Apple iPhone To Get VoIP Makeover
Global IP Solutions AB (GIPS), an IP multimedia processing solutions provider, this week unveiled VoiceEngine Mobile, an SDK to enable developers to create VoIP-based applications for the iPhone. According to GIPS, using its VoiceEngine Mobile, iPhone application developers can integrate realtime VoIP applications, making it easier for consumers to chat and use their favorite iPhone games, applications and social networking tools. Developers can then sell those applications in the Apple App Store.
"The popularity of the iPhone, along with the emergence of various applications and faster connectivity, makes it an ideal platform for developing applications that incorporate quality realtime VoIP, giving consumers real-world communication experiences like in-game, multiperson chat," GIPS CEO Emerick Woods said in a statement.
GIPS invented the iLBC codec standard, a narrowband speech algorithm designed to optimize calls made over the Internet while also pioneering VoIP technology for several leading Internet service providers, application developers and hardware manufacturers. GIPS said iLBC is currently part of the iPhone.
With VoiceEngine Mobile, GIPS hopes to help iPhone application developers accelerate their time-to-market with applications that take advantage of VoIP.
"We are excited to enable the iPhone with VoIP capabilities and lead the mobile communications market with our voice processing technology," Woods said in the statement. "With GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile, we are providing the capabilities that turn voice into IP packets so they can be transmitted via Wi-Fi, making it easier for application developers to come to market quickly with integrated VoIP applications."
Because the IP packets will be transmitted via Wi-Fi, the high-speed network for Apple's iPhone 3G cannot be used for VoIP calls. VoIP calls over 3G would also violate an agreement between ATandT and Apple that allows the iPhone's exclusive carrier to remove applications that violate its terms of service.