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I think Google is "striking back" in the sense that it's planting the Google Voice 'seed' while Apple probably wants to keep it off the iPhone entirely. If each

I think Google is "striking back" in the sense that it's planting the Google Voice 'seed' while Apple probably wants to keep it off the iPhone entirely. If each company had an internal monologue, I think it would go something like this: Apple: "We don't want Google Voice on the iPhone, period. But we'll publicly tell Google they're fine to put it on as a handicapped web app, because we couldn't stop that anyway, and it makes us look like we don't have anything against it. But we do. We are worried that Google will convert the iPhone into a shell for its own products, which is why we're talking to other search engines and are (probably) building our own Maps app." Google: "Fine. We'll build a web app, and it will be sort of shitty. But we'll keep updating it with the latest HTML5 tricks and make it pretty damn good for a web app — far better than most other companies could do anyway. We're going to release Google Voice to the public later this year, and iPhone users will be able to try it for themselves with the web app. When they find out that the experience would be even better if Apple would approve our native app, maybe we'll see a grassroots movement. Maybe not. Either way, we're keeping our best native apps on Android." To anyone who thinks that Apple is worried about the user experience and reproducing core functionality, that's all misdirection. There are plenty of applications that similarly reproduce some of the iPhone's core functionality. There are a few apps that do EXACTLY what Google Voice does, but are targeted at a different market. Apple is trying to keep its control over the iPhone for competitive reasons, not because they're worried about user confusion.

GHFigs 17y ago
A more convincing argument could be made by citing facts.
- jkincaid 17y ago
  Neither Apple nor Google will ever comment about this on the record. You have to look at what has happened and read between the lines.
  - GHFigs 17y ago
    Neither Apple nor Google will ever comment about this on the record. They both did, in response to an FCC inquiry. Your theory depends on both companies not just lying but lying to the government and lying to the government in a very peculiar way that doesn't actually give either of them any kind of advantage over telling the truth.
    - jkincaid 17y ago
      Go back and read Apple's response to the FCC. It may not have any outright lies, but there's plenty of stuff in there that is questionable. They say some things that are factually incorrect about the way Google Voice works, and they try to claim that they don't fully understand the service. If you buy that, so be it. I don't.
      - stanleydrew 17y ago
        Agreed. I hate to say it, but TechCrunch had some of the best coverage at the time of the FCC statements. A pretty good overview of the statements is here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/18/google-reveals-full-fcc-response-directly-contradicts-apple-on-google-voice-rejection/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/18/google-reveals-full-fcc...
        GHFigs 17y ago
        There are countless apps on the App Store that “duplicate” the iPhone’s functionality in some form, and the notion that users might get confused about the apps is ridiculous too — after all, users have to manually install these apps. This is not very insightful. Apple obviously did not reject the application based on what is shares in common with applications it didn't reject. So why not actually examine the differences? Moreover, why not examine the differences as referenced by Apple concerning their own actions? For instance, Apple's claim that: "The Google Voice application replaces Apple’s Visual Voicemail by routing calls through a separate Google Voice telephone number that stores any voicemail, preventing voicemail from being stored on the iPhone, i.e., disabling Apple’s Visual Voicemail." Is this true? Are there other, accepted applications that do this? Does this constitute a duplication of functionality that may confuse users? TechCrunch doesn't appear to have even attempted to answer any of these questions.

GHFigs 17y ago

A more convincing argument could be made by citing facts.

jkincaid 17y ago
Neither Apple nor Google will ever comment about this on the record. You have to look at what has happened and read between the lines.
- GHFigs 17y ago
  Neither Apple nor Google will ever comment about this on the record. They both did, in response to an FCC inquiry. Your theory depends on both companies not just lying but lying to the government and lying to the government in a very peculiar way that doesn't actually give either of them any kind of advantage over telling the truth.
  - jkincaid 17y ago
    Go back and read Apple's response to the FCC. It may not have any outright lies, but there's plenty of stuff in there that is questionable. They say some things that are factually incorrect about the way Google Voice works, and they try to claim that they don't fully understand the service. If you buy that, so be it. I don't.
    - stanleydrew 17y ago
      Agreed. I hate to say it, but TechCrunch had some of the best coverage at the time of the FCC statements. A pretty good overview of the statements is here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/18/google-reveals-full-fcc-response-directly-contradicts-apple-on-google-voice-rejection/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/18/google-reveals-full-fcc...
      - GHFigs 17y ago
        There are countless apps on the App Store that “duplicate” the iPhone’s functionality in some form, and the notion that users might get confused about the apps is ridiculous too — after all, users have to manually install these apps. This is not very insightful. Apple obviously did not reject the application based on what is shares in common with applications it didn't reject. So why not actually examine the differences? Moreover, why not examine the differences as referenced by Apple concerning their own actions? For instance, Apple's claim that: "The Google Voice application replaces Apple’s Visual Voicemail by routing calls through a separate Google Voice telephone number that stores any voicemail, preventing voicemail from being stored on the iPhone, i.e., disabling Apple’s Visual Voicemail." Is this true? Are there other, accepted applications that do this? Does this constitute a duplication of functionality that may confuse users? TechCrunch doesn't appear to have even attempted to answer any of these questions.