Why iPhone missed the mark

So, yesterday Apple released the iPhone, which stands to revolutionize the phone industry. It runs OSX, acts as an iPod, and has an incredible touchscreen. But, Apple fell a little short of making it the ultimate phone.

I’m talking about the lack of Skype integration. This phone seems like it can do just about anything, so why not make it a VOIP phone as well? With the built in WiFi, iPhone could detect when you’re in a hotspot, switch to Skype, and make all your calls run through that. That way, you wouldn’t waste minutes, and you’d get all the benefits of an Internet call.

Apple’s mistake, then, was locking iPhone with Cingular. No way will Cingular allow Apple to make a phone that lets users bypass the Cingular network. This is unfortunate—I was really hoping Apple would make their phone usable across multiple carriers. Unfortunately, Apple believed it needed a specific carrier to fully utilize the new features iPhone brings to the cellular phone market.

But there is hope for Skype integration! Thanks to the fact that the iPhone runs OSX, it stands to reason that many other apps can run on it, so why not Skype? The iPhone already has Wi-Fi built in, so it has everything Skype needs. I just hope that a developer out there figures out a way to hook into the phone part of iPhone and is able to turn this amazing device into an even more revolutionary utility.

UPDATE: It looks like what John said in the comments is true: there will be no 3rd party apps on the iPhone. Disappointing for sure.

2 Comments

  1. John Dough / January 10, 2007 at 10:20 pm

    According to Apple VP’s the phone will be locked down from outside development. There will be no open API and therefore it’s unlikely this will happen unless Apple (or Cingluar) allows it.

  2. bridget / January 11, 2007 at 7:56 pm

    dear kyle,

    i could not be more excited about the reemergence of fidgeting.net. you have been added to the list of time-wasting websites, and i look forward to many many interesting posts in the future.

    love,
    bridget

    p.s. come to the freaking basketball game with me. that is all.

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