Apple Rejects Official Google Voice iPhone Application

[tempusfugit]

this is such BS people who don't have a 3GS rely on things like google voice because its NOT available otherwise.


Shame on AT&T
Shame on Apple



Time to get their stuff together if you ask me. I can't wait for AT&T to lose the exclusive contract.

I'd switch to any carrier next year if that carrier had an iphone 4G + tethering. Any carrier. Even Sprint. There I said it. Are you happy?

 

[cere]

What if Apple wants to put those slingplayer featuresets into a future version of AppleTV.

What if? It doesn't for now. It is very simple. Sling was denied when the app was on 3G. It was allowed as soon as Sling made it wifi only. How did this benefit Apple?

 

[bilboa]

It's ironic when someone complains that Verizon blocked OBEX on a few dumbphones, when the iPhone "smartphone" came with LESS Bluetooth support than most Verizon dumb phones... and a lot less than their smartphones.

That's completely irrelevant. The point is that Verizon artificially blocked you from transferring your photos directly from your phone to your computer or vice versa, simply so they could sell you a service to do that over the air. The iPhone has always allowed you to transfer photos or audio or ringtones to your phone directly from your computer. Whether it does so via a USB cable or Bluetooth is beside the point, and has nothing to do with the cell carrier. The point is that Verizon is at least as restrictive and stingy and expensive as AT&T. The only thing better about Verizon is they have better coverage in many areas.

 

[NoExpectations]

Face the facts,,,,,

Like hell it wasn't Apple. They have absolute authority on what applications get accepted or rejected from their App Store.

Quick being an Apple apologist.

Apple and AT&T signed a mutually agreed upon contract that both companies fully understood and must abide too. These restrictions are there to protect both companies.

I applaud Apple for their Propaganda Campaign. All they have to do is reject an App and be silent.....and then the Forums and Apple Fanboys knock the heck out of AT&T. This strategy by Apple has successfully manipulated the press and has positioned Apple as the "Hero" and AT&T as the "Villain".

What about the other Apps that Apple has rejected that were in direct competition with iTunes?

Let's face it...you can submit any App as long as it enhances the bottom line for Apple and/or AT&T. This is business....they are there to make money. Why would they support an App that would hurt?

 

[NoExpectations]

Don't forget about Vodafone.

Mixing apples and oranges, because Verizon has two major divisions.

Verizon WIRELESS is doing very well, and hiring.

Verizon LANDLINE is cutting jobs, because so many people are using just cellphones these days.

Don't forget that Verizon only owns about half of Verizon Wireless. Vodafone owns the other half.

 

[Compile 'em all]

Actual phone call from Apple to the VoiceCentral guys to let them know that their app has been removed! WTF!

Richard: “I’m calling to let you know that VoiceCentral has been removed from the App Store because it duplicates features of the iPhone.”

Me: “I don’t understand that reasoning. By that logic wouldn’t apps like Textfree, Skype, fring, or iCall be considered duplicates?”

Richard: “I can’t discuss other apps with you.”

Me: “It’s not the apps themselves I want to discuss just the lack of consistency in rule enforcement.”

Richard: “I can only say that yours duplicates features of the iPhone and was causing confusion in the user community. It’s against our policy.”

Me: “So what has changed that it is now against policy? It has been in the store for the last 4 months with no problem. There wasn’t a problem for the 1.5 months prior to that when you were ‘reviewing’ it. And this didn’t come up with any of the updates we submitted after it was already in the store.”

Richard: “I can’t say - only that yours is not complying with our policy.”

Me: “Can you tell me what portions of the app were duplicate features?”

Richard: “I can’t go into granular detail.”

Me: “Is there something we can change or alter in order to regain compliance and get back in the Store?”

Richard: “I can’t say.”

Me: “Well if we can’t figure out the issue then how will we know whether to resubmit the app. And how will we know whether to invest in any other development efforts? Future apps could be impacted.”

