Google says Phil Schiller himself rejected Google Voice from the App Store
By Nilay Patel 
posted Sep 18th 2009 11:54AM
posted Sep 18th 2009 11:54AM
Update: And here we go -- Apple just pinged us to say the following: "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."
Update 2: So we've been thinking about it, and here's our question -- if Apple didn't reject GV, and is still studying it, what exactly did Phil Schiller say to Google to make them think it had been rejected? The difference between "rejected" and "on hold pending further discussion" isn't a subtle one, and Google clearly thought GV had been explicitly rejected. For whatever it's worth, reports of GV's "rejection" are how this whole mess got started, so either this is all one huge misunderstanding, or someone here isn't telling the entire truth.
Read - Google unredacted FCC filing [Warning: PDF]
Read - Google Public Policy Blog explaining decision to release letter
apple give me my 4.99 back
This is like watching Dynasty all over again, only better
LOL @ "CONFIDENTIAL, NOT FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION"
This is not at all surprising. Am I the only one who feels slightly sorry for AT&T since Apple tried to push some of the blame onto them? Oh, I am the only one...
AT&T and Apple, Daddy [FCC] has come home and you have some 'splainin to do!
It will now become a "He said, (s)he said" situation and be brushed under the toupee....I mean, rug.
People should boycott Apple products and make them realize that the old ways of doing business is over. I blame all the uninformed consumers and the greed DEVS for apple's complete disregard for their customers. The iphone is too restrictive and I 100% support the rogue DEVS that works endlessly to undermine Apple.
You know, as much as I hate Apple business practices, an unfortunate side to all this is that their sales (for iphone anyway) won't be dented in the slightest. So no matter how brutal the FCC fine is, or how deep Apple's change in policy will appear to be, they'll go on with their double standards. We can rage all we want, call for boycotts and even sign "internet petitions", won't change the foxes @ Apple 1 bit.
Come on Google, punch Apple in the gut and release it to Cydia!
Apple is so screwed.. love it!
I think its time for Apple to feel some antitrust, they're getting far too insidious a company
Breaking news - Phil Schiller tried to reject Steve Jobs liver transplant.
Logically, either Apple's executives are talking out their collective arses without the companies knowledge, or Apple is flat out lying. There are no other possibilities.
Google needs to wise up and tell Apple it will block any google search and any maps request from the iPhone until they get any app they want on the iphone. Play hardball you have leverage Google.
@jivetrky:
BRAVO!!!
How many months does it take to study an application? Even students in college take only 4 months to study one semester of class.
Guys don't worry, this just means that the hot girl who said she wouldn't go out on a date with you didn't technically reject you. It's just pending further investigation...into whether you won the powerball lottery.
Is it me or are the commenters on Engadget less Apple-y?
@PG
Hmm... that seems like a crafty idea to me. It would definitely garner public pressure.
@CAM
Perhaps that's true. But really, how can even the most avid Apple supporter not be annoyed by this? People who own iPhones are not going to take kindly to Apple and/or AT&T crippling a sound piece of technology that they were hoping would have all kinds of cool trinkets in the future (like google voice, tethering, black magic, etc.)
This just in. All searches for iPhone now lead to Android phone pages.
@Apple
YOU LIE!
What, are you guys 12? Do you actually think that there's any big business out there that doesn't twist the truth?
Apple's problem is that they got caught...and IMO Google's looking pretty lame for blabbing. Smells to me like "someone's" greasin some palms at the FCC.
...btw, it may be fun to see Apple flapping in the wind, but without em we'd be back to having to buy half-baked crap that's passed on as cutting edge. No Apple?... we'd probably be ogling BB's that still look like calulators and $1000 Nokias. I don't even want to think what Sony and MS would be subjecting the world to. Apple's lighting some serious flame under some chronically under-achieving ass. They lose, we all lose.
@bk
I was about to upvote you, until you got all fanboy on me. If the industry DID rely on Apple as its sole reason for being relatively consumer friendly (which it doesn't,) then that's all the more reason for an anti-trust lawsuit.
don't hold your breath. i believe there is and has always been a line in the terms of service that all app purchases are final and that continued availability of any app is not guaranteed.
as for this whole letter biz. it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. why would Google hold back revealing that Phil himself gave the app the ditch. wouldn't they want that out from the start.
Steve Jobs' body hasn't rejected his new liver, it just wants to 'think about it.'
Boooo apppleee :)
I have that tattooed on my Johnson.
sheds new light on what they mean when they say "Think Different"
@Chris
No dude... You only have "Bo" on your Johnson as that's all you can fit! j/k bro!
@Puggs - I am guessing you seen the spelling at the wrong time of the morning... ;)
Boooo urns!
i was saying boo-urns
Oh man is this gonna get good! Can't wait to see who's lying next ...*cough"AT&T*cough*...
No shit? O.o
BOOOO!!
Shit > fan.
...i agree...
...fans are greater than shit...
