Who Is Lying About the Google Voice App, Apple or Google?
4:51 pm, September 18th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Apple's Phil Schiller is in the spotlight over controversy surrounding the rejection of Google's Voice app for the iPhone.
Google says categorically that Apple has rejected its Voice app for the iPhone. Apple denies this, saying several times that the app is still under consideration. Apple has said this in official documents submitted to a government inquiry by the FCC, and most recently today in a statement to the press.
Someone is lying. Who is it?
Well, the test is quite simple:
Is the Google Voice app available in the App Store or not?
It is not, and until it is, it’s pretty clear that Apple is lying.
This is pretty despicable behavior for the company and a big black eye personally for Phil Schiller, who’s reputation is on the line here. Schiller needs to come out and tell the truth, or his reputation will suffer. This is his Colin Powell moment.
Come on Phil, tell us the truth.
Thanks to reader Steven for first pointing this out.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, iPhone Apps | Comment on this article
I’M A TOTAL MACHEAD but!!! I hate listening and watching Phil Schiller at Apple keynote events. He comes across as, just being filled in, moments before the event and unsure of himself. When ever he takes the face of Apple, I’m embarrassed for Apple.
Gabriel, on September 18th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I could care less. Go buy a Android phone if you’re so upset about it.
Paul, on September 18th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I love it! Never thought I’d see someone use my words like you have – I’m all kinds of flattered.
Steven, on September 18th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Your “simple test” makes NO SENSE. If it’s under review, then it can’t already be in the app store. It’s not an either-or situation. How simple-minded are you gossip hounds?
Google doesn’t really understand what Apple is asking from them (cause they’re techies), and until they figure it out and fix it – they have to wait in line like every other developer. Or are all of your asking for Google to get special treatment cause… they’re big boys?
Lame.
YodaMac, on September 18th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
The test makes every bit of sense. I dare you to name one other app that has been “under review” for more than six months. There isn’t one. Why?
Because they told Google that they were rejecting it, just like Google says they did. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
Want further proof? Ok, here it is:
There were at least two other Google Voice apps in the App Store that were PULLED at the same time. Does their intention get any clearer than that?
Steven (Briggs), on September 18th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Just jailbreak and get it over with. The process makes the iPhone what it should have been from the start. Get GV Mobile and use Prowl and GV Max to push SMS directly to your iPhone saving you charges through AT&T.
Phrint, on September 18th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
@YodaMac: I’m sure it’s a technical issue. Those Google guys barely know their butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to internet technology. (eyes roll right out of head)
Apple doesn’t want Google Voice to be an app because it could allow people to buy the $199 iPod Touch and a mic and get around AT&T’s crappy calling plans. I’m sure they’re having their arm twisted my Ma Bell. Either that or they’re openly collaborating with them.
Kuma, on September 18th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Pure Speculative Nonsense,
Just because the Google Voice App is not available doesn’t make it so, You can make all the arguments that Apple is lying all you want, But without substantiated proof of fact you have nothing but conjecture with a sprinkling of “because it’s Google they can do no wrong”. and Apple is the Evil Butcher.
Recently a few disgruntled developers use the “Blogosphere” and with the help of personnel friends that have some connection to relaying information for the benefit of getting free publicity have made something out of nothing.
“It’s Apples Sandbox, Play by the rules and agreements set forth or move on and try to bully someone else.” That’s Choice to use a different Device or Platform or in Googles position that soon will be emerging, use your own platform.
This proves nothing except more & more people have an entitlement complex “and what it only one way”, and like little children cry because they could’t get what they want, When they want it.
The developers of Google Voice haven’t proven to be very trustworthy and forthcoming earthier, Putting a “sensitive Information Block and asking for non publication” show’s the intent of non transparency and proves they are hiding, and Questionable at Best.
Only by being forced to release the “redacted” parts of Googles transcript leads to another possibility of Google developers hiding a dishonest answer that will be found out in the coming day’s & due to the force from users requesting the release through the freedom of information act, They Had to.
Googles not as forthcoming as people want to believe and at the least are trying to hide something “that may” Blow up in their face’s.
Has anyone thought for one moment that Google wants to use the iPhone as a testing ground on Apples device to see the reception, and then to use Apples Platform to work out the bugs of the App so that when Google releases their own Platform, Google Voice would have
“Second Generation Status” with all the Bugs Worked Out..
Think About it, Anyway you look at it, questionable and plausible, But this also play’s into other additional things that the G.V. App does that all of us might not know about or understand.
You can look at it any way you like, 2 sides to every story but saying it is so Doesn’t make it as Such.
Making a Blanket statute that Apple is Lying is asinine and completely unfounded without fact and is pure Blog Baiting for clicks.
