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Apple Could be Cooking up Their Own Voice Services
Think Facetime, but Voice Only on All Devices

Apple's Steve Jobs long dreamed of Apple being their own carrier, a dream that was crushed by the reality that he needed to partner with some rather stodgy old telco folk who fight like junkyard dogs to protect mono/duopolies and legacy revenues. Those dreams will only ever see partial realization, as Light Reading points to several new job listings for telephony software engineers to work on new iOS products, suggesting that Apple might be contemplating their own voice play. "There's a view they could try and do an end-run around the telecom industry and create their own communications services eco-system by developing Facetime and iMessage," notes an analyst with Heavy Reading.

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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

The wireless carriers really have nothing to fear here. Apple is just going in the same direction as the carriers - voice will be nothing but a type of data on the wireless networks. And the carriers are already going to a billing regimen that charges for amount of data moved. Wireless minutes as a billing mechanism is dying rapidly. The only question is how voice may be packaged as data as it flows over the wireless network. Apple's voice container may be modified somewhat when the voice conversation is only between iOS devices.
In any case, the carriers will get their pound of flesh as they bill for the data sent.
theoak
join:2012-03-20

theoak

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

Right now the carriers are losing a boat load of money on text plans. Why pay $20 or whatever it is for unlimited texts when I can "iMessage" as much as I want for free (Facebook, forums, etc ...)?

Hence the move to volume based data plans. We'll let you text "unlimited" ... but we are going to keep the meter running as you do.

Same concept for VOIP. The carriers are saying: I let you do VOIP ... but with the volume based data plan you have I am going to keep the meter running.

Do a degree this is probably why Apple has decided to keep Facetime WiFi only. Who wants a phone that is going to eat through your data plan in hours?

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

said by theoak:

Right now the carriers are losing a boat load of money on text plans. Why pay $20 or whatever it is for unlimited texts when I can "iMessage" as much as I want for free (Facebook, forums, etc ...)?

I don't think you worded that correctly. Carrier make a ton of money on $20 text plans, since it's pretty much 99.9% profit. What they are losing is customers who add texting plans (hence why the plans now cost $20 instead of the $5 they used to).

There are a ton of free texting apps out there, the problem is that none of them work with the short codes that businesses use. So if you want to subscribe to free texting services or communicate with businesses, you need to subscribe to a texting service. Until that's fixed I don't see texting plans going away.

Oh_No
Trogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL

Oh_No

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

I dont know anyone that sends text messages to those business short codes.
All of those services are spam to get kids to waste parents money.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

then the one that Google operates is the same eh?

Oh_No
Trogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL

Oh_No

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

said by 25139889:

then the one that Google operates is the same eh?

If you have the internet to text then wouldnt you just google on your internet connection???
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned) to Morac

Member

to Morac
Right and many carriers make you add the texting plans on. ATT is one of them. Price starts out cheap but its not when you have to add that Text plan.

And GoogleVoice does NOT allow you to send MMS either. So that's out of the question.

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

AT&T does NOT make you add a texting plan. It's optional, but they combined it with their unlimited mobile to mobile minutes plan. So you get both unlimited calls and texts to mobile numbers for $20. It's still overpriced as I never come close to using my minutes per month.
stufried
Premium Member
join:2003-10-13

stufried

Premium Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

No, but ATT killed the lowered tier text plans which most of us would have stepped down to as texting is being replaced by these services. Half the people I text have iPhones.

There are cross platform alternatives like Whatsapp, Viber, Chat-on, etc., but there is no clear leader and the market is too fractured.

jhboricua

join:2000-06-06
Minneapolis, MN

jhboricua to 25139889

to 25139889
I can MMS with Google Voice on Sprint.

fukitol
Solon for President
Premium Member
join:2001-06-11
PonziWorld

fukitol to theoak

Premium Member

to theoak
said by theoak:
Right now the carriers are losing a boat load of money on text plans.
No, they're not. While "multimedia" messages (messages that contain non-text elements) are transported over packet data (e.g., LTE), text messages are transported over SMS. SMS is actually built into the signaling protocols used by the networks; SMS messages are transported whenever there's low network traffic otherwise, and it's best-effort without any guarantee. Thus, SMS costs practically nothing to setup and maintain; even a $1/mo. unlimited SMS plan would be a rip off.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

Another failed attempt to analyze business... you can't micro marginalize each service in a retail sense. Well, you can, but then you justify all the un-fees in the process.
fiberguy2

fiberguy2 to theoak

Premium Member

to theoak
I would LOVE to see apple launch iMessage on the android platform as well. Between the iPhone and android based phones, that alone should be enough to show the telecoms that the texting cash crab is going to be a thing of the past. I'd also love to see apple's voice service come to life too.

Ultimately, it could be apple that pushes the telecoms into being dumb pipes. And yes, I realize that those data only plans would wind up costing about $100 a month, but it's still going to force them to honest up in the process.
stufried
Premium Member
join:2003-10-13

stufried

Premium Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

Samsung has tried this with Chat-on. It is a free iOS/Android chat program much like iMessage. What there really needs to be is a c
iFail 5G
join:2011-08-03

1 recommendation

iFail 5G to theoak

Member

to theoak
said by theoak:

Right now the carriers are losing a boat load of money on text plans. Why pay $20 or whatever it is for unlimited texts when I can "iMessage" as much as I want for free (Facebook, forums, etc ...)?

Hence the move to volume based data plans. We'll let you text "unlimited" ... but we are going to keep the meter running as you do.

