Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Derek Smith

Truphone this week announced the addition of Truphone Anywhere functionality to its iPhone application, adding support for inbound calling and enabling users to make calls when not connected to a Wi-Fi network.

As TMCnet's Tom Keating notes, "Steve Jobs will only allow VoIP over Wi-Fi and not over a 3G data connection. So has Truphone enabled VoIP over a 3G connection for the Apple iPhone? Not quite. It's a callback system similar to JAJAH that uses the 3G voice bearer channel, not the data channel. So you're still using voice minutes. But if you have an unlimited bucket of voice minutes, you make international calls across the Internet for as little as £0.03/$0.06 [UK/Rest of World] per minute."

The inbound calling functionality, according to InformationWeek's Eric Zeman, "uses a presence feature so users can see if any other Truphone users are available to connect via a call. The new inbound call capability means that iPhone users can avoid inbound call charges - for example, when abroad - provided they are connected to a Wi-Fi network, enabling significant cost savings.

"However, two features remain missing - text messaging, and an 'always on' feature so you can get Truphone calls even when you aren't running the app," notes TechCrunch's Mike Butcher. "However, I gather they are working on these kinds of issues, and as we all know Apple is not yet allowing third party apps to run in the background."

More here from MacNN ... more here from jkOnTheRun ... more here from iPhone Hacks ... more here from SlashPhone ... and the press release is here.