Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
No Google Voice for iPhone
In what may be one of the least surprising pieces of recent iPhone App Store news, Apple has officially rejected the Google Voice application for the iPhone. Now I’m sure everyone saw this one coming, but it is a huge testament to the concept of Net Neutrality and its non-existence on the mobile platform. This is not Apple’s first case this year, or even this month of taking steps to deny the release of apps that may take away from or potentially put too much demand on any portion of the services offered by their precious business partner, AT&T. In a great little write up over on Wired, they very simply point out “this creates the impression that the “Think Different” company is mired in the old think of protecting a lucrative business relationship, rather than letting the innovation chips fall where they may.”
My prediction, in the next year, Apple will be forced to open its app store up and the concept of “App Stores” will be drastically altered. There’s something to be said about guaranteeing a quality product, but the inconsistent approval process is causing Apple to lose ground against its competitors (Palm Pre, Google Android… I’d say Blackberry, but they’re still way off the mark, but that’s another post for another day) and making the company look more and more like a regulator and less of an innovator. Its a fine line to walk, but in the end, innovation will always prevail, and Apple, for one, should know that. Its up to them to make the decision as to how they proceed, but the idea of an open app store and open network providers doesn’t seem like an all to distant future.
Wired: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/07/apple-rejects-google-voice/
Dusing on July 29th, 2009 at 8:36 am
I’d like to believe AT&T is the culprit, as GV replaces a few of the things they charge for, not to mention the whole concept of GV means you don’t really have to be tied to a cell phone provider because of your number, etc..
That being said I think Apple will get rid of AT&T’s app veto power in any renegotiation or extension, in a year this will hopefully not be a problem – But I don’t think that will be because they open up the app store.
Workerman on July 31st, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Always another way! You can get the Google voice app thru Cydia! Right now!