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Apple Publicly Responds to FCC Inquiry, Comments on Google Voice App Status

Apple specifically stated in the 3Gs keynote that in many markets the iPhone is on multiple carriers and they have found that to be beneficial to Apple and consumers....

I have one thing to say...

LET THE CONTRACT WITH AT&T ENDDDDDDD!

FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE!!!
:rolleyes:
 
Fluffy Bunny said:
Hey guess what, it's Apple's app store. They can approve or disapprove anything they want for any reason. If someone doesn't like that, no one is forcing them to buy an iphone. There are plenty of other phones out there.

I know the government does a bang up job with things like the Mail, DMVs, Public Education, and soon Health Care, but we don't need them telling Apple how to run their business or what apps we are allowed or not allowed to have. The buying public can vote with their wallet.
Click to expand...

Its is arguably anti-competitive. The iphone is an entirely closed system and unless you jailbreak your phone you have to rely on Apple's system to access and install the apps. What other computer maker says whether applications are able to compete with their own offerings. Not even Microsoft
 
MacFly123 said:
Apple specifically stated in the 3Gs keynote that in many markets the iPhone is on multiple carriers and they have found that to be beneficial to Apple and consumers....

I have one thing to say...

LET THE CONTRACT WITH AT&T ENDDDDDDD!

FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE!!!
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

They also said that PowerPC chips are much better than Intel chips and mhz don't matter.

It's a keynote speech --- a sales pitch.
 
Nudist said:
Its is arguably anti-competitive. The iphone is an entirely closed system and unless you jailbreak your phone you have to rely on Apple's system to access and install the apps. What other computer maker says whether applications are able to compete with their own offerings. Not even Microsoft
Click to expand...

Competition is confusing, though. Do you really want everyone to be confused? Come on now.
 
MacFly123 said:
Apple specifically stated in the 3Gs keynote that in many markets the iPhone is on multiple carriers and they have found that to be beneficial to Apple and consumers....

I have one thing to say...

LET THE CONTRACT WITH AT&T ENDDDDDDD!

FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE!!!
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Best post of the day. :)
Thank you for pointing this out.
 
Nudist said:
Its is arguably anti-competitive. The iphone is an entirely closed system and unless you jailbreak your phone you have to rely on Apple's system to access and install the apps. What other computer maker says whether applications are able to compete with their own offerings. Not even Microsoft
Click to expand...

It is also a phone that has 1% of the world's market share.
 
brockm said:
I don't know about you. But I'm glad that Apple rejected this application. Otherwise, I may have installed it on my phone. Had this occurred, I would likely have become very confused and not known what to do.

If I had more than one way to place phone calls on my phone, I would enjoy my phone significantly less, and likely fall into a deep depressive episode.

I'm glad to see that Apple is protecting me from this confusion-inducing, alternative calling system. I understand that I could save hundreds of dollars on long distance and be able to do amazing things like centralize all my phone numbers into a single phone number. But the confusion that would arise from having this application on my phone would degrade my experience.

If you'll excuse me, I need to place a phone call using Skype from my iPhone.
Click to expand...

exactly. since it is an optional app..it makes zero sense that it would be rejected on the grounds that it would confuse the user..since the user themselves installed it willingly.
 
MacFly123 said:
Apple specifically stated in the 3Gs keynote that in many markets the iPhone is on multiple carriers and they have found that to be beneficial to Apple and consumers....

I have one thing to say...

LET THE CONTRACT WITH AT&T ENDDDDDDD!

FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE, FREE THE US iPHONE!!!
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

One carrier. One way to make phone calls. One place to buy music.

No confusion. Period. Apple should never end the contract with AT&T.

If they did, people would become confused.
 
brockm said:
Just because you're not confused, doesn't mean everyone else won't be confused. I say hooray for Apple and protecting us from confusion.
Click to expand...
I know this is hard to grasp for some people (you), but there is one sure fire way to not be confused. DON'T INSTALL THE APP!!

