http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/From-iTouch-to-iPhone-With-a-Download/?kc=EWKNLCSM02102009MOSTREAD4From iTouch to iPhone with a Download
By Roy Mark
2009-02-05
Competition to turn an Apple iPod Touch into an iPhone is heating up among application developers, with VOIP provider Jajah joining Truphone in blurring the difference between the wildly popular devices. Unlike the iPhone, turning the iTouch into a telephone doesn't require a two-year contract or an expensive data plan, only a Wi-Fi connection.
The difference between Apple's iPhone and its iPod Touch used to be a pretty bright line: One is a telephone and the other is not. That difference, though, is starting to fade as voice over IP providers begin to develop applications that allow iTouch users to utilize their Wi-Fi connections to turn the device into a fully functioning telephone.
There's only one hitch: Without a Wi-Fi connection, the iTouch is still, well, an iTouch.
VOIP provider Jajah is the latest to join the fray, introducing Feb. 5 a white label solution for carriers and noncarriers alike to brand and market an iTouch-into-an-iPhone service. Jajah's service includes the application itself, in addition to a suite of management services, from termination of the calls and quality control through billing and processing payments in 200 countries around the world.