iOS 5 Appears to Follow JB Lead Making FaceTime Available Over 3G

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It looks like Apple has taken yet another directive from the JB community, which was more than just a few steps ahead of the Cupertino titans when jailbreakers brought FaceTime to 3G last year. But it now appears that iOS 5 will make the feature available to non-jailbroken iPhones too.

Based on the findings of a few curious devs who have poked around the new iOS 5 beta, FaceTime is poised to work over 3G for the first official time. However, just because the functionality is there and images from users tinkering with the beta confirm it, there's one enormous variable that could impact if and how we enjoy or access FaceTime over 3G. I'm referring, naturally, to Apple's carriers in the US.

Although I could be wrong, it seems highly unlikely that AT&T and Verizon will simply stand by and watch as Apple enables FaceTime to work over the carriers' respective (and already burdened) networks. Instead, one would logically assume that additional fees or data plan tiers would be implemented over time. Of course, that's just my assumption. Please keep in mind that inquiries to both AT&T and Verizon this afternoon did not yield a response on the matter.

Nonetheless, it doesn't come as a major shocker that Apple is traveling down the path of 3G FaceTime usage. Many believe Apple should have provided that functionality when the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 originally dropped last year. And if not for JB, we still wouldn't know the joys that non-JB iPhones continue to miss out on