Richard: “I can’t help you with that”

Me: “So how do we know whether it is still viable for us to consider Apple a partner if this is how the scenario plays out. If you were in my shoes would you continue to invest blood, sweat, tears and money in something that can be killed off at any moment without your say so?”

Richard: “I understand your point but I can’t help you with that.”

Me: “Surely someone there at Apple asked you to make this phone call. Can I speak with that person about this?”

Richard: “I am the only one you can speak with on this subject.”

Me: “There has to be someone there I can actually have a back and forth with so that we can make some strategic decisions on whether this partnership makes any sense.”

Richard: “You can only talk to me”

Me: “Nothing personal since I know you have just been tasked to make this call but we aren’t really talking here. There’s no back and forth and you aren’t allowed to answer any questions. Can I implore you to ask your managers if there is anyone who would be willing to speak with me and have a real conversation? I don’t care if it needs to be off the record or we need to sign another top-secret NDA but we really have nothing to go on at this point. We will need to make business decisions on whether it makes any sense to continue developing.”

Richard: “I will relay that to my managers.”

 

[stone315]

It's ironic that Apple is currently able to use the argument that an app "duplicate features that come with the iPhone" to reject it right after the EU has ordered Microsoft to offer the browser ballot box system to give people options other than IE. Apple's current actions are pretty much equivalent to Microsoft suing Mozilla for duplicating features that come with Windows. I mean, the entire point of capitalism is to motivate innovation by presenting competition, so it'll be interesting to see how long they can continue to make this argument work.

 

[macUser2007]

Actual phone call from Apple to the VoiceCentral guys to let them know that their app has been removed! WTF!

WOW!

Someone should play this conversation during the next Apple expo. Actually, if I was Google, I'd make an ad from it for Android.

And really, macrumors, " Apple Rejects Official Google Voice iPhone Application" should be a front-page story (instead of the totally pointless "What Will be the Killer Feature of an Apple Tablet?.")

 

[erostratus]

It's ironic that Apple is currently able to use the argument that an app "duplicate features that come with the iPhone" to reject it right after the EU has ordered Microsoft to offer the browser ballot box system to give people options other than IE. Apple's current actions are pretty much equivalent to Microsoft suing Mozilla for duplicating features that come with Windows. I mean, the entire point of capitalism is to motivate innovation by presenting competition, so it'll be interesting to see how long they can continue to make this argument work.

When the iPhone OS runs on 90% of the world's phones, then your argument will have some merit. Until then, there are far more competitors to the iPhone than Windows.

 

[stone315]

When the iPhone OS runs on 90% of the world's phones, then your argument will have some merit. Until then, there are far more competitors to the iPhone than Windows.

I may have picked a poor example, but it does seem to me as though Apple should be found to be in violation of some anti-trust law. Shutting down a company or blocking an application because it presents competition violates the fundamental idea of capitalism.

 

[Packersfan27]

This NEEDS to be on the frontpage, there have been other annoying problems with apps being removed from the store (NetShare for example), but this one is by far the worst.

These "It duplicates the phone function" responses are just dumb. I could really care less about who (Apple or AT&T) is behind this, because either way it hurts us as consumers.

 

[str1f3]

Actual phone call from Apple to the VoiceCentral guys to let them know that their app has been removed! WTF!

This reads like something out of Kafka's "The Trial"

This NEEDS to be on the frontpage, there have been other annoying problems with apps being removed from the store (NetShare for example), but this one is by far the worst.

I get the feeling this story is being buried. The top story on the home page is "What Will be the Killer Feature of an Apple Tablet?" Are you kidding me? It's not even a story based on any facts, just suppositions.

 

[incoherent1]

There are few times that I go into ranting mode, but I hope that Apple and AT&T are reading this because this is completely unacceptable.

