Why BlackBerry's Google Talk won't offer voice
When I first heard that Google Talk would be compatible with the BlackBerry OS starting sometime this spring, my first reaction was puzzlement. — I mean, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion draws its very sustenance from cellular carriers.
Context & Ripple Effects
Two days after RIM announced that BlackBerry users would gain mobile access to Google Talk and Google Local this spring, the deal's limits are coming into focus: the instant-messaging client will arrive text-only, with no voice calling. The stated reason is structural, not technical — Research In Motion draws its sustenance from cellular carriers, and a free over-the-top voice channel would undercut the very partners who push its handsets.
The pickup elsewhere (siliconvalley.com ran the story as 'BlackBerry picking partners') frames it the same way: RIM is choosing which internet services get onto the device, and carrier economics are doing the filtering. It lands amid a rough stretch for the company, including a disclosed security hole in BlackBerry handhelds triggered by crafted e-mail image attachments earlier in January.
First-order effects
- BlackBerry users get Google Talk as a text-only client when it ships this spring, while Google gets distribution on RIM's business-centric installed base without its voice ambitions.
Second-order effects
- Cellular carriers keep their voice-minute revenue intact on the BlackBerry platform, and the carrier-safe text-only template becomes the price of admission for other internet services seeking handset placement.
Third-order effects
- As long as device makers like RIM depend on carriers for distribution, mobile VoIP will be gated at the OS layer rather than blocked by technology — an arrangement that holds until a device maker or platform owner with independent distribution changes the calculus.
The trend: Mid-2000s mobile is a carrier-gated ecosystem where device makers decide which over-the-top services reach handsets, with voice functions stripped out to protect operator revenue.