Ron Schenone

Apple To FCC: We Don’t Like The Looks Of Google Voice

Posted by on Aug 24, 2009 | 6 Comments

In what is turning out to be a hint of what the FCC may have up its sleeves, Apple has responded to why the Google Voice app was rejected for use with its popular iPhone. You may recall that the FCC had asked Apple, AT&T, and also Google what had happened and why the app was originally rejected.

Here is what the respective companies had to say:

AT&T today told the FCC it had no role in Apple’s decision. “AT&T was not asked about the matter by Apple at any time, nor did it offer any view one way or another,” wrote James Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president, in a letter to Ruth Milkman, chief of the FCC’s wireless division.

In its letter to the FCC, Apple said, “Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and is “still pondering at this time.” The statement seems to leave a door open to the possibility that Apple may approve the app, if it was altered to Apple’s satisfaction.

Until now, Apple has not publicly revealed what its concerns were. Today’s letter lays out at least some of its rationale: “The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.”

In short, Apple is saying it has qualms about Google supplanting the carefully crafted look and feel of the iPhone.

The Google Voice app would let iPhone users manage their home, office or cellphone numbers by routing the calls through a central Google number. It would also record voicemails and send written transcripts of the messages as e-mails, using AT&T’s 3G data network. The app also would allow users to send SMS messages and make inexpensive international calls.

When I first read this I wondered why the FCC even cared? Why did the FCC even ask the companies to comment? Doesn’t Apple have the right to accept or reject any application that runs on their iPhone?

I believe that the FCC is going to be playing a more active role in seeing how companies work together or not work together. The new FCC board will be taking a more active part in trying to determine why broadband is not being made available in rural areas; why cell phone service is so spotty, even in major cities and surrounding areas.

What do you think?

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • http://assassinssoftware.blogspot.com/ mike

    “When I first read this I wondered why the FCC even cared? Why did the FCC even ask the companies to comment? Doesn’t Apple have the right to accept or reject any application that runs on their iPhone”

    ah, i paid for the phone, not to rent it. its my phone, not apples.

  • http://www.daanberg.com Daan Berg

    Well, you pay money for the phone, in some countries without a simlock, but in all cases, you OWN the phone. Not the phone provider or Apple, but YOU own the phone.

    The users should be able to decide what they can install on their hardware and what not. Apple should be transparent, and only ban applications that are not ‘childproof’.

    In this case, the FCC tries to back the users. The FCC wants transparency, and that the users can decide freely what they do with their phone.

    I think that Apple is going a bit too far, stopping applications from appearing in the App Store just because they do not share the same interface as the iPhone’s.

    I think that if Apple would’ve wanted that, they should’ve created the API in a way so that only the iPhone interface could be used, without graphics, so that the iPhone theme and interface would be used.
    But off course, that’s impossible. Everyone likes graphics!

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  • Ryan Farmer

    “Doesn’t Apple have the right to accept or reject any application that runs on their iPhone?”

    That line of thinking is actively dangerous.

    You bought the device, you should run whatever the hell you want to on it.

    Microsoft also seems to think it has the right to encrypt and DRM my cable TV recordings so that I can’t use them on devices that compete with Microsoft.

    At some point you should ask “Just who’s damned computer is it anyway?”

    If Microsoft or Apple want to control what I have on my computer they’re more than welcome to offer me a fair market price to buy my computer from me.

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