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Google Voice apps returning to iPhone app store (update: they're here!)
(function() { var s = document.createElement('SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT')[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js'; s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1); })(); Digg It's been a long time coming -- now native Google Voice apps have finally returned to the iTunes App Store. This, after a fourteen month hiatus in which we saw an FCC investigation into the matter that culminated in a loosening of App Store restrictions. So far, we're only seeing the $3 GV Connect app in the store with GV Mobile + coming sometime Saturday morning according to its developer, Sean Kovacs. No word on when the official Google Voice iPhone app will make its appearance, but surely it can't be long -- Phil must have had a chance to study the app he personally rejected didn't approve by now, right? Update: We'd been checking our iPhones all day long to no avail, but it's finally here. As of 1:30AM ET, GV Mobile + has been formally approved and is now available for $2.99 on the iTunes App Store.
GV Mobile+ for Google Voice on the iPhone released
GV Mobile + has returned to the App Store. If you live in the USA and therefore have access to Google Voice, grab a copy of GV Mobile + for $3 and celebrate the return of arguably the best Google Voice app for the iPhone. (We also reported that another app by the name of GV Connect is available for the same price. The biggest initial difference is that GV Mobile has been well-known and developed for several years.) The original app, GV Mobile, had to be renamed to GV Mobile + because Sean Kovacs, the developer, deleted it once it was removed from the App Store, and wasn't able to reclaim the name. That means that even if you owned GV Mobile you'll still have to pay for GV Mobile +. Yes, that's frustrating, but let's keep things in perspective: it's $3, not a kidney. Deleting the app was a very understandable thing to do when Apple removed all Google Voice apps from the App Store and gave absolutely no indication that they would ever be allowed to return. Click Read More for additional information about GV Mobile+. Note: we received the iTunes link directly from the developer, but it usually takes some time before it is available to all iTunes users. To quote Han Solo, "it's not my fault."
Black Swan brings Google Voice back to the iPhone without the App Store
Google Voice on the iPhone has been something of a sore subject for me. If you need a full-recap of the whole sordid iPhone/Google Voice story see this story from December or more of our coverage. I even started a little site devoted to waiting for Google Voice on the iPhone called IsGoogleVoiceAvailableForTheiPhone.com. It has been 6 months and 19 days since Apple claimed it had not "rejected" Google Voice but was "studying" it. During the course of Apple's "study" the company moved to purge all existing Google Voice apps from the App Store. There were three reactions to this from developers: Google revamped the Mobile Google Voice page so that it looks a lot nicer on the iPhone. GV Mobile released its app for free on Cydia for those who have jailbroken iPhones. The folks behind Voice Central went a different route. They decided to make a web app instead. I've been using it in beta for the past few months, but as of today it has been released to the public as Black Swan. The difference between the Mobile Google Voice site from Google and Black Swan is that Black Swan is stored locally on your iPhone, like Pie Guy from Neven Mrgan of Panic.com. Riverturn calls this a "weblication," which is a fairly awful name, but apparently they aren't the first ones to use it.
Is Google Voice available for the iPhone?
Need a refresher on the Google Voice and Apple saga? Let's recap the story to date: Apple pulled all Google Voice related apps from the App Store back in July, which led to an FCC inquiry, which led Apple to claim they had not rejected but were "studying" Google Voice, which Google contradicted. The biggest surprise in the whole scenario is that AT&T said that they had no problem with Google Voice on the iPhone. Yet here we are, 4 months later, and still no decision (that we know of) has been made. I've previously referred to this as Apple's pocket veto of Google Voice where they are able to say they haven't rejected it when they have, in effect, rejected it. Put it all together, and this has led me to put up a website for your "Google Voice on iPhone" questions, which I narrowed down to IsGoogleVoiceAvailableForTheiPhone.com? As it stands today, the answer is a qualified "No" in that there are no Google Voice apps available from the App Store, but I was curious to see what options are available. I found three tools that you can use today, and one more which is on the horizon.
Should we continue using an app that Apple has rejected?