Sven, you're confused. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inequality
I miss the Apple before iPhone came out. I love my iPhone, but I know I'd never own one if you couldn't jailbreak and unlock. Screw AT&T for high prices and facilitating gov't spying.
T-Mo FTW... they have great support for iPhone customers, and don't give a shit what I do on their network.
My favorite iPhone features are functionality that Apple has rejected or will never allow, like SBsettings and Cydia.
Jay Freeman (Saurik) has a kick-ass blog post covering how Apple has gone from awesome, open company to evil engineers on his blog. Much recommended.
saurik DOTCOM SLASH id SLASH 12
NoAndThen
I would have to disagree with you on the timing. Apple used to be an evil company in the '80s that loved closed systems, lockout and high prices.
Apple became an open company in the '90s allowing easier access for programmers, licensing Mac compatibles and engineering some of the more revolutionary Apple products.
In the late '90s Apple killed off Mac compatibles, and locked down much of the system again. During this time they also engineered the iPod which was a completely closed system and worked on tying it to iTunes.
If you know your Apple history, you will know that the evil periods of Apples history coincide with Steve Jobs position as top dog. The non evil period is when Steve had been given the boot.
Wait... I don't get it...
You can't make an app that duplicates functionality, and you can't make an app that adds functionality?
There's not an app for that.
So I guess that just leaves apps that... subtract functionality? It's all starting to make sense.
Conclusion: You are apple bitch.
...so does iphone have a calculator?
That kind of explains why there are thousands of tip calculators and flash light apps.
@ CtrlBurn
I thought there was 'an app for everything'.
to be honest it seems to be more: An app for everything that does not kick apple's ass.
And i cant belive they actually tried to get rid of cydia, one of the iphone's greatest attractions! couldn't they just pretend they didnt know about it? because if they make an updat worth getting, then cydia will be disabled if we download it!
"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."
Sounds like Apple got caught lying and Google wasn't going to take it. Good for them.
It is ON!
Hopefully they were recording the conversation with Google Voice.
Doesn't matter, the damage has been done. The FCC will probably be launching a full investigation considering the discrepancies in the accounts.
Yep, basically Apple just lied to the FCC. It would have been easier had they told the truth, but lying to the government is NEVER a good way to get on their good side.
Though it pretty much means that it wasn't an AT&T thing, so the FCCs grounds for regulation are less shaky. Still, lying on an inquiry is never good.
That is making a total assumption that Apple is lying and Google is telling the truth which is not a given in this or any other circumstance concerning these two companies. Everyone seems to want to paint Google in this near angelic light all the time when in fact they are a big for-profit corporation same as everyone else. People swoon at the mention of Google and shower them with praise for giving us so many different services for free. Well I hate to argue the fact that their services are not free at all. They are paid for by you and me with every purchase of goods that we make from manufactures and service providers that make use of the Google advisement system.
No google voice on app shop?
The evidence backs up googles story.
The whole thing is like shop saying tat they arent refusing to sell, directing you to a queue but the queue isn't moving.
Hey google, put your lame software on that crappy android platform and quit polluting iPhones with your trash.
yeah, because there are no shitty apps in the iPhone right?
As far as I know you are no OBLIGATED to buy anything fron the appStore.. I you don´t want extra google apps on the iphone just don´t buy them
Makes sense, then you won't have to put up with that crappy google maps, google voice, hell maybe they could even block google search so your phone will just be useless. Seriously, that was the most idiotic post I've ever seen here, and that's saying a lot.
you can take apple's d*ck out of your mouth. bottom line: apple's acting like sneaky fucks. regardless of whatever app is in question.
Why would Google like since it has nothing to gain?
Hey google, put your lame software on that crappy android platform and quit polluting iPhones with your trash
@Biff Jensen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You just keep drinking the stevo & apple spooge and move along nothing here for you to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looks like google paid some folks to post. Oh boy, google, a search engine company, wow, that's something cutting edge!!!!
This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
:o ... So... Latitude was rejected because nothing on the phone does that yet??? Isn't that the ENTIRE POINT of having the App Store?? So people can do things that Apple forgot to do!!
Obviously, they're too good to listen to logic.
So, whilst Windows is a crash-o-thon, Apple is a group of people who are too good to, y'know, use logic.
To understand Apple's decision making process, think of google, then take away logic and accountability.
AT&T has that whole "we helped you spy on people without warrants and looked the other way" trump card to play. They'll be just fine.
Actually, I think they already gave that card up when the government said "We blocked the people you illegally spied on (on our behalf) from suing you."
