Google Android might become iPhone’s competitors.

Besides, Google designing Chrome operational system which can be preferred by present Mac OS X’s users.

Check out our latest article about voip products. And another great article is Big business lobbyists decided to limit Skype in Russia

Mobile network operators vs. Skype: the fight has begun

Obviously, big mobile operators recognize that their beneficial business is greatly threatened by the IP telephony brands such as Skype. To leave no chances for Skype to interfere with the mobile services business, American and European companies have reduced to nothing its chances to do this right in the beginning.

In the meanwhile the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) would like to provide amendments administering the work of this market section. And what’s more, it is stated that the restrictions are meant to protect Russian mobile network operators’ interests.

Usually, mobile network operators are opposed to the IP telephony because this software allows users to pay a great deal less than while using usual mobile services. The chief vice-president of one famous mobile operator, states that the IP telephony prices are 1,5-2 times lower than those of the standard mobile operators while part of the services are absolutely free.

Last month some big foreign-based mobile operators at once have stated that they would not let one use Skype via their networks. Surely, companies dared to break all the collaborations with Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phones producer, because this manufacturer was going to pre-install Skype on new smart phone models.

But mobile operators are not the only Skype’s worst nightmare. First and foremost, Skype is afraid of software platforms such as Apple.

It is claimed that “for example, Apple can unilaterally get rid of our software presence in its Apple Store, thus limiting Skype’s work in Apple iPads, iPhones. So, they can easily make their own software such as Apple Face Time more competitive”. (Here and further our own free interpretation of what has happened is provided).

Something to ponder over

Skype is definitely the most well-liked and widely promoted software but its options are not the best. What will their reaction to SIP technologies promotion and Asterisk popularization look like? It is almost impossible to forbid (in the technical respect) and SIP-based IP options are more diverse.

So, the real fight is to be continued.

We think the IP telephony is awesome. And you?

The author of the article works for UcallWeconn. UcallWeconn is a IP-telephony company, which last week published the comprehensive international telephony fraud detection guide.

Big business lobbyists decided to limit Skype in Russia

The development of Skype, the popular Internet telephony service, in Russian can be restricted. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) would like to provide amendments administering this market section’s functioning. And what’s more, it is claimed that the limitations are intended to protect Russian mobile network operators’ market.

On the 21st of July, IP telephony business was discussed by the RUIE commission of the telecommunication and informational technologies. The representatives of IT companies think that, for example,, that the secret services have no possibility to tap talks via Skype.

The RUIE proclamation based on the conclusions of the commission seminar foretells that by 2012 almost half of the traffic “will be occupied with IP telephony which can’t be controlled by the government. This will always lead to anxiety over safetyissues”. The report also shows that “the biggest part of Russian telecommunication market is occupied by foreign-based companies such as ICQ and Skype. That’s why Russian telecommunication brands’ interests should be protected”.

The RUIE bulletin also supposes that now none of the 182 countries controls the IP telephony business this way. Still, in the end the participants of the meeting came to conclusion that, all the same, the Russian business and, moreover, the government itself have to “make terms” with this service.

Usually, mobile network operators are opposed to the IP telephony because these programs allow users to pay a good deal less than while using standard mobile services. Vitaliy Kotov, the chief vice-president of the company “TransTeleCom”, claims that the IP telephony services cost 1,5-2 times less than the standard mobile operators do while part of the services are absolutely free.

UcallWeconn has published a tutorial how to call from Cyprus to various countries.