As someone with the GV Mobile app (and mine still seems to be working, but who knows for how long), I have to say this is a huge mistake on the part of both AT&T and Apple. I've been using Google Voice to simplify my work life and actually having *more* people calling me on my iPhone (through my Google Voice number) and buying this great app. The former benefits AT&T in the form of peak airtime (something I'd otherwise not be using because I don't give out my personal number for work and thus wouldn't use airtime between 8:30am and 7:00pm) and Apple for getting a cut of the app's ticket price. This is completely shortsighted and ignorant.

 

[spyda]

ROTTEN

 

[kev21986]

We are saved.. For now at least

GV Mobile is on Cydia.

http://lifehacker.com/5324596/gv-mobile-available-for-free-on-cydia?skyline=true&s=i

Its not the official app but its a whole lot better than nothing.

 

[duffer]

rotten

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Just another example of what happens when a company has Cart Blanche to disallow all competition at a whim, whenever it suits them with whatever operating system version license agreements they want to write. This kind of behavior should be illegal for all companies. A publicly released OS should mean public competition like any other market. Imagine if they did this with OS X on their Macs or tried to take 30% of all profits for ALL Mac software with no other store outlets or ways to install software. People would have a fit, but because it's on a small device that can make phone calls, most fanatics dismiss it as their product to do anything they feel like with.

 

[cubedweller]

...front page news.

This really should be on the front page. I don't know what the admins are thinking...

 

[kironin]

There are few times that I go into ranting mode, but I hope that Apple and AT&T are reading this because this is completely unacceptable.

As someone with the GV Mobile app (and mine still seems to be working, but who knows for how long), I have to say this is a huge mistake on the part of both AT&T and Apple. I've been using Google Voice to simplify my work life and actually having *more* people calling me on my iPhone (through my Google Voice number) and buying this great app. The former benefits AT&T in the form of peak airtime (something I'd otherwise not be using because I don't give out my personal number for work and thus wouldn't use airtime between 8:30am and 7:00pm) and Apple for getting a cut of the app's ticket price. This is completely shortsighted and ignorant.

I was wondering, my GV Mobile app is still working also so far. Just made some test phone calls.

and I agree, this is stupid and shortsighted! especially so if AT&T Blackberries have it.

signed Twitter petition
http://twitition.com/xh8jk

 

[Michael CM1]

Unlike some, I don't see this as "censorship" or anything like that - it's apple's store and they can disallow whatever they like. I just think they're playing with fire here because while they're not going to lose customers over some of the utter crap that's been rejected in the past, some potential buyers will take note of things like this that are available on other platforms and not the iphone.

That's about the best way it can be said. Although I'm still leery of all that Google gets into, apparently I'm a minority and a lot of people want everything the G puts out. But it is Apple's party and nobody was forced to buy an iPhone or sign up with AT&T. Me, I'll take the good with the bad. The bad is so itty bitty compared to the good that I could care less personally about Google Voice or Google Latitude. GL really requires a background option to work worth a damn, so until that's a reality, I don't see much of a point.

In an aside, some of you need to go look up the difference between government intervention in first amendment areas and private companies deciding what they want to do. As far as I know, Apple could fire any employee for saying "Steve Jobs sucks." Free speech is only guaranteed via the government, not the private sector. /rant

 

[niuniu]

This Google Voice app looks tasty - shame a UK version isn't available

Maybe we'll see a similar version on Cydia soon? Or I guess this something a smaller developer couldn't pull off..

 

[wonderbread57]

I may have picked a poor example, but it does seem to me as though Apple should be found to be in violation of some anti-trust law. Shutting down a company or blocking an application because it presents competition violates the fundamental idea of capitalism.

At first I was going to tell you that you are mistaken. That Apple is not guilty of that since they own the App Store and they are simply not helping out the competition by letting them use their store. If Apple somehow strong armed a company in the open market, they would be guilty of this sort of anti-competitive behavior. For instance, if Microsoft told Best Buy that Best Buy would no longer be a certified dealer of windows if they sold a competitor to MS Word.