It doesn't happen so much anymore, but not too long ago you'd hear about a new offering arriving in the App Store that would stir up a little controversy (the NetShare tethering app springs to mind). They'd enjoy some fanfare and a ton of purchases for a few days before being summarily removed, never to return and often without a thorough explanation from Apple. A relatively small number of users would retain possession of the app and would take a bit of pride in knowing that they were in the right place at just the right time to snag a copy of the app before it was yanked. When I got the email from our very own Mike Rose regarding the release of GV Mobile, I was pretty excited. I'd been wanting to more fully adopt the Google Voice service, but had wanted a more iPhone-ish experience in doing so and GV Mobile seemed to have just what I was jonesing for. I paid the three bucks right then and, like The Giving Tree, was happy. My adoption plan for Google Voice didn't pan out quite like I'd hoped for a while after that. I'd use it occasionally, but I had trouble moving it from the number I gave to sales people to the number I gave to my mother-in-law. But, despite the absence of the app in the App Store, I still had a perfectly working copy of it on my iPhone, ready when I was - or so I thought. A couple of weeks ago, I had decided that it was time to make Google Voice a more central part of my communication workflow. Having not launched GV Mobile in a while, I fired it up to reacquaint myself with the interface, capabilities, etc. Trouble is, I couldn't authenticate with Google. I triple-checked my credentials but the app would just throw an error on launch and that was that. A couple of people on Twitter had mentioned having the same issue and a quick Google search informed me that, sure enough, the app no longer worked. Apparently, Google had modified the Voice API such that authentication now worked differently than it did when GV Mobile was written. Because the app no longer had Apple's seal of approval, I had little recourse because there obviously weren't going to be any updates to the app anytime soon. Which raised the broader question - how heavily should we rely on "orphaned" apps? If they're self-contained (which is to say, they don't rely on any web sites or services to function properly), it probably isn't a big deal, but if you're a heavy Google Voice user and GV Mobile is how you got your work done, is it really a good idea to hang your hopes on an app that will likely never see any type of upgrade or bugfix release? I can confidently say that this little hiccup has seriously cramped my plans for more completely adopting Google Voice. Is the same true for you? Have you experienced this type of dilemma with any other now-missing App Store purchases? Tell us about it in the comments!
The Google Voice rejection: What's needed now
If you've been following coverage of Apple's rejection of Google Voice for iPhone, you saw TUAW blogger Chris Rawson considering whether pressure from AT&T might have been behind the Google Voice rejection -- an assumption first floated by TechCrunch and later substantiated by Daring Fireball. The absurd nature of the app removals is highlighted in the blog post from Riverturn, developers of VoiceCentral, which reports the conversation with an Apple representative. Google Voice offers free call forwarding to your home, office, and cell, free Internet-accessible voice mail (with text transcription!), free SMS, and a single phone number for life. These free features compete against AT&T's revenue streams. When it comes to "duplicate functionality", Apple doesn't seem to have any problem allowing applications like AT&T co-branded Virtual Recptionist (iTunes link) in App Store. Virtual Receptionist provides custom call forwarding to three phone numbers, in a similar manner to Google Voice. In the wake of the rejection, sites like Wired, which should get credit for predicting this issue, have considered whether Apple's move might invite regulation due to the company's control over the App Store and possible anti-competitive concerns. A legislative response isn't out of the question should enough unhappy customers start petitioning their congressmen, especially in a political climate that encourages government intervention in private business. Granted, the iPhone isn't a monopoly among smartphones, but Apple does hold all the cards when it comes to app approval on the platform. ChannelWeb's Rick Whiting (via the Wall Street Journal) points out that the US Department of Justice has "begun investigating whether large U.S. telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications were engaging in anti-competitive behavior, including locking up the most popular handsets. The exclusive deal between AT&T-Apple is said to be drawing the most scrutiny." Whiting believes that AT&T and Apple may be drawing attention from a DOJ intent on cracking down on exactly this kind of excess. AT&T's tight relationship with Apple might be affecting how Apple runs App Store, as might be the case with the Google Voice rejection.