I PREdicted that..
schiller is a scumbag.....apple is lying out of their ass with their response to the issue.
if apple is worried about latitude adding functionality that isn't present in their own google maps app, then why not work with google to add those features to the phones preloaded maps app!!!
and apple is concerned about apps "duplicating functionality"....so why this stance on rejecting latitude tha ADDS functionality rather than duplicating it.
apples morality is really going down the toilet with all this crap of screwing over their own customer base by rejecting apps that we want for the phones that we pay out the ass for. how many of us went from the original iphone to the 3g to the 3gs as soon as they become available? why would you piss off your loyal customers over an app that more or less just lets you make calls from a "masked" phone number....and why the resistence to improving the (much in need of improvement) maps app?
just approve the apps so we can all get on with our lives. try pleasing your customers for once rather than giving us a hard time over something that doesn't impact your company in the slightest. if anything, offering these apps will increase sales / consumer traffic to you.
sometimes the people in charge are the biggest idiots of them all.
I knew they were playing stupid games from the beginning when they didn't have critical features like cut and paste, or MMS, or the Stereo Bluetooth Headset Profile... and then, low and behold, they roll out an entirely new phone... and then an entirely new OS update that has those features. So does this current situation sound similar? They're clearly holding out so they can trickle the features to you over the next few years. Their whole game plan is to force you to wait, and force you to pay for the few features in future revisions of new phones. If they allow Google to add this feature to their phone, they're killing their future business. That's why I have a Blackberry Bold. I've never had to deal with any of that BS.
It's funny how so many of Apple's customers complain about their poor business ethics, but every time they release a new product, Apple gains more and more market share.
I'm not sure if its customers are much smarter.
I think Apple is going to get a surprise when they realize that the RDF doesn't work on the FCC. At this point the FCC has documents that prove that someone is lying.
@Noah
While I agree with you on some points, Apple may be part of the Dark Side but I don't think they have "the force" to make anybody pay for anything.
However, they do seem like marketing geniuses, much like a certain regime in the 1930's-40's...just saying.
Jube,
That's why they are knows as iDiots
iDiots? Nice one ;)
@Noah perfectly said. It's why I can't play video on my iPhone 3G. It's not because it lacks the ability to, it's because putting a video function on the 3G will undermine 3GS marketing. In the end, its marketing gone evil.
Ha, I use "El Goog" all the time. Nice :)
Really most apps on the App Store provide a duplication of functionality, through various forms of communication. They should take Skype down while they're at it.
If you'd stop deep throating apple you'd prolly maybe see more clearly
I use GV Mobile daily on my iphone, not sure what all the uproar is about.
Then either you are using the Web version or you haven't updated to 3.1 Firmware. . . .
Either way his point is valid.
I believe, although inconvenient, jailbreaking is a necessary evil when purchasing an iPhone. The more Apple squeezes...
I'm running 3.1 (7C144) on a stock 3Gs, and GV Mobile works just fine. /shrug
I'm running GV Mobile too, but I had to jailbreak my iPhone to do so. I shouldn't have to jailbreak my phone to use an app that is far more useful than 90+% of the apps on the app store.
haha, what a douche...
I got GV Mobile from the app store before it was pulled, so maybe that's why.
You don't HAVE to root an Android handset either but alot of users do it anyway.
iphone owners who don't jailbreak are missing out bigtime...
Personally, I do not believe any of the three parties involved in this issue. I think Apple is spinning things their way and AT&T is spinning it their way.
Google in this letter is probably spinning things their way too. Google may do a lot of great things, but personally they do many things that are not on the level also. They also seem to like to bend the truth a great deal when they get involved in government agency type dealings and play all the other sides against each other to reach a desired outcome that favors what they wanted all along. Take the radio spectrum sales and the provisions they got placed on them by the FCC when they never intended to really try to purchase any licenses themselves. It was all a smoke and mirror, bait and switch play to get something they wanted forced on the parties that were really interested in the spectrums.
I really hate to think of any corporation as a benevolent being, but at this point in time Google has given me no reason to distrust them or think badly of them. Everything they do is obviously for their own benefit -- like any company -- but they also make sure it lines up with what others want.
Google just seems like a group that love what they do and make money off what they love. But they seem to have the customer's best interests at heart here, and I don't really think there's much "spin" involved here from them.
Looking at this letter closer, it appears to me anyway, that Google tends to stretch the truth a bit in some of their examples in this letter. Saying that Google Earth is similar to the Google Maps application already on the iPhone is a bit of a stretch. Its like saying Weather Channel maps are the same as Google Earth because they both have satellite views.
The same with comparing the Google Mobile Application to doing a search through Safari. Are they saying that the mobile application doesn't really offer any benefit?
@dennisheadley
put down the joint man.
Actually, no don't put it down,
pass it this way!
What's this about a Latitude rejection now?
July 6, 2009. AT&T CEO Randal Stephenson visits Apple headquarters and begs Phil Schiller on his hands and knees not to kill his network any further. An undisclosed amount of groveling occurs.
you mean slurping and sucking occurred
HA! [Sean Connery]Suck it Apple[/Sean Connery]
I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed.
Schiller must be using the new iLie app.
And the iFail, the iDiot, and the iDonthaveaclue apps.
Adding "i" to words is fun.
Come on iLeen...
brutally murdering a good joke is not fun for anyone