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Google: no comment on resubmitting official Voice app for iPhone

Though Apple has revised its App Store review policies to allow services like Google Voice, the search giant has not announced any plans to resubmit its own application, which sat in limbo and spurred a federal inquiry a year ago.

When contacted Monday by AppleInsider, Google noted that iPhone users can still use the Web-based Google Voice dialer, which allows users to activate a call through the telephony service. The company, however, declined to comment on whether it would resubmit its native application, which Apple refused to accept into the App Store last year.

"We currently offer Google Voice mobile apps for Blackberry and Android, and we offer an HTML5 web app for the iPhone," a Google spokesperson said. "We have nothing further to announce at this time."

On Sunday, applications that access the Google Voice service began appearing in the App Store, after being banished for more than a year. The first two that became available were GV Mobile + and GV Connect.

The acceptance of the Google Voice applications came after Apple revised and published its own App Store Review Guidelines, giving developers an idea of what kind of software will or will not be allowed for iOS devices.

Google Voice applications were originally pulled from the App Store in July 2009. Apple also refused to accept Google's own first-party Google Voice software, a situation that prompted an investigation from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

In a letter to the FCC, Apple claimed it was reviewing the Google Voice application, but had not outright rejected it. Over a year passed, however, with no word on its official acceptance or rejection.

Instead, Google opted to release a Web-based application for Google Voice, which allows users to access the service from the Mobile Safari browser on the iPhone. Unlike the App Store, where Apple controls what content is available, basic Web content is not filtered or restricted.

Google also wrote its own letter to the FCC, in which it alleged that Apple outright rejected the Google Voice software. It said officials with Apple would not allow the application into the App Store because it duplicated the dialer functionality built in to the iPhone.



34 Comments

walshbj 19 Years · 862 comments

Can't see Google holding this back to differentiate Android or for any other reason. Patience...

sgt zeppelin 16 Years · 26 comments

Somebody needs to release an app with push notifications. I would think Google might be the best hope, so hopefully they'll get something out soon. I'd love to drop texting from my plan and just use GV, but it's pointless if you have to keep opening the app to see if someone has replied.

superbass 19 Years · 683 comments

It seems pretty obvious Apple blocked competing VoIP while they developed FaceTime, knowing that once Skype or Google became the standard, it would be difficult to uproot them. FaceTime still isn't a finished product yet, but a year ago, Google Voice and Skype would have been in a position to dominate, whereas now, Facetime has at least a shot.

Now that the FCC's investigation has progressed over a couple months, it's safe to assume Apple's lawyers told them to drop the anti-competitive policies (since they didn't have a leg to stand on), and now we see that all of a sudden Adobe's previously banned platforms are okay, as well as Google.

It's an interesting parallel to the Windows/IE antitrust as in that case, Microsoft didn't change their stance during the "preliminary investigations", which led to a formal trial and billions of dollars in fines for M$.

Smart (but shady) tactics by apple to give itself a head start, while not letting it formally get into the legal system!

Interesting that Google hasn't jumped on it, but if Google's chat/VoIP becomes a "killer app" for the Android platform and really kills FaceTime, they might choose to keep it Android and Windows Mobile only (even Android google can't see Windows Mobile as being a threat!). Just imagine, for example, if Google search was only accessible by non-Apple products, how the last 8 years might have looked!

kingkuei 17 Years · 137 comments

As I recall, the major issue with Google's official GV app was the use of private APIs or otherwise that replaced existing functions on the phone itself. Unless Apple meant that the app itself contained similar function, but what I interpreted Apple's statement as was that Google GV app essentially replaced the Phone dialer and voicemail panels with that of GV.

In its current incarnation then, official GV app would still be rejected on the basis of replacing core functions and use of private APIs, which could cause an app to "break" upon subsequent iOS updates.

The only way I see an approval is if Google backs off the private APIs and makes the app to work solely as a self-contained app rather than a program that essentially "hacks" the core system functions.

dcj001 18 Years · 301 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sgt Zeppelin

Somebody needs to release an app with push notifications. I would think Google might be the best hope, so hopefully they'll get something out soon. I'd love to drop texting from my plan and just use GV, but it's pointless if you have to keep opening the app to see if someone has replied.

I don't understand why you can't/don't use the push notification for your Gmail account e-mail, and set up your texts to come into your e-mail inbox.