Oh no, scary Google app confuses me. What ever will I do? Please Apple, protect me from my own self-induced confusion.

LOL. Seriously ***** LOL!
 
SevenInchScrew said:
I know this is hard to grasp for some people (you), but there is one sure fire way to not be confused. DON'T INSTALL THE APP!!

Oh no, scary Google app confuses me. What ever will I do? Please Apple, protect me from my own self-induced confusion.

LOL. Seriously ***** LOL!
Click to expand...

It's a good thing Apple protects me from confusion!

Heh....heh....HAWHAWHAWHAWHAW!!!!
 
Kinda Ironic....

Fluffy Bunny said:
Hey guess what, it's Apple's app store. They can approve or disapprove anything they want for any reason. If someone doesn't like that, no one is forcing them to buy an iphone. There are plenty of other phones out there.

I know the government does a bang up job with things like the Mail, DMVs, Public Education, and soon Health Care, but we don't need them telling Apple how to run their business or what apps we are allowed or not allowed to have. The buying public can vote with their wallet.
Click to expand...

Your observation is pretty ironic considering many Apple types are also "big government" types.
 
do you really want one company t have all the information about you. Imagine what would happen if another secret spying program targets you via google.
 
brockm said:
One carrier. One way to make phone calls. One place to buy music.

No confusion. Period. Apple should never end the contract with AT&T.

If they did, people would become confused.
Click to expand...
Geez, you sure are confused easily. Do you watch TV, or drive a car, or wear clothes? There are plenty of choices out there for those things. Should Apple let you know which show to watch, what car to drive, and what clothes to wear as well?

I'm laughing my ass off right now. Right now I'm really hoping that you are joke-posting, and this isn't serious.
 
SevenInchScrew said:
Geez, you sure are confused easily. Do you watch TV, or drive a car, or wear clothes? There are plenty of choices out there for those things. Should Apple let you know which show to watch, what car to drive, and what clothes to wear as well?

I'm laughing my ass off right now. Right now I'm really hoping that you are joke-posting, and this isn't serious.
Click to expand...

Are you too stupid for irony?
 
RazHyena said:
It's a good thing Apple protects me from confusion!

Heh....heh....HAWHAWHAWHAWHAW!!!!
Click to expand...

I agree. For example, I was using a Blackberry once (before I got my iPhone) which had the Gmail application installed on it.

I wanted to check my email one day, and I just froze and didn't know what to do.

Should I click on the little icon that says "Mail" or the one that says "Gmail"? Needless to say, I became so confused that I slowly retreated to the corner and started rapidly rocking back and forth. Tears were flowing down my eyes, and according to observers (I can't remember clearly)--I was crying and screaming: "I'm confused, oh god, I'm confused... what do I do? Oh god, Oh god. Make the confusion stop!"

With iPhone, I never have such things happen. Thanks to Apple.
 
brockm said:
I agree. For example, I was using a Blackberry once (before I got my iPhone) which had the Gmail application installed on it.

I wanted to check my email one day, and I just froze and didn't know what to do.

Should I click on the little icon that says "Mail" or the one that says "Gmail"? Needless to say, I became so confused that I slowly retreated to the corner and started rapidly rocking back and forth. Tears were flowing down my eyes, and according to observers (I can't remember clearly)--I was crying and screaming: "I'm confused, oh god, I'm confused... what do I do? Oh god, Oh god. Make the confusion stop!"

With iPhone, I never have such things happen. Thanks to Apple.
Click to expand...

:D I feel so safe now! Thanks, Apple! :apple::apple:
 
*LTD* said:
Why?

Why should it take more than only a couple of mintues to review each app? It either meets the criteria or it doesn't. There doesn't need to be any in-depth scrutiny here.
Click to expand...

Are you high?

A couple of minutes to see if it works, or is buggy, or violates any of Apple's rules?

