Apple Blocks Google Voice on iPhone

TechCrunch reports:-

Quote:

Earlier today we learned that Apple had begun to pull all Google Voice-enabled applications from the App Store, citing the fact that they “duplicate features that come with the iPhone”. Now comes even worse news: we’ve learned that Apple has blocked Google’s official Google Voice application itself from the App Store.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/ap ... tts-fault/

The strange thing is, if AT&T (or another partner carrier) really is behind this, why did Skype get signed by Apple?

Also odd is the fact that Phil Schiller - Apple’s senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing - personally approved the application back in April.

I can't help but wonder if Google have done something deliberately in order to highlight the closed nature of iPhone versus the open nature of Android.

The really scary news though, for existing app owners on iPhone, is this:-

Quote:

The iPhone still lacks an official client, but that hasn’t stopped a handful of third party developers from releasing their own apps, which have been available on the App Store for the last few months. Today, however, it sounds like Apple has made the decision to crack down on these: Sean Kovacs, the developer behind the popular app GV Mobile, has written on his blog that Apple is going to be removing his application, citing the fact that it “duplicates features that come with the iPhone”.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/ap ... he-iphone/

So if you have an iPhone application which "duplicates features that come with the phone", which the majority of VoIP applications on there do, you risk being subjected to a unilateral decision to be removed from the app store. Retrospectively, even if your application has previously been signed.

Not a problem for the hobby developers (there's a lot out there), but you wouldn't build a business on it.

Reply from martyndavies on Jul 30, 2009 - 09:49 AM

It seems to me that since Google Voice is restricted to the USA at the moment, then the decision to block/allow is a parochial one; it's simply a question of measuring up the possible rewards of allowing GV against the interests of Apple and AT&T in the USA.

The Skype question is a much bigger canvas. Skype is worldwide, and probably the only VoIP/enhanced voice/alternative carrier solution that most people know the name of. Allowing Skype on the iPhone certainly generated a lot of interest and column inches; allowing GV is much more of a "so what".

Reply from ianplain on Jul 30, 2009 - 11:11 AM

One interesting fact I have noticed with skype on the iphone is that the inabilty to call out via 3g is deeper embeded that it seems.

I can connect to 3y 3g router from my iphone via wifi when traveling, I do this when in hotels as the 3g rate I have is cheaper than o2. From my laptop I can make skype calls OK.
Even with 3g turned off on the iphone and connected to the wifi If I try to make a call it tells me I cannot make a Call via 3g they have to be made via wifi!

odd or what !

Ian

Voip User Forum Index » The World of VoIP » Wireless Mobility and Convergence