We wondered yesterday why Skype hadn't enabled Push Notifications in their latest iPhone update, and more importantly, why we couldn't use Skype, or any voice over IP service, over 3G?  Peter Parkes (not Spiderman), a Skype blogger, wrote in to clarify a few things for us.

First of all, they are working on Push Notifications.  It's coming.  Soon.

"we’re working on this; we’ll release a version with Push notifications when the experience has been perfected."

Also, the reason they can't enable VoIP over 3G isn't a limitation by AT&T.

Many of you have also been asking when we'll release a version which allows you to make calls over 3G - the holy grail of Skype on the mobile, if you like. We've had a 3G-capable version ready for some time now, but Apple's current restrictions mean that they won't allow us to make it available on the App Store for the moment

It is Apple themselves who have blocked VoIP over 3G, not AT&T at all.  But why Apple, why?

When Apple blocks a capability on the iPhone, it often means that they are cooking up something similar or have a unique way of doing it.   For instance, Apple blocked video on the iPhone and iPhone 3G only to introduce it as a breakaway feature on the iPhone 3GS.  Perhaps Apple has some new way of doing VoIP in the works.

We'd like to hear your thoughts on this.