“When Steve Jobs first demoed the iPhone in January 2007, he made it clear that reaching someone by typing their phone number onto a keypad was no longer acceptable, albeit tolerated. Instead, he showed an Address Book interface that unifies the concept of a “Person” across all forms of communications on the iPhone, be it iChat, e-Mail, or a Normal Phone Call,” Chris Holland writes for Internet Brands Developer Blog.
“While an ‘Address Book’ seems as trivially simple a concept as it isn’t new to anyone who’s used a mobile phone within the last decade, seeing it executed ‘The Apple Way’ in a larger synchronized ecosystem, helps paint a picture of possibilities that lie ahead,” Holland writes.
“Picture unlimited free calls over WiFi/IP without even having to ‘think about it,’ by simply picking a Person from your Address Book, and hitting ‘call’ …The same way you’d make a Normal Phone Call,” Holland writes.
“When calling somebody, the iPhone could detect whether WiFi connectivity is available, and whether there is a SIP Address for the person i’m looking to call. If both these conditions are met, the iPhone could perform a ‘pure SIP Call’ over the Internet, without ever touching the carrier’s or any phone company’s network. Blam. Free call. An icon might indicate to me that this call is a free, un-metered Voice-over-IP call,” Holland writes.
More in the full article here.