The official Google Voice application will be released in Apple's iPhone App Store soon, according to TechCrunch. Google is just updating it for iPhone 4.
When Apple
relaxed its iOS developer terms earlier this month, it opened the floodgates
for some applications that were previously banned.
Developers of the GV Mobile and GV Connect Google Voice
applications for the iPhone
rushed to take advantage of Apple's loosening of the reins.
GV Mobile and GV Connect, which people use to route calls
to their phones using a special phone number, are available for $2.99 in
Apple's App Store.
Google is reportedly just weeks away from launching its
own official Google Voice app for the iPhone, according to
TechCrunch.
The tech blog said the app has been approved, but Google is
upgrading it to work with the iPhone 4 and iOS's multitasking capabilities.
The app should include features GV Mobile and GV Connect
don't, such as push notifications for inbound SMS and voicemail messages.
Google declined to comment, but there's no doubt it views
Google Voice, with all of its phone management functionality, as a key part of
its Web communications strategy.
The company in August
integrated Google Voice with Gmail to enable users to call landlines and mobile
phones from their computers using their Google Voice number.
Within a week, people had logged over 10 million calls,
demonstrating just how popular the app is, particularly on such a broad
platform as Gmail.
Google Voice on the iPhone has come a long way since Google
submitted a version of its app for the iPhone to Apple's App Store for approval
in June 2009.
Google's app was never approved because it competed with
the iPhone's dialer and other capabilities, though Apple said it never actually
rejected the app.
The "he said, she said"
ignited such scrutiny among the media that the Federal Communications
Commission formally
questioned Google, Apple and AT&T.
Soon, the official Google Voice-Apple App Store debacle
is about to come full circle.
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