As part of the responses to the FCC’s inquiry into the rejection of Google Voice from the iPhone App Store, AT&T stated the following:

As noted above, AT&T regularly reviews its policies regarding features and capabilities available through the devices we offer in order to provide an attractive range of options for our customers. Consistent with this approach, we plan to take a fresh look at possibly authorizing VoIP capabilities on the iPhone for use on AT&T’s 3G network.

This was couched in some legal arguments stating economists and jurists allow deals where one party’s core business is protected against adverse actions taken by another party — in this case AT&T is saying VoIP would hurt their revenue from voice plans, so it’s okay for Apple to protect AT&T from that hurt.

However, AT&T also says that while Apple agreed not to produce a VoIP app for the iPhone without AT&T’s consent, they had no obligation to “take action against” a third party app.

So, presumably Apple is not allowed to make a VoIP app unless AT&T says okay, but Apple’s just being kind to AT&T by not allowing Skype (for example) to use the 3G network?

And if AT&T is changing their mind and thinking of allowing a VoIP app, and the only VoIP app they say they’re allowed to allow is one by Apple…

Conspiracy theorists, where does that leave us?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T To Reconsider VoIP Applications Over 3G? Yeahbuwhat Apple VoIP apps?

In case you haven’t read it already, our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, has an outstanding article up at sibling-site WMExperts highlighting his top 5 reasons Twitter is better than SMS (and vice versa).

There’s a lot of intertube fuss about SMS lately, as a recent New York Times article once again shone the spotlight on the disgustingly dirty price gouging (and potential fixing) that goes on when it comes to SMS rates in North America. Basically, SMS (at 160 bytes/characters) is ridiculously cheap for the carriers to transmit, no matter what the scale, and yet the prices have doubled from $0.10 to $0.20 on many networks over the last few years. Voice, by contrast, involves much more data and is much more “expensive” in terms of infrastructure costs. North Americans will pay ludicrous sums of money for “cheap” SMS but not for “expensive” voice, so the carriers take advantage.

Dieter points out that the cost, community, compatibility, control, and context of Twitter give it a clear advantage of SMS, even as the discoverability, dilution of quality, dropping 20 characters, downtime, and potential delays in notification (outside the US) make it still far from perfect.

Flaws and all, Dieter is moving towards Twitter (@backlon) and away from SMS. Am I going to do the same? I already have (@reneritchie) and without really considering it. But here’s the thing — I have considered that not only should I not have to consider it, I don’t think any iPhone user should. (Or any @theiphoneblog follower either!)

I mentioned in my return to the iPhone 3G Round Robin final review that one of the things I’d like to see for the iPhone is a Mobile iChat app, but really taken to the next level. BlackBerry PIN messenger is what puts the “crack” in CrackBerry.com and an always on, multi-tasking Mobile iChat client would go a long way to putting some in the iPhone as well. Beyond that, however, Apple is famous for being the one company that really understands something truly significant for consumer end users:

The interface is the application.

There’s already an SMS client on the iPhone, and guess what? It already kind of looks like iChat. If Apple stuck a Mobile iChat client on as well, it could look functionally identical. So why, then, would Apple need to add that client? Some Twitter clients looks functionally very similar to iChat already as well. Why, then, would we need separate Twitter clients?

From a user-perspective, abstracting an application away from the pipes that feed it is a huge win. Take Mobile Mail for example, you can setup a Gmail, Exchange, MobileMe, or other email account, yet the app itself looks and functions the same regardless. Add one account, take another away, and the user experience doesn’t change. This means that, behind the scenes, you can pretty much muck around with the pipes, improve them, swap an old one out for a new one, drop a troublesome one for a reliable one, all with very low impact on the front end — maybe even no impact at all. It’s transparent to the end user.

Now imagine there was a presence client on the iPhone — I’ll stick with calling it Mobile iChat to keep it simple. You set up your SMS account, your Twitter, your AIM, MobileMe, Jabber, Google Chat… whatever and then you have one consistent UI that elegantly handles and presents your conversations to you. If one pipe disappears, like Pownce, you just delete that account or foward to another. If a new pipe shows up, like BlackBerry announces PIN-like messenger for the iPhone (breathe Kevin, breathe!) you just add it in.

There are, of course, a bunch of reasons why this isn’t likely to happen, and lots of people who prefer to keep their cookies all in separate jars anyway. My personal belief remains, however, that this is the future, and the iPhone is the device that’s going to bring us the closest and the fastest to that future.

