Unlike Google Voice, Vonage Now Available on iPhone

Apple seems to have gotten over its aversion to apps duplicating core iPhone functions. This morning Internet telephony company Vonage released an app that allows iPhone users to make calls over Wi-Fi and AT&T’s voice network. Place a call in range of a Wi-Fi signal and it will be routed over AT&T’s (T) data network; place it out of range of Wi-Fi and it will be routed over the carrier’s voice network, where it will consume minutes from the caller’s AT&T service plan

Interesting, given the recent flap over Google Voice for iPhone, which Apple (AAPL) hasn’t yet allowed into its iTunes App Store because it “appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voice mail.”

How is Vonage’s (VG) app different? Its features and functionality are certainly very similar to those of Google Voice.

Apple won’t say, but the company did tell the Associated Press that Vonage’s app falls under the same category as other VoIP applications that have already been approved for the iPhone.