Google Voice app GV Mobile ported to jailbroken iPhones, web app version in the works
So well-mannered, straight-laced iPhone users got a pretty big slap in the face yesterday by way of Apple's (and AT&T's, no doubt) total Google Voice rejection. Looks like jailbreakers are picking up the pieces, as GV Mobile developer Sean Kovacs -- whose app was in the iTunes store for some time before being yanked yesterday -- has ported the Voice client over to Cydia free of charge, although donations are gladly accepted. Even more interesting, but less concrete, Kovacs said he was already working on a web app version, possibly for submission to Palm's app catalog. No word on the fate of GVdialer, an app that was also unceremoniously pulled, but we wouldn't be surprised if it followed in similar footsteps. Read - GV Mobile now on Cydia Read - Sean Kovacs on Twitter
Google Voice iPhone app rejected, current GV apps lose connection with iTunes
Perhaps the big G spoke too soon when it said its new Google Voice service was coming to iPhone. First, GV Mobile developer Sean Kovacs relays a phone call he had with Apple where he was notified of his app being removed from the iTunes store for duplicating built-in iPhone features -- an app that was originally and purportedly approved by Phil Schiller himself. Next out the door was GVdialer, and if you thought that was all bad, now comes word that Google's official Voice app was flat-out rejected by Cupertino. Now it's hard to say with certainty who's to blame for these app rejections, but a good many fingers are pointing to the cellular carriers -- and given AT&T's previous statements about the SlingPlayer app, it's hard to argue with that. For its part, the company hinted at finding a workaround via web apps, much like they did when Apple gave Latitude a cold shoulder -- but doesn't that feel just a little 2007? [Via AppleInsider] Read - Official Google Voice App Blocked from App Store Read - GV Mobile is getting pulled from App Store Read - Sean Kovac's Twitter status on Schiller
GV Mobile and Voice Central pulled from App Store
Update: The official Google app is apparently not going to be released either. Earlier today, iPhone developer Sean Kovacs posted on his blog that his Google Voice client, GV Mobile, is getting pulled from the App Store due to "duplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc)." Kovacs says he received a call from an Apple staffer, who "wouldn't send a confirmation email either - too scared I would post it." The app still appears in the App Store, but when you attempt to purchase it you will be told "The item you tried to buy is no longer available." We've also heard that Voice Central (another Google Voice application) is similarly no longer available for purchase. There has been speculation that Google is preparing its own iPhone app for Google Voice, however, in light of the news that Apple 'requested' that Google make Latitude a web app instead of a native app "in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone," I wonder if we are unlikely to see such an application from Google. MailWrangler, a native Gmail client for the iPhone was also rejected from the App Store because the "application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion." As a heavy duty user of Gmail, I've wished for MailWrangler from the beginning. Sure you can use Gmail through Mobile Safari -- as you can use Google Voice -- but as Apple soon learned after trying to convince users and developers that web apps were all we needed, there are certain things which a native application makes much easier. GV Mobile is a very popular application for using Google Voice on the iPhone. Apple's own phone application is great, but for Google Voice users, a native application was a nice thing to have. I'm not sure why Apple keeps insisting that users would be confused by apps which do similar things (How many different applications are there which duplicate "Notes" functionality?), but a greater concern is the idea that a developer can work on an application, have it released to huge success, and then have Apple turn around and yank it from the App Store. This in loco parentis attitude from Apple hurts iPhone users and developers alike. Developers like Fraser Speirs have stopped developing new applications for the iPhone and he's not the only one. (Fraser's post on Twitter was how I heard how I heard about GV Mobile being pulled from the App Store.) I hope these are growing pains that Apple and the App Store will leave behind. Users who seek out, find, download, and install 3rd party applications are unlikely to be "confused" by the "duplication" of functionality. The fact that they sought them out is evidence that they found something lacking from the applications that Apple offers. The App Store is wonderful, except for the parts of it which are terrible; namely, the review process (which takes too long and rejects too many apps) and the removal of applications which do no harm and which have been released for some time to great success. UPDATE: The developers of Voice Central had an interesting conversation with Apple. Mostly involving the word "can't."
