Skype says new 3G iPhone app coming ‘really soon,’ will have CD-quality sound
After the news last week that Apple and AT&T are now allowing VoIP apps to make phone calls over the 3G network, Skype said it's still waiting to release a new 3G-ready version of its software for the iPhone.
Context & Ripple Effects
Skype has been circling the iPhone for years — it went mobile with dedicated handsets like the 3 Skypephone back in late 2007 and shipped its own mobile client around the same time — but on the iPhone it has been boxed into Wi-Fi. A version that worked on AT&T's 3G under iPhone 3.0 last spring still couldn't place calls over cellular, and as recently as mid-January the open question was why Apple was blocking VoIP over 3G at all.
That question just got answered: Apple and AT&T are confirmed to be allowing VoIP apps to make calls over the 3G network, and Skype says a 3G-ready iPhone app with CD-quality sound is coming 'really soon.' The policy flip turns the iPhone's data pipe into a phone line, with Skype positioned as the first big beneficiary.
First-order effects
- iPhone users gain a Skype client that places calls over AT&T's 3G network rather than only Wi-Fi, bypassing voice minutes for data-priced calls.
- AT&T loses its practical monopoly on outbound voice from the iPhone the moment Skype's update ships, since cellular-data calling is now permitted on its network.
Second-order effects
- Other VoIP providers must match Skype's 3G release quickly or concede the iPhone calling market to it, and carriers face pricing pressure as voice minutes become substitutable with data.
- AT&T's response options narrow to plan structure — metering or tiering data — because outright blocking of VoIP is no longer tenable after its own policy reversal.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, carrier voice plans decouple from network ownership: the operator sells capacity while third-party apps own the call, a structural shift in how mobile telephony is priced and who captures its margin.
- Platform gatekeepers' ability to restrict whole app categories on connectivity grounds weakens, setting a precedent that app-level discrimination over cellular networks gets contested and reversed under public scrutiny.
The trend: Mobile voice is migrating from carrier-metered minutes to app-delivered data services, with platform owners' gatekeeping over cellular VoIP collapsing under competitive and regulatory pressure.