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My guess is they didn't want to implement a competitor to FaceTime.

Skype, WhatsApp, Viber and many others are being distributed in the App Store.

This alone doesn't prove anything since Apple doesn't give 3rd party apps same capabilities as its own apps.

I wonder if there could be anything more toxic to a product's development than letting it compete.

Apple isn't known for welcoming competition. How many patent suits in how many countries has Apple brought?