(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Vonage announced Tuesday that its mobile voice over Internet Protocol app has been approved for use by Apple on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The Internet telephone service provider said it's conducting a beta test of the app and that general availability will be announced at a later date.
Last week Apple confirmed that Vonage's request for app approval was being held up by technical issues with the Vonage software. An Apple spokesperson told CNET News at the time that Apple was working with the developer to resolve the issue but would not elaborate on the nature of the issue.
That delay came to light on the heels of federal regulators opening a probe on Apple's decision to keep the Google Voice application from the App Store. AT&T--Apple's iPhone partner--has denied playing a role in that decision.
Google Voice, which allows users to receive calls placed to a single telephone number in multiple places and make cheap international calls, was deemed unfit for App Store inclusion in July, after it was released for BlackBerry and Android smartphones.
Apple, however, has said the Google Voice app was never actually rejected.
AT&T has pulled the plug on its CallVantage voice over IP phone service, according to letters from subscribers this week.
The service competed with other VoIP services like Vonage. VoIP services use broadband networks to place phone calls. These services are much less expensive than traditional landline phone services and cost between $20 and $30 per month. But even this price is proving too high for consumers who are cutting their traditional phones to use their cell phones or are signing up for voice services with their cable providers, which are bundling the phone service in with broadband and TV service.
AT&T launched CallVantage in 2004 when AT&T was still just a long-distance phone company. But the company hasn't disclosed subscribers numbers in recent years. The Associated Press reports that at the end of 2004, the service had 53,000 subscribers.
It is not a huge shock that AT&T is getting rid of the service. Last summer, the company stopped signing up new subscribers. Also AT&T has been pushing a new flavor of the VoIP service that it sells to its U-verse customers. U-verse is a new fiber network that AT&T is building to deliver high-speed broadband, TV, and phone service to consumers. Like the cable companies, AT&T is bundling the voice service with TV and broadband.
Verizon Communications also recently shut down its VoIP service called VoiceWing. It also sells an IP-based telephony service to its Fios fiber-to-the home customers as part of a triple play package.
An AT&T spokesman has said that the CallVantage service will be disconnected in phases throughout the year. And the company will send several more reminders to its customers before it shuts down the service.
Internet phone company Vonage is turning to a former Cingular Wireless to help guide it forward.
Marc Lefar, CEO of Vonage
(Credit: Vonage)Vonage announced Wednesday that Marc Lefar, former chief marketing officer at Cingular, will become the Vonage's new CEO. Lefar, 44, will take over the top spot at the company from Jeffrey Citron, Vonage's founder who stepped in last year to help guide the company through its legal battles and financial issues.
Jeffrey Citron, founder and chairman of Vonage
(Credit: Vonage)Now that Vonage has made headway through these troubles, Lefar will take over to guide the company's long term strategy. Earlier this week, Vonage said it had gotten $215 million in debt financing to help it get it back on track. And earlier this year it settled its legal troubles over patent disputes.
But Lefar has a tough job ahead of him. Vonage faces stiff competition from cable operators that are also offering voice over IP services. And it faces competition from traditional phone companies selling wireless services.
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