Same concept for VOIP. The carriers are saying: I let you do VOIP ... but with the volume based data plan you have I am going to keep the meter running.

Do a degree this is probably why Apple has decided to keep Facetime WiFi only. Who wants a phone that is going to eat through your data plan in hours?

Who wants a phone where the company still has complete control over EVERYTHING yet you pay out your ass for the overpriced pos.

Why would I pay for messaging still? Most of the people I talk to haven't fallen for Apple's eye candy and use handsets they control.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop to FFH5

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to FFH5
Carriers have nothing to worry about because Apple won't let you talk to non Apple devices with it.
theoak
join:2012-03-20

theoak to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
I stand by my original statement.

Carriers ARE losing money because people are realizing ... "Why get a text plan? I can just Facebook, Twitter, even email." ... hence folks are NOT getting text plans ... they are ONLY getting data plans. Throw me in this group. For my wife's phone, I only got her a data plan. If she can't call ... or wants to let me know something ... she can email. I will get it just as fast as a text. And, I can setup the similar alerts and pop-ups and sounds as a text. I am not give a dime to Verizon for "texting" ... but I get the SAME functionality.

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

Re: This isn't carrier replacement - carriers nothing to fear

You can stand by your original statement, but it's still wrong or at the very least worded incorrectly.

With people dropping texting plans, carriers may not be making as much money as they used to, but they are in no way losing money. Texting plans are pure profit.

I think this article about AT&T says it bests. Revenue is down slightly, but net income is up. A net income of $3.6 billion is in no way "losing money".
tpkatl
join:2009-11-16
Dacula, GA

tpkatl

Member

If Apple runs its own VOIP service, would they censor?

Part of the Apple ecosystem is that they control the sort of apps you buy (no R-rated, no gambling, etc.)

Would an Apple voice service continue this ecosystem? You couldn't make calls to porn sites, you couldn't have phone sex with a girlfriend, you couldn't call your brother in law and bet on a football game.

One wonders why anyone would move to this sort of service.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: If Apple runs its own VOIP service, would they censor?

said by tpkatl:

Part of the Apple ecosystem is that they control the sort of apps you buy (no R-rated, no gambling, etc.)

Would an Apple voice service continue this ecosystem? You couldn't make calls to porn sites, you couldn't have phone sex with a girlfriend, you couldn't call your brother in law and bet on a football game.

Facetime doesn't censor anything. I don't see why a voice-only version of Facetime would either.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

1 recommendation

fiberguy2

Premium Member

Re: If Apple runs its own VOIP service, would they censor?

You're correct.. however, when some people have nothing to add, of any intelligence, to the conversation they always reach into the trash-apple-bandwagon set of slams in an attempt to make a point that sounds smart... but they're not. It actually shows a lack of intelligence when people do that. This is the same as anytime someone mentions anything with an ISP the first post is GENERALLY going to be about hitting caps.

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

gigahurtz to tpkatl

Premium Member

to tpkatl
You can't honestly be serious with this type of question?

As already mentioned, Apple doesn't sensor FaceTime, there's no reason to believe they'd sensor this. They filter apps from the app store so the app store actually consists of quality apps instead of junk like the Android marketplace (I'm an Android user).

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine

Member

Re: If Apple runs its own VOIP service, would they censor?

Yep. Apple doesn't censor content you create on your device.

They only censor content they sell in the App store and iTunes.
NefCanuck
join:2007-06-26
Mississauga, ON

NefCanuck

Member

An answer to a question no one asked?

Interesting,

With so many established players out there, such as Skype or VoIP applications that already work on iDevices (and quite well at that, it's allowed me to kill my landline and use my iPhone & iPad instead) it's a question of what can Apple bring to the table that makes it different or unique.

Unless Apple plans to somehow tweak iOS to "break" the existing players software, but I can't see that happening without Apple facing a major court fight.

NefCanuck
yabos
join:2003-02-16
London, ON

yabos

Member

Re: An answer to a question no one asked?

Like everything else Apple does, if they did this it'd be much more integrated into the OS compared to skype or a similar app. Such as now, you don't have to be running any app for someone to FaceTime you.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: An answer to a question no one asked?

said by yabos:

Like everything else Apple does, if they did this it'd be much more integrated into the OS compared to skype or a similar app.

Kind of like Google is finally (albeit it painfully slowly) doing with GV and ICS.

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

1 recommendation

Guspaz to NefCanuck

MVM

to NefCanuck
Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying that Apple didn't do market research because customers don't know what they want until Apple gives it to them. That might sound arrogant, but there's a bit of truth in it; the iPad, for example, could never have come from market research; the market would have asked for something like Windows Tablet PCs, and those were a horrible flop.

Many new Apple devices are ridiculed when they come out, like the iPad, but end up selling ludicrous numbers of units anyhow. Why? Because people didn't know they wanted it.

I guess my point is this: is an unsolicited answer useless if you realize that you should have asked the question ages ago?

On to talking about a theoretical VoiceTime, it won't be useful unless it integrates with existing third-party solutions over SIP or the like. Why do I say this? Because if there isn't third party support, you'll only be able to use it to call an iPhone, which are a rather small minority when you include ALL telephones, meaning including wired landlines.

Skype is useful to me because I can call anybody with it; any Apple service aiming to compete with that would have to do that too.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to NefCanuck

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to NefCanuck
It's not always about doing or bringing something different.. it's about taking your place in the marketplace. Apple is bringing apple.. period. But like the next comment says, apple will integrate it into their service and will probably make it a smoother experience.