Well, Verizon just put a huge shot across AT&T's bow today by announcing they would allow Google Voice (and others) on their new Android-based handsets.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/verizon-android-phone...

A shot across the bow is fine. The folks who put together the phone still have to execute. Hopefully this will shape AT&T up.

Very true. Verizon could be all talk at this point.

But it's interesting to see the walls starting to come down, slowly as they are.

Yeah, that's my guess. Might as well get out in front and score some PR points for being open since it seems to be only a matter of time before it's a mandate. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/genachowskis-open-intern...

I agree, after rejecting google voice they didn't dare to reject this.

It's supposedly Apple that has rejected Skype and Google Voice. If you read Apple's letter to the FCC their agreement with AT&T is to prevent apps that will abuse the 3G bandwidth from making it into the App store, which is why I assume that Skype has been wifi-only up until now.

I'm just hoping that AT&T wasn't right. It would sure suck if 3G performance (for everyone since bandwidth is shared per cell tower) suffered from loads of people making Skype calls and/or Skype performance also suffered from too many other people trying to make Skype calls.