Why Does Apple Let Vonage Make Voice Over Network Calls Over 3G But Doesn’t Let Skype Do the Same Thing?

Screenshot courtesy of Vonage

We still don’t have Google Voice for the iPhone. But, we do have Vonage Mobile for the iPhone, iPod touch and BlackBerry. The New York Times provides the details about its release here…

Vonage Releases Calling Apps for iPhone and BlackBerry

Vonage is a low-cost voice-over-network service that is best known for its flat-rate residential voice plans with phone adapters that lets its customers use traditional telephone handsets with the service.

More information can be found here…

Vonage Mobile

Vonage has separate releases for the iPhone and iPod touch….

Vonage Mobile for iPhone (iTunes)

Vonage Mobile for iPhone touch

The iPod touch version specifically mentions the 2nd generation touch. I presume it also works with the recently released 3rd generation touch too. The iPhone version can make network calls over cellular or WiFi connections. This surprised me since Skype calls are limited to WiFi connections. I wonder why Vonage received special treatment?

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