Apple Preparing iPod Touch With Camera, Microphone
wired.com
wired.com
1. Pretty sure that need was obviated years ago, when cell phone coverage became ubiquitous.
2. I really doubt this will make much of a dent in the home phone market, as VOIP handsets have been available for years.
3. I agree that the iPhone network plans are overpriced, but I really don't want the hassle of carrying two devices, hunting for open wifi, plus the cost of buying them both, a skype number, etc.
1) Skype doesn't push calls through the other iPod apps so you have to have Skype loaded and the device unlocked to receive a call. In reality, you just make outbound calls.
2) If you have a need for a non-stop wireless signal (and we don't - not now), this won't work but....The Verizon Mifi ($60/month plus $100 upfront) gives you your own personal wireless connection through their 3G network. The bonus is you can connect up to five wireless devices at a time. The only real downside is a maximum of 5 Gb/month in bandwidth. True, that's an extra device to carry/charge, but the flexibility seems worth it to me if we ever to need constant connectivity.
Basically, we get almost all of the iPhone's functionality for a lot less. Next year our total cost will be $60 (for the Skype services). I think this option can work for anyone who spends most of their time within range of a wireless network. In case our old car ever breaks down, we do have an emergency paygo cell. If we find we'll be out and about more often, we'll get the Verizon Mifi.
What's interesting is Verizon actually pushed us down this path. We weren't getting decent coverage in our home (and no provider would in our town), so they offered us their Network Extender which routes cell calls through VoIP...for another $200. You read that right. They unload capacity from their towers and through the internet and still manage to charge $200.
The perverse Apple fan in me, of course, doesn't even care about this upcoming technology as much as he cares about how awesome the keynote announcement will be.
as the iPhone OS still does not support background applications, this is barely true - unless you want to keep skype running all the time which would render you unable to do unimportant stuff as, say, change the track you are listening on.
However, as it's pretty much free to call on Skype, a notification that someone has tried to call you, and do you want to call them back, would be completely feasible with the current technology. I can only imagine that Skype are gearing up to do exactly this in their iPhone app...