Of course, there will always be a place for “better” dedicated client apps that provide unique, rich features focused on a single protocol, but who knows, with push email, maybe all inter-personal text communications could eventually fold into a single unified, consistent, experience. It would, at the very least, be nice to have as a hyper-productivity meets connectivity option. wouldn’t it?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

On Twitter and SMS and Why it Shouldn’t Matter to iPhone Users

Monday we asked you “What’s the iPhone 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?“. Tuesday it was “What is the iPhone 3G Going to Look Like?“. Wednesday brought “What Surprises Will There Be in the iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?”. Thursday questioned “What 3rd Party iPhone SDK Apps Will Be Available Launch Day?” Today we want to know what else the iPhone 3G will feature, both now and into the future?

GPS is the biggie (right after 3G!). What about a front-facing camera? VGA screen? Stereo Bluetooth? Wireless N? Full-sized querty keyboard? … (Ha!) What do YOU think?

To give you some help, here’s a HUGE roundup of all the iPhone SDK 3rd party apps rumors. Epic-style. Because let’s face it, roughly 0.01 seconds after Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from his pocket back at Macworld 2007, and someone, somewhere, put aside their childlike sense of wonder long enough think: “Nice! What’s the next gen going to be like?”

Complementary, contradictory, obvious, confusing, all but confirmed or from left field via outer space, the rumors have flooded the internet ever since. It’s become almost impossible to keep track of them all.

Three days from today Steve Jobs takes Moscone Center stage for the sold-out WWDC keynote, and according to everyone and their newsfeed, announces the iPhone 3G. In eager anticipation, every day this week, TiPb wil be asking you to tell us what you think the next generation iPhone will be, from 3G to GPS, release dates to price points, colors to casings, 2.0 software to .Mac .Me services, and this weekend we’ll wrap it all up with a look into the WWDC/iPhone 3G Crystal Ball, and a roundup of the very best of YOUR predictions.

So come on, let’s get in on!

WWDC -3 and Counting: Hardware Features

As we mentioned before for purely cosmetic reasons, the first generation iPhone boasts a 3.5″ 320×480 display at 163dpi, a rear-facing 2.0 megapixel camera, 3.5mm recessed headphone minijack, 30-pin dock connector, speakers at the top and base, microphone at the base, accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, top-mounted SIM slot, on/off button, mute switch, volume button, and home button. It’s also packing internals like quad-band GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), EDGE data, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.

But that’s all soooo 2007 now, isn’t it? What will Apple bring to the table for 2008? How will they not only surpass their own previous efforts, but tackle the plethora of feature-spouting iPhone-like devices their competition has been releasing as of late?

Let’s start at the beginning and work our way forward:

March 4, 2008: RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky predicted an iPhone 3G with higher def (HD?) video, voice capture, streaming HD video, and real-time GPS.

March 25, 2008: Digg founder Kevin Rose used his popular Diggnation internet video show to claim that the iPhone 3G would sport 2 cameras: one on back like the current version, and another on the front expressly for iChat video conferencing. Rose, however, had been spectacularly wrong with his predictions about the first generation iPhone…

March 27, 2008: Kevin Rose was back, back again, this time on Twitter where he claimed a source close to Apple told him the iPhone 3G would be released in June with GPS. Although not at the time, this one looked more and more credible as WWDC approached…

March 31, 2008: While claiming they would’a had’a need’a time machine to have emulated the iPhone’s design, RIM’s latest release, the Blackberry 9000 Bold, did raise the bar on some specs. According to Crackberry.com, who scored the first pre-release hands-on, it included UMTS: 2100 / 1900 / 850MHz, GSM: 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HDSPA networks, GPS, and Bluetooth Stereo Audio.

For a company that makes its dough on email, offering BT stereo before media giant Apple was clearly a backatcha-for-ActiveSync challenge. And while Steve Jobs is notorious for not offering technology that doesn’t (yet?) meet his perfectionistic standards, will the iPhone be able to avoid A2DP any longer?

April 2, 2008: With an eventual — and unbelievable — $100,000,000 in advertising behind it, Sprint aimed (both in terms of design and market!) Samsung’s Instinct squarely at the iPhone, with some challenging specs like EVDO Rev A speed, GPS, Stereo Bluetooth, and mobile TV.

