Anyone still hoping Newber will make it through Apple’s maze of certification can kiss that hope goodbye and should now start longing for Google to open up subscriptions to Google Voice nee GrandCentral soon instead.
From the e-mail just sent to beta users like myself:
““As you may be aware, Newber first applied for acceptance into the App Store on October 2nd, 2008. After more than five months awaiting approval, and despite both overwhelming response from the professional community and varied attempts to get any kind of response from Apple, Newber has not received a review. Not rejected, not accepted – limbo.We are sad to say that for this reason FreedomVOICE has stopped development on Newber. For this reason we will be ending the extended Newber Beta Test on March 31st, 2009. We would like to give you the next few weeks as an opportunity to begin transfer of your Newber phone number to the carrier of your choice. If you are interested in doing so, simply contact your new carrier and follow their procedure for having a number transferred. Your new carrier may contact FreedomVOICE Technical Support at 1-800-477-1477 ext. 2 if they need to verify any information.After March 31st, all remaining Newber Beta Test phone numbers will be canceled.”“
More depressing news about this can be found here.
update: Got the go-ahead to move from GrandCentral to Google Voice yesterday. More on my impressions of the new service coming soon.