Did Apple lie? Google said that Apple did in fact reject the Google Voice application the search giant submitted to the iPhone maker's App Store. Apple told Google it rejected the application because it duplicated core dial functionality on Apple's iPhone. The detail came to light when the Federal Communications Commission released a complete chronicle of the conversations Google and Apple conducted over the Google Voice application. Apple disputes Google's characterization of the case.
Update: Did Apple lie? No, Apple said.
Contrary to statements from Apple last month, Google said
that Apple did in fact reject the Google Voice application the search giant
submitted to the iPhone maker's App Store June 2. Apple told Google it rejected
the application because it duplicated core dial functionality on Apple's
iPhone, according to an unredacted document from Google.
The detail came to light Sept. 18, when Google
caved to a Freedom of Information Act request and the Federal Communications
Commission released a complete chronicle of the conversations Google and Apple
conducted over the Google Voice application. A PDF of this document may be
viewed
here.
Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris disputed Google's characterization
of the conversations in a statement sent to eWEEK: "We do not agree
with all of the
statements made by Google in their FCC letter. Apple has not rejected
the
Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google."
The issue erupted in July when developers of third-party
Google Voice applications
said their programs were booted from the App Store for competing too closely
with features in Apple's iPhone.
Soon after, Google
revealed that its own Google Voice application, which serves as a calling
management service by letting users ring multiple phones through a single
number, had not been accepted by Apple.
When Apple refused to explain the reason for the
rejections to the media, the Federal Communications Commission
sent letters to Apple, AT&T and Google asking about the rejection of the
Google Voice for iPhone app.
In answering the FCC Aug. 21, Apple
claimed it never actually rejected the Google Voice app and that it is still
studying it. TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington
blasted Apple for lying about this issue.
For no clear reason, Google
asked the FCC to keep details about its conversations with Apple over Google
Voice confidential. Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel,
explained in a blog post today that the conversations were "sensitive":
When we submitted our letter on August 21, we asked
the FCC to redact certain portions that involved sensitive commercial
conversations between two companies -- namely, a description of e-mails,
telephone conversations, and in-person meetings between executives at Google
and Apple. Shortly afterward, several individuals and organizations submitted
Freedom of Information Act requests with the FCC seeking access to this
information. While we could have asked the FCC to oppose those requests, in
light of Apple's decision to make its own letter fully public and in the
interest of transparency, we decided to drop our request for confidentiality.
Google
claimed Phil
Schiller, Apple's vice president of engineering and research, and Alan
Eustace,
senior vice president of engineering and research, met in person, spoke
by phone and e-mailed several times about Google Voice between July 5
and July 28.
On July 7, Schiller informed Eustace that Apple was rejecting Google
Voice because of the
overlap in dialing capabilities between Google Voice and the iPhone.
The document also chronicled Apple's initial rejection of
Google Latitude, which Google later
rewrote as a Web application, which the
App Store accepted.
The Google Voice rejection revelation is the latest black
eye for Apple, which is weathering regular criticism for the inconsistent ways
it deals with applications submitted to the App Store. Developers are fed up
and/or scared to submit apps to Apple for fear of rejection.
Following the same path it did with getting Google
Latitude into the App store, Google is
preparing a Web application version of Google Voice.
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