ICall to Offer Authorized iPhone Wifi VoIP Application

A lot of iPhone VoIP applications have come out of the woodwork recently, and for good reason. Apple Inc. is holding its annual Worldwide Developers Conference this week; there are strong rumors that it will introduce a 3G iPhone; and it will soon open the App Store, which will distribute third-party iPhone applications.

But many of the recent VoIP applications deliver calls over wifi using "jailbroken" iPhones — that is devices that have been unlocked, in violation of Apple's rules, in order to run unauthorized third-party apps. Recently announced applications by fringland Ltd. and sipgate fall into that category. ICall Inc., by contrast, has just announced a VoIP-over-wifi iPhone app that promises to work within Apple's rules. That will be a relief for users who don't want to risk accidentally incapacitating their iPhones or incurring Apple's disfavor.

ICall is a Greenwich, Conn.-based Internet VoIP provider. The company offers, among other things, free inbound and outbound PC calling via headsets and softphones, which currently run only on Windows computers. The company also offers a Pro service with extra features for $5 per month for unlimited North American calling; overseas calls costs extra. ICall also has a carrier-services business that offers inbound and outbound calling on a wholesale basis.

ICall's iPhone wifi VoIP application will be simple to use, allowing you to merely launch the client software that you have downloaded and installed on the device. You won't be able to do that, of course, until Apple makes the software available at its App Store — iCall isn't distributing the current beta version on its own. The software will work whenever you're near a wifi hotspot, and it will tell you when you are. An icon on the iPhone's screen will also tell you when you're near a hotspot if the iCall software doesn't happen to be running.

If you're already talking on an incoming cellular call when you are near the hotspot, the iCall software will display a window asking whether you'd like to switch the call to VoIP. If you choose to switch, the transfer takes less than a second, according to iCall CEO Arlo Gilbert. Although he won't reveal the technology that iCall uses to make the switch, Gilbert said that the transfer is unnoticeable to the person on the other end.

You can also initiate and receive wifi VoIP calls independently of the cellular network. To make a call, you simply launch the iCall software and dial as usual. The interface is designed to work like the standard iPhone dialer. If you leave the software running, you can also receive calls, using inbound numbers that you get once you've registered as an iCall user.

ICall hasn't yet decided how it's going to make money from the service, according to Gilbert. Three possibilities, though, are charging a flat monthly rate for service; providing metered calling; or offering free, ad-supported service, he said. However the company decides to make money, users should find its software more reassuring than services that depend on jailbroken iPhones.