Apple confirms 3G VoIP apps on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch; Skype is waiting

Apple Inc. confirmed last night that it is now allowing iPhone, iPad and iPod touch developers to build apps that can make Internet calls over a 3G cellular network.
“We revised our Program License Agreement in conjunction with our updated Software Development Kit for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad Apps,” wrote an Apple spokesperson. “Included in this update is the ability for developers to create VoIP apps that utilize cellular networks.”

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol — essentially, Web-based telephony.

As we reported last night, several VoiP apps have been approved for use on the iPhone, including iCall and Fring.

Skype, one of the most popular VoIP applications, said it had a 3G iPhone app ready to go, but wanted to get a couple of service details squared away.

Skype is waiting for Apple to clarify when the new SDK terms of service for iPhone OS 3.2 SDK beta, which were published yesterday, will go into effect for current iPhone users who are still bound under the terms of iPhone OS 3.12 SDK, according to Skype spokesman Chaim Haas.

“As soon as we have that clarification, Skype will submit its application for approval,” Haas wrote.

Apple announced Wednesday that iPad owners will be able to purchase monthly 3G plans for the device, which is quite a bit larger than a normal cellular phone, but could easily be used to make and receive calls.

Now that Apple and AT&T have green-lighted 3G data calls, iPad owners will not necessarily need an additional voice plan (not that the option for one was announced, but plenty of people were wondering).

In fact, the arrival of VoIP to iPhone may well be the beginning of a long decline for the concept of “voice minutes” — at this point, there’s really no point in differentiating one kind of call from another — it’s all data.

Nine Inch Nails on iPhone

As part of an extensive interview with Wired, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and collaborator Rob Sheridan revealed plans for an upcoming Nine Inch Nails iPhone application that is awaiting approval by Apple. The application is said to utilize the location-based social features found in Twinkle and known as “Nearby”.

The free Nine Inch Nails app, scheduled for release as soon as it gets final approval from Apple, is a mobile window on all things NIN: music, photos, videos, message boards, even — thanks to a GPS-enabled feature called Nearby — the fans themselves.

Nearby is “kind of like Twitter within the Nine Inch Nails network,” says Rob Sheridan, Reznor’s long-time collaborator. “You can post a message or a photo by location, and if you’re at a show you can see conversations between other people who are right there.”
The application will reportedly link with the official NIN.com website and allow fans to upload photos and messages directly to the site, utilizing features of Nearby to make the locations of the content viewable on Google Earth.

The iPhone app takes that a big step further. NIN.com has a Google Earth plug-in that fans can use to see conversations and photos from across the planet, or at a specific location. A feature on the iPhone app’s Nearby tab will enable them to post messages and photos from their iPhones to the website and have them pop up in Google Earth.

Yahoo Messenger comes to iPhone

Yahoo! is expected to launch a refreshed mobile portal this week. The new portal puts search at the forefront and then allows full customisation so that users can add widgets from third party sites such as Gmail and eBay.

The refreshed mobile portal is likely to replace the current http://m.Yahoo.com portal but not Yahoo!’s oneSearch search engine. Yahoo! is currently in partnership with Nokia and the oneSearch search client is the default setting on many mobile phones.

Speaking at the Web 2.0 Kongress in Munich today, Michael Stenberg, Partner Director Central & Eastern Europe, Yahoo! Connected Life, gave the audience a tour of the new portal.

The move is aligned to the Yahoo! Open Strategy (Y!OS) which the company hopes will encourage developers and publishers to spend more time engaging with the portal. Yahoo! told developers in April 2008 that Y!OS would allow their applications to be distributed via the Yahoo! websites as well as the developers own.

Y!OS has been one of the driving forces behind the removal of Yahoo! social networks Y!360 and Mash as well as the controversial changes to the Yahoo! Profile system. Yahoo!’s goal is to create a single social platform that reaches across Yahoo!’s web and mobile properties.

Skype comes to iPhone

Skype is keeping mum on the announcement and has declined to comment on the rumors. But the company is hosting a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas the day before the show kicks off. And it’s likely the news will be announced there.

Skype admitted earlier this year that it’s working on an application for the iPhone. Scott Durchslag, the company’s chief operating officer, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January that an iPhone version of the software client would be coming to Apple’s App Store.

“We have to make sure the call quality is there and the application works really well before we can announce the software for any device,” he said in an interview after the company’s press conference. “But we will have something for the iPhone as soon as it’s perfect.”

Skype sees mobile as the next major growth area for its business. Not only does it expect its more than 405 million registered users to take their Skype experience, which offers free and low-cost calling, with them on-the-go, but the company also believes they will be able to reach new users via mobile devices. By putting the peer-to-peer service, which uses the Internet to carry voice traffic, onto a mobile phone, it becomes very convenient to use. The regular Skype service runs on a computer and requires either a special phone or a headset and microphone to make and receive phone calls.

In the U.S. most cell phone plans include domestic long-distance calling as part of a bundle of minutes, so the Skype service isn’t really that appealing. But for subscribers calling outside the U.S., rates can be as much as a $2 a minute if cell phone users don’t subscribe to a special monthly plan for making international calls. This makes the Skype mobile client most appealing to users who want to make inexpensive international calls, but don’t want to be tied to their computers.

A software version of Skype already exists for Windows Mobile phones. Nokia also plans to embed some of its phones with Skype clients. And Skype has worked with a company called iSkoot to develop a special Skype phone that is sold by the cell phone operator Hutchison 3 U.K. A Skype-lite version of the client is also available on some Java phones.

Now, iPhone users will get to use Skype, too. But before iPhone users get too excited, there’s probably a big catch. The new Skype app for the iPhone will likely be restricted to Wi-Fi networks only, as Apple has done to other third-party services like Fring, which offers access to Skype.

If this is the case, it will be a huge limitation to the usefulness of the service. While other mobile phone users can use the Skype service anywhere they can a cell phone signal, iPhone users will be restricted to only using it where they can access Wi-Fi. Most people access Wi-Fi home or in the office, where they’re likely to be near a computer anyway.

by cnet

03.27.2009 Top 10 paid apps in AppStore

Here are top 10 paid apps in AppStore for this Friday

1		Pocket God	$0.99
2		Zombieville USA	$1.99
3		Sully’s Flight	$0.99
4		Flick Fishing	$0.99
5		The Oregon Trail	$5.99
6		3D Brick Breaker Revolution	$2.99
7		Flight Control	$0.99
8		Color Splash	$1.99
9		Blocked	$0.99
10		Text Free Unlimited	$5.99

03.27.2009 Top 10 free apps in AppStore

Here are the free apps

1		3D Brick Breaker Revolution Free
2		Bike Or Die 2 Lite
3		Manic Marble Free
4		Time Strike Crisis Lite
5		Dog Whistler
6		Mood Sense Lite
7		Zombieville USA Lite
8		Crazy Snowboard Lite
9		iCopter Classic
10		Tap Tap Revenge 2