Of cause Apple, so far, has not made any movements at all and they won't. They make big bucks with the up to 30% they get from the mobile companies. The last thing they want that people use the data flat that is incl. in their rate and make cheep/ free calls. The only way they'll ever do so, is if they'll be forced by competition or can make money out of it. Show me the money, right? A$$le should be the new name of the company.

Why is this such a big mystery, people?

Apple is shaking down the phone companies for the first two years of the iPhone's life. A percentage of every dollar you pay to ATT goes to Apple.

In exchange, Apple has agreed to defeat VOIP on the iPhone for now.

Look for Apple to adopt VOIP once all of this original contracts die.

I say Apple should buy RingCentral. They have internet faxing, virtual PBX, toll-free numbers and oh yes, VoIP. All in one package. Why Google bought GrandCentral, an inferior company, is beyond me.

I am trying like heck to use Skype on OSX 10.5 but find the lack of basic keyboard shortcuts maddening. Any tips? What headset do you use? I really want to use the Plantronics Calisto Pro but there is no Mac support as of yet.

Voip on the iPhone would certainly be a killer app. they would shift a ton more phones if skype was bundled. the carriers would sell more contracts, the vast majority of their income, and apple would make more money by selling more phones than from their call cut. everyone is a winner. Voip is only really workable over wifi so people will still use the air-time, the more phones, the more air-time is used. even 3g would not really allow constant voip as the network would clog so people would still use air-time. Bundle Skype, sooner the better

You're not alone...  As a former ex-pat I too value skype immensely and would love to be able to use it in a handset even though I'm now stateside again.  Even if it didn't work on EDGE I'd be ok with that because I'd be using my minutes when I was roaming and using my WiFi at home...  I'd even be fine if it only made outgoing calls...  anythings that cut my minute usage on AT&T in half would be worth it for me. 

Imagine though one number that you could answer via VOIP or that would forward to either your mobile or land line (does anyone still have those) if you weren't online for VOIP...  ahh....  heaven.

Skype? You got to be kidding me!
If Apple is going to do VoIP, then hopefully based on a standard protocol, like SIP or H.323

Worse, once E.164 hits, there will be no more phone company. Getting a phone number is then simply registering a domain name in phone number format, and the phone, if there's a dedicated device, is simply something that hooks up to the internet. End of story.

The writing is on the wall, and Apple could be the killer. All they need to do is to provide as part of their dotMac service a gateway to the old-fashioned phone system, and let people register their phone numbers in e.164

Skype and all the other proprietary VoIP systems should go to hell and rot there, they are just an attempt of locking people into another proprietary communications model and get income streams out of them, before they realize that the entire phone system that we're used to, with regular phone numbers and all, is destined to become free forever.

All you'll pay for in the future is mobile internet, and maybe fibre optics, if you need more bandwidth than WiMax or HSUPA can deliver.

I don't think that you can count the regulated landline phone companies out in the near term - even twenty - thirty years.

Why? They are reliable. Your phone just works. It connects to the local emergency services and everything else. When you have an emergency, you can dial 911. When the power is out, the phone still works (if you have a corded one). They are highly regulated - with all the burdens that entails, it also entails a service expectation. Poor people can get phones without additional hardware (granted, they all seem to have cable and TV as well, but that is beside the point). When it doesn't work, the phone company fixes it.

Don't get me wrong. I have VOIP at home. I've just gotten through three months fighting with Vonage and Cox as to whose fault latency is (Cox's). New connectors and a new line to the street solved the problem. However, the phone company would have solved it immediately - I am now a VOIP consumer expert. The masses don't want that. They just want it to work. POTS does that. VOIP doesn't.

On the other hand, I would love to see VOIP on the iPhone. I think that would be a killer app. I don't know that Apple does have an anti-VOIP deal with AT&T. And frankly, neither does anyone reading this. Apple gets a kickback from AT&T for sure, but the advantage of selling more iPhones with VOIP might help. Look, the wireless companies are selling VOIP phones as well - there isn't a lot of downside to VOIP on an cell phone. The cell phone company doesn't provide the service or infrastructure, you have to. You don't place a burden on them and they are giving everyone free minutes - most of their money isn't made on overages on service plans. How often do you go over? I don't. Especially with AT&T's rolling minutes. They add VOIP and they pick up more subscribers in the closed system model.

Maybe Apple and/or AT&T are waiting to buy Vonage at a fire sale in about eighteen months when their debt catches up with them? Then Apple can provide a mature VOIP network, large subscriber base to AT&T as a natural market for their phones?