April 8, 2008: In one of the most obvious iPhone derived competitive offerings to date, Nokia promised the world the “Tube”. While feature specs were not discussed, Nokia already shipped smartphones like the N95 with whopping big 5.0 megapixel Carl Zeiss-lensed cameras, the ability to shoot near DVD-quality video, and vblogger-pleasing compatibility with mobile streaming video capture services.

Can Apple, which owns everything from Final Cut and Aperture to iMovie and iPhoto, afford to fall behind in the mobile production space? And if not, how far will they be willing to bump their own 2.0mp, non-video capturing camera?

April 10, 2008: iPhoneBuzz reported that they found strings in the iPhone 2.0 beta that revealed support for A2DP stereo Bluetooth, Bluetooth remote control, GPS (though not whether it was internal or via Bluetooth to dongle), and something to do with printers. If true, it was a gold mine of discoveries.

April 25, 2008: Engadget claimed a source with hands-on info that the iPhone 3G would include GPS, and a flush headset jack.

May 7, 2008: The iPhone turned out to be the most popular camera phone on Flickr, despite its relatively poor 2.0 megapixel implementation. Imagine what it could do with a lens bump and a better software set?

May 9, 2008: In what might have been one of the most feature-packed competitors to square off against the iPhone, HTC announced their Touch Diamond, which according to WMExperts came spec’d out with an ultra-sharp 2.8″, 640×480 VGA screen, tri-band (aka non-US friendly) HSPA 3G data, A-GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and FM radio.

The iPod Nano already had a 202dpi screen, but would Apple go that high-end with the iPhone 3G?

May 14, 2008: Swisscome announced they would be selling the iPhone in Switzerland, and rumor had it it would feature video iChat, mobile TV, and GPS.

May 22, 2008: Gizmodo revealed that Apple had job postings up for both a camera engineer:

[W]ith responsibilities for evaluation, qualification, implementation and tuning of camera subsystems in iPhone products.

And an RF engineer:

Familiar with RF fundamentals and RF test equipments (spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, signal generator), hands on for wireless system validation automation. Familiar with PC and network architecture. [...] Design and qualification expertise with IEEE 802.11 [...] Knowledge about Bluetooth, 3G, UWB, WiMAX, GPS, Mobile TV and similar wireless technologies and/or experience with wireless module integration into PC system or consumer products is a strong plus. The system integration issues include: radio coexistence, platform noise, module and system power consumption.

Et tu, WiMAX?

At the same time, Apple Insider broke word on a “private” firmware update for “select developers” that included Geo-Tagging software, which often depends on GPS to add location data to photographs.

May 28, 2008: While still in beta, Google demonstrated their much-anticipated Android OS on an HTC Dream. iPhone inspired, Google advances the multi-touch UI and sensor interactions in many ways Apple will have to not only match, but surpass. And as everyone knows (and Microsoft has often used to their advantage), its almost impossible to market a shipping product against a vaporous competitor.

May 30, 2008: Apple Insider revealed a patent filing that could allow an iPhone with GPS and an accelerometer to predict when signal loss would occur and alert both the user, and anyone the user was communicating with at the time, with distance and speed specific cues.

In a separate filing, Apple detailed how improved Bluetooth functionality could allow the iPhone to help find other BT enabled devices, or even everyday BT tagged items such as your keys. (Not that it’s unwanted, but how about some BT stereo and peripheral — keyboard — support?)

June 1, 2008: Battle of the biggie blogs as Om Malik of GigaOm said GPS was a go:

[T]here is one thing that’s for sure: The new iPhone has Global Positioning System (GPS) built into it, thanks to legal requirements put in place by the FCC.

And Brian Lam of Gizmodo responded with a thanks but…:

No thanks. Don’t need it. I’m fine with the current location technology. It works for walking and that’s all I need it for.

June 3, 2008: Samsung’s SGH-i900 is detailed by WMExperts. Modeled after the iPhone but sporting an FM Radio. While very last century, it is a feature last centurions still request…

Your Turn!

So there you go, now it’s your turn. Tell us what features you think the iPhone 3G will pack. FM Radio? HD Video? Better Bluetooth support? Espresso brewer?!

And after you’re done telling us, don’t forget to head over to our iPhone Blog’s super Wait-a-Thon spectacular where you could win an iPhone 3G of your very own, whatever it looks like, on the very day it’s released!

