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Google, Apple Joust Over Rejected Voice App

Posted by Soulskill on from the somebody's-in-trouble dept.

ZipK writes with an update to last month's FCC inquiry that landed Apple and AT&T in hot water over the apparent rejection of a Google Voice app for the iPhone. All three companies submitted statements to the FCC — Apple claimed the app hadn't been rejected at all, that they were simply "studying" it further. The public version of Google's statement contained a redacted section, which they politely referred to as "sensitive," but after seeing Apple's comments, they decided to reveal the entire document. Google's FCC filing directly contradicts what Apple said: "Apple's representatives informed Google that the Google Voice application was rejected because Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone. The Apple representatives indicated that the company did not want applications that could potentially replace such functionality." (PDF, page 4.) Apple quickly released a statement reiterating that they did not reject the app.

2 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The accepted and rejected it by Ed+Avis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    More to the point, it's not as if they give it the benefit of the doubt and allow people to download the app while they 'study' it further. It is assumed guilty unless proven innocent. So there is no difference between what Apple calls 'studying' and rejection, given that they can always change their mind later.

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  2. Corporate Culture by billy8988 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to this link,
    http://www.businessinsider.com/did-apple-lie-about-rejecting-google-voice-iphone-app-2009-9

    "In a series of in-person meetings, phone calls and emails between July 5 and July 28, 2009, Apple and Google representative discussed the approval status of the Google Voice application that was submitted on June 2, 2009. The primary points of contact between the two companies were Alan Eustace, Google Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research and Phil Schiller, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing. On July 7, Mr. Eustace and Mr. Schiller spoke over the phone. It was during this call that Mr. Schiller informed Mr. Eustace that Apple was rejecting the Google Voice application for the reasons described above."

    It is interesting that a VP of R&D is talking to a VP of Mumbo Jumbo. Does it tell their respective corporate culture?