With the Apple iPhone coming out Friday no doubt many people are wondering if you can install Skype or any other VoIP application on the iPhone. Well... The answer to that is a resounding "no". Unfortunately, in Apple's grand design to conquer the mobile phone universe, they decided to NOT allow 3rd party applications to be installed on the iPhone. Even though the iPhone runs Mac OS X, which Skype runs on, you can't install the Mac OS X Skype software onto the iPhone.

According to Apple, the iPhone WILL support third-party "Web 2.0 apps" via their Safari browser. Well woopdeedo! So you can create some Google Maps mashups or some other Web-based apps, but as for a VoIP application like Skype, which you need to run as a separate application (not within a browser), you are SOL.

So what's the reasoning behind Apple "locking" the iPhone and not allowing applications such as VoIP to be installed? Could it be the related to the fact that the iPhone is "locked" into using AT&T's cellular network exclusively? Hmmm. I wonder... Perhaps AT&T agreed to be the exclusive provider of the iPhone over the next couple years in exchange for Apple agreeing to "lock" the iPhone from running third-party applications, especially VoIP applications which bypass the voice minutes and use the flat-rate data plan.Let me add that the iPhone has no instant messaging, only standard text messaging (SMS). Guess who gets the revenue from SMS messages? AT&T. Do I detect a pattern here?

"That's just conspiracy talk" you say? That may be true, but don't be surprised if some hacker is able to hack the iPhone to allow third-party applications. What will be interesting to see is AT&T's response to any hacking. Will they do what Microsoft has done with their XBox Live customers, where Microsoft detects "modded" (hacked) XBoxes and bans their XBox Live ID from the XBox Live network preventing them playing online. Could AT&T respond in a similar fashion?

T-Mobile UK has a ToS (terms of service) that bans IM and VoIP from their network, so don't be surprised if the new Apple iPhone has a similar ToS, especially if it is eventually hacked.

Update:
See my article posted July 9th where I discovered a Skype "workaround" that allows you to run Skype on the iPhone.