Then it hit me! Apple is controlling the marketplace by running the App Store and not letting apps be installed by any other means. It's not like the open market with windows where companies are allowed to release competing products (firefox vs. IE for example). The fact that apple devised this market place and has policies about it is so underhanded and controlling it is certainly guilty of being anti-competitive only on a level i don't think we have yet seen in the software distribution sector.

Think about it, iPod Touch has no policy signed with AT&T. The App Store is more general than just iPhone, so if this app is not available for iPod Touch then Apple alone is to blame and SURELY this is repugnant anti-competitive behavior. Apple will be sued and they will loose.

 

[stone315]

Then it hit me! Apple is controlling the marketplace by running the Apple Store and not letting apps be installed by any other means. It's not like the open market with windows where companies are allowed to release competing products (firefox vs. IE for example). The fact that apple devised this market place and has policies about it is so underhanded and controlling it is certainly guilty of being anti-competitive only on a level i don't think we have yet seen in the software distribution sector.

There it is. This is why an analogy to Microsoft's old policies on Internet Explorer was inadequate. Microsoft's inclusion of IE didn't force people to use it, but it did prevent a large majority of people from realizing that there were other options. This goes beyond that; Apple is not only including their own apps but also completely preventing any competition for any of their homemade apps. (Safari, Phone, and Mail come to mind, although can you imagine what would happen if someone tried to come up with a competitor for the iPod app?) There is no analogue to this kind of control in the PC world (PC as in any computer, not something that runs Windows) because developers for major operating systems are working in a mostly free market. The app store is not a free market in any sense, which is why I think that they should start getting hit with anti-trust legislation. They are stifling other developers' innovations and creativity for the sake of their own product, and that is what anti-trust legislation is designed to fight.

 

[contractcooker]

Jailbreaking Is Not Hard To Do!!

I hear this quite often people talking about how jailbreaking "isn't worth it". I'm not sure what people think is involved in the process but I assure you it is not difficult and takes about half an hour to accomplish. People, don't hate apple... just don't let them dictate what you can and can't do with your device. Jailbreaking is awesome and EVERYONE with an iphone should do it.

tb

BOO. I was waiting for this app, and I didn't buy GV mobile (the unofficial app) because I was led to believe Google's official app was coming out. Now I really wish I had supported the independent developer before Apple did a complete 180 and pulled the app.

This is the most ridiculous development yet in the sea of BS that has been consistently emanating from Apple in recent months. I'm not going to threaten with "OMG I'm gonna Jailbreak now," because it's not realistic and from what I've read it's not worth it at this juncture and I don't think Apple cares all that much anyway because they're still selling the hardware. I shouldn't have to go to the trouble of Jailbreaking to use an app like this.

BTW if you hear someone say this app somehow costs carriers more bandwidth and that AT&T is just protecting its interests, know that they are just plain wrong. The app doesn't do VOIP calls over 3G or anything crazy like that. What this does do is give out features for free that dinosaur AT&T is still charging for, such as web-accessible voicemail, one phone number that rings all your phones and other really nice stuff that AT&T charges significant extra fees for, despite the fact that these features cost them little or nothing to provide.

I have a little under two more years left with my iPhone. This means Apple/AT&T have two years to figure out that it's really in their best interests to quit this anti-competitive device-crippling crap. If they don't, well... I'll just go somewhere else.

WebOS and Android will definitely have well-developed app stores and mature devices two years from now and I'll be absolutely thrilled to switch to a more open device with a cheaper plan on a better network. Hell, maybe even Nokia will get its ass into gear by then (very doubtful, but hey, a man can dream).

I really like my iPhone. It works great, I love all the apps, and the browser is amazing. But it's not hard to see the path we're going down when Google can't get an app like this approved.

 

[BrianMojo]

Apple's whole "you can't make something that we're already doing because there's a chance you might make it better" routine is starting to seem really, well... evil, frankly.