[FoRK] More iPhone analysis

[Jeff Bone]

On Mar 8, 2008, at 3:16 PM, Ian Andrew Bell wrote:

>
> On 8-Mar-08, at 4:44 AM, Jeff Bone wrote:
>
>> On Mar 7, 2008, at 9:17 PM, Lucas Gonze wrote:
>>
>>> Also, no VoIP apps or anything else which threatens their own  
>>> product
>>> line.  Apple has to approve of your business purpose, just like the
>>> phone companies.
>>
>> Small correction, VoIP over wi-fi is apparently fine;  just no VoIP  
>> over the WAN.
>
> .. which is about as useful as, oh, public WiFi.

If you live in San Francisco, Manhattan, and a few other places that  
might be okay...  except...

> But of course if you have to keep the VoIP app in the foreground in  
> order to receive any incoming calls, the whole rest of your handset  
> is utterly useless.

That is an excellent point...  grrr...

> Ultimately this is supposed to be self-correcting, but for the  
> collusion which has existed in the telecom industry for many decades  
> -- now extending to the vertical handset and application providers  
> who are trying to advance the ball.  It is a model that can only  
> change with the introduction of new spectrum owned by an outsider  
> whose prime interest is disrupting the marketplace.

I completely agree with the premise:  same as it ever was.  I'm not  
sure the conclusion follows, though.

I think there's a consumer revolt in the making.  And I wouldn't count  
Android out as a real force for change, or Google --- if they really  
decide to weigh into this thing, it could be a tipping point situation.

jb