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The iPad wasn’t the only Apple news to emerge on Jan. 27.
iCall, a privately held VOIP (voice over IP) calling company, announced on the same day that Apple had updated its SDK (software development kit) to allow VOIP calls over cellular networks, and that iCall’s eponymous application was the first and only to place VOIP calls over 3G cellular networks on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
“I applaud Apple’s decision to allow iCall to extend its functionality beyond Wi-Fi and onto the 3G networks,” iCall CEO Arlo Gilbert said in a statement. “This heralds a new era for VOIP applications on mobile platforms, especially for iCall and our free calling model. I hope that now more developers will begin using our VOIP as a platform to integrate VOIP into their applications.”
Some suspected that Apple was building its own voice solution, which would be one explanation for why it originally chose not to allow the Google Voice application in the App Store. The rejection, which AT&T backed, saying Google Voice violated the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality principles, prompted the FCC to launch an inquiry into the matter.
On Jan. 26, however, Google rolled out an HTML5-based version of Google Voice, which is now live for smartphones with iPhone OS 3.0 and higher, as well as those running Palm’s WebOS.
iCall-which is now available in the App Store, and offers free local and long-distance calls over 3G data networks-should, in addition to working with the iPhone and iPod Touch, be compatible with the iPad.
“All that we can say is that any existing iPhone apps function as written on the iPad,” iCall CTO Andy Muldowney told eWEEK. “They just scale it up so it appears larger.”
Muldowney said he wasn’t able to comment on whether or not iCall is owned by Apple.