:rolleyes:
 
Maybe with just 40 reviews Apple was going to let this wither on the vine like they did with MobileMe (formally known as .Mac or iTools). With Phil replying like crazy maybe something is going on behind the Apple screen and this whole thing will make Apple wake up about the sad state of their App store procedures.
 
Why doesn't Apple just admit they don't want more competition? Is there something wrong with that? I wouldn't think any company would like competition. I like Google Voice and think it's cool and all, but it's Apple's device...
 
Tommigun said:
Are you too stupid for irony?
Click to expand...
Not sure yet. I'm still waiting to hear back from Apple if I'm approved for "Ironic Detection". Can I get back to you?

In the meantime, maybe you, someone who CLEARLY is not too stupid for such things, would like to explain things better. I'm all ears. What am I missing?
 
You read my mind. Sarcasm and all. I'm one of Apple's biggest fans and this gestapo like process of knowing what's good for me is getting very old very fast. Especially when it's really just an ugly wrapper on top of protecting AT&T's profits.

brockm said:
I don't know about you. But I'm glad that Apple rejected this application. Otherwise, I may have installed it on my phone. Had this occurred, I would likely have become very confused and not known what to do.

If I had more than one way to place phone calls on my phone, I would enjoy my phone significantly less, and likely fall into a deep depressive episode.

I'm glad to see that Apple is protecting me from this confusion-inducing, alternative calling system. I understand that I could save hundreds of dollars on long distance and be able to do amazing things like centralize all my phone numbers into a single phone number. But the confusion that would arise from having this application on my phone would degrade my experience.

If you'll excuse me, I need to place a phone call using Skype from my iPhone.
Click to expand...
 
Behind the Kimono

For the first time, we're getting a clearer picture of the relationship between these three giants and specifically, contractural obligations between the parties. Thank our government for that one because otherwise we'd have never known. I've read all three replies to the FCC in full and these are the main takeaways:

1. Apple controls the App Store, period. The only situation where AT&T appears to get involved seems to be in situations where it might crash their precious network.

2. Apple seems to care an awful lot about the overall iPhone experience from beginning to end. No surprise there...this is Steve Jobs we're talking about (Apple ][, original Mac, NeXT Cube, egg-shaped iMac Steve). They seem to be taking this whole "duplication of services" thing pretty seriously. To be fair, Apple indicated this was a policy when they first make the iPhone SDK available in March '08.

3. AT&T is largely uninvolved in all of this, except of course when it comes to their precious network. This includes not only the redirection of TV signals but also with services like VoIP on their network. Curiously, AT&T does discuss the fact that they are looking to do their own VoIP service in the future.

4. AT&T doesn't seem to have anything to do with competing SMS applications (in fact, they make a point of showing all the other free SMS services in the App Store).

5. AT&T has had limited engagement with Apple with certain apps. Curiously, they don't address the Sling issue at all by name. Considering that the AT&T Terms of Service agreement changed while Sling was in the approval process means that AT&T probably has more to tell on this subject. It would seem that AT&T is using its ToS agreement to deal with network issues that arise post contract signing with Apple.

6. Google is the interesting wild card. They are the one who seem to be so conflicted that part of their response is completely redacted from public viewing, particularly their discussions with Apple. They even went as far as ask to have a change to refute any Freedom of Information requests for the information. Why are they having a problem with their Apple discussions? Well, we know the companies are normally tight but increasingly compete (after all, Google has their own phone platform). We know that Google's CEO left the Apple board while all this was going on. Eric Schmidt may not have left Apple after getting pissed off at Steve, but can you imagine a situation where Apple wants to discuss with Google about how to deal with the Google Voice and Eric Schmidt isn't allowed to talk to other Apple brass about telephony? Completely untenable.

7. AT&T does have interest in Google Voice but not the reason I thought. AT&T mentions that they are curious to find out more about Google Voice to determine if it falls under established telecom regulations that the regulated telecoms adhere to for payment of services that touch each other. Translation: AT&T is looking to get paid by Google for Google Voice operating on their network.
 
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