“I learned that the Skype for iPhone app is unavailable to our Canadian friends across the border in the Apple iTunes App Store. I contacted Skype for comment and their representative told me, ‘There are some patent-licensing issues which prevent us from offering it there,'” Tom Keating reports for TMCnet.
“I then asked if other countries were affected or if it was just Canada and was informed it was just Canada. When asked whose patent it was or what category it involved (i.e. mobile VoIP), the representative told me, ‘I can’t go into many more details other than it’s codec related,'” Keating reports. “Sounds to me like their was some sort of patent settlement which Skype can’t talk about. Sorry my Canadian brothers. ‘No Skype for iPhone for you!'”
“There is a workaround to get Skype for iPhone working in Canada. What you have to do is create another iTunes App Store account without a credit card. Without a credit card and address verification, there’s no way for Apple to know where you live,” Keating reports.
Full article, with the workaround directions, here.
