Native SIP VoIP Calls on the Galaxy Nexus

Google's always been in a bit of a tough situation when it comes to VoIP calling and its support for SIP standards. A few years back as an outsider, they had every incentive to disrupt the market and break the monopoly of the carriers. It introduced new innovative services like Google Voice and made their intentions to be a major player in the space very plain. But then something happened - Android. The eruption of the smartphone market made it necessary for Google to play a big role in its shaping and this required the cooperation of the carriers. After all, it's no secret that the carriers hold all the cards in the US.
This naturally creates a conflict of interest and what was once simply a matter of bludgeoning ahead is now more complex. It's not in Android's best interests to piss off the carriers since they're the ones who make the choice of deciding which operating system their phones will carry. Naturally products such as Google Voice don't make them too happy. We've seen before how Google seems to be toying with a great feature only to pull the plug on it later on.
An example of such a feature was providing every Google Voice user with an SIP address. This would have been a killer service for the millions of GV users out there to make and receive calls via their Internet connection. It could have start an avalanche effect and really got the ball rolling. But that feature was later pulled and SIP addresses no longer connect to Google Voice accounts.
One can only assume that Google is afraid of pissing the carriers off. Android is certainly the dominant OS in the market but it's not yet unassailable. The scales are tilted in its favor but iOS poses a strong threat and other competitors like Windows OS are just waiting to jump in. A few more years should cement Android's lead and create enough brand recognition that users will be able to demand it from their carriers. Once that happens, there's little reason for Google to hold back its moves to further disrupt the telecom industry.
Proof of Google's intentions lies in the fact that it allows users to store the SIP addresses as part of the contact details and users can choose to make outgoing calls using them rather than the traditional phone network. Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich both have an in built SIP client which allows native SIP calls. It's a sign of things to come. Let's just hope we don't have to wait too long for it.
Bhagwad is an expert consultant on Hosted VoIP PBX Servers. He also specializes in Migrating to Hosted PBX.

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