Go back and read Part 1: What’s the iPhone’s 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?
Go back and read Part 2: What’s the iPhone 3G Going to Look Like?
Go back and read Part 3: What Surprises Will Be in iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?
Go back and read Part 4: What 3rd Party iPhone SDK Apps Will Be Available Launch Day?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

What Will the iPhone 3G’s Hardware Features Be?! Countdown to WWDC Rumor Roundup

Joking that the iPhone Risk map was getting a little crowded up in Europe… turns out not to be a joke anymore:

Swisscom on Wednesday confirmed it will begin selling Apple’s iPhone in Switzerland this year, possibly bolstering a recent report on the matter which also stated that the handset would arrive with video conferencing and other fresh features.

What fresh new features? As if borrowing from Kevin Rose’s twitter feed, GPS, bi-direction video iChat Mobile, and mobile TV.

Checking the score board:

Personally, I’m not sold on 2-way iChat yet, or Mobile TV unless Apple can break it out of the carrier-controlled sandbox in which it now languishes. This is a little too close to rumor-regurgitation for now. GPS, on the other hand, seems likely.

What do you think?

Read

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Risk: Swiss Timing and iChat + TV Rumors!

TUAW’s code-scouring tipster is back with rumors on what could be found in an Apple iChatMobile app, and it’s set to jibber with some Jabber:

[a] new XMPP framework has been spotten in the latest iPhone firmware. XMPP refers to the open source standard developed by the Jabber community for instant messaging. Remember back in March when Apple announced it would support native instant messaging? In a nutshell, it looks like Apple’s new iPhone-based chat will be built on Jabber/XMPP. [...] Unfortunately, we’re told that this XMPP support remains in a private framework and will not be available to 3rd party SDK developers.

How (and if) this fits in with the recently discovered Apple chat-related patent filing, and/or (double if) the AOL concept demo from the SDK event, is anyone’s guess at this point, but one thing’s for certain: it’s getting interesting in iPhone IM land!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 2.0: Mobile iChat to Jibber With Jabber?

Ever-watchful Apple Insider brings word on yet another Apple patent drop. This one, published in March, sets the stage for the long anticipated — nay, demanded — Mobile iChat application.

Though the iPhone already includes a somewhat similar, though carrier-bound, SMS app, the need to move away from device-modal technologies (i.e. phone to phone) to more open protocols (i.e., phone to computer to console, etc.) like Instant Messenger is compelling. In answer, Apple has proposed an interface that builds on the SMS app in significant ways:

[T]he ability to start new messages by searching through the contact list or typing the first few letters of someone’s name. Users can also see a past chat history and remove individual conversations from the list. [...] [A] dedicated text field for entering new messages, another would have typed text appear directly in a new message bubble and would replace the text entry box with a list of suggested words.

While the patent could still, technically, be used for SMS or MMS, Apple Insider maintains the former is not mention, while IM is captioned on the image filings.

Personally, I’d love me some first party (multi-tasking?) IM. But how does this relate to the already demoed AOL app? The two work together on the desktop, does that portent a mobile relationship as well? Or is Apple planning on running over them here?

Of course, this could also join the enormous heap of Apple patents that have yet to find any real world application.

What do you think?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Patent Watch: Mobile iChat Touch Cometh?

Digg and Pownce founder and web 2.0 darling Kevin Rose, during the latest Diggnation podcast, made the following prognostications about the eventual 3G iPhone (via Apple Insider):

[Kevin Rose] claims that a 3G version of the iPhone hardware due in a few months will employ two digital cameras situated back-to-back — one on the front side of the unit behind the transparent touch-screen, and a second one on the back of the handset as it exists today.

Rose also conjectures that this may be why Apple has limited background processes in the current SDK: to prevent competition to their upcoming iChat Touch application.

iChat Touch, according to Rose, will allow full-on video conferencing via high-speed HSDPA between 3G iPhone users and desktop iChat users alike.

As to how reliable Rose’s predictions may be, Apple Insider reminds us:

In the week’s leading up to last year’s iPhone introduction, the Digg founder cited sources in saying Apple would introduce the handset with a slide-out keyboard, two separate battery compartments, and make it available for both CDMA and GSM networks — all of which turned out to be false.

So, um… er… yeah — we’ll take this with a shovel full of salt for now.

Still, the idea iChat Touch with video is exciting and functionality I’d love to see on the second generation iPhone. What do you think?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Rumor: 3G Coming with iChat, DIGG it?