I Fell for it, I responded to this Nonsense, Why??
Had time to kill and nothing better to do.
Scott B., on September 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Steven, you’re wrong here. Just because it’s not in the store, it’s not proof it’s not under review. Just because you don’t know of any other app (and there might well be) that has received the same treatment, doesn’t mean it’s not true of GoogleVoice.
There isn’t any evidence of the app being rejected other than a supposed phone conversation. Other GV apps being rejected have no bearing on the official GV app being rejected – we don’t know any of the reasons why they were rejected.
Just because Google is familiar with technology doesn’t make them experts in the complexities of Apple’s AppStore policies. We’ve seen many other cases of actual rejection and angered developers that ended up being based on a difficulty understanding what Apple wanted out of the app, or how it needed to be rated, etc., not a lack of tech knowledge.
The end result is none of us know with any reasonable certainty, so to say it’s ‘proof’ is very presumptuous. At best you could say it’s a suspicious situation and you’d like some actual evidence of something before making a conclusion.
Nick, on September 18th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
???
Someone is lying. Who is it?
Well, the test is quite simple:
Is the Google Voice app available in the App Store or not?
It is not, and until it is, it’s pretty clear that Apple is lying.
???
Is that your case?
Guess you could resolve Israel/Palestinian conflict in a snap!
Deocliciano Okssipin Vieira, on September 18th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Casino in every Palestinian village…
Ram, on September 18th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Was lucky enough to get the GV Mobile app and love it!!
Michael, on September 18th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I agree with a couple of your posted comments (Scott and Nick). At this point it is a tech version of he said/she said. Unless Google has some physical evidence (I.E. an email, official correspondence) that Apple has rejected the app there is no way we can say for certain that Apple has lied.
Harry Patch, on September 18th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
@Deocliciano
-Blam!, You owned that guy.
LoL Internet, on September 18th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Does Apple stand to gain anything by lying about this matter? If they say the app is under review, who’s to say otherwise. It can’t be proved that they aren’t still reviewing it. Suppose Apple said they’re not allowing it for some made up reason. Would that be better for the whiners? I doubt it.
And does it really matter whether Google Voice makes it on the iPhone or not. Not really. I don’t think the loss of Google Voice is impacting iPhone sales at all.
iphonerulez, on September 18th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
who cares, really? cel phones are a noxious polution on real life. I pray the whole mobile phone net work dies.
did anyone listen to a mobile call recently: 50% are I’m walking down the street towards you.
other 50% I need to know where my child is.
I am sorry children grew up for 30000 years quite well with mobiles….
voice aps does not work anyway
ged, on September 18th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
“Does Apple stand to gain anything by lying about this matter?”
Uh, if they’re being investigated by the FCC, plenty.
See, the FCC is investigating whether or not Apple and AT&T are colluding to protect their market. Apple rejecting it implies that this is the case (except it isn’t–AT&T is not involved according to all three parties). Apple saying “We haven’t rejected it, we’re still looking into it” says that they haven’t decided yet.
Now, what does Google have to gain by lying and saying that Apple told them they rejected it when they didn’t? Absolutely nothing.
Peter, on September 18th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
the point no one seems to be hitting is that an app being rejected for the app store is only in it’s current form… this means that even if they did reject google’s submission of the app, the solution is for google to alter the app (in this case remove “duplicate functionality”) and resubmit it… whether or not something is on the app store is not a test of whether it’s been rejected, and even rejected apps come to the app store if the issues that the reviewers have are fixed.
Garrett, on September 18th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Who cares. It will only make an already unusable system more unusable. And why does Apple have to approve a Google Voice App. Its their store, right? I hate to agree with the phone company, but they pay a premium to Apple for the iPhone. Why would they allow the user to circumvent their phone network? Because we live in America? Wake up people. This is their world. You only live in it.
Michael, on September 18th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Great post. And love the comments, especially those against the article. I’m always impressed at how imaginative some people can be.
Xavier, on September 18th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
“Is the Google Voice app available in the App Store or not?
It is not, and until it is, it’s pretty clear that Apple is lying.”
Wow, what brilliant legal reasoning! You should be on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Does the earth look round from where you are standing? If not, it’s pretty clear the earth is flat.
Warren Hamburger, on September 18th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Google and Apple are competitors in the phone market. Google software can take over an Iphone operation. Very similar to what Google does in taking over your computer. Apple is an integrated company offering both software and hardware. Would you open your home to strangers who would come and rearrange your home, lock up your properties and insist that you must use their specified rules and policies to access your own home. I doubt it.
For ringers posing as the general public, hope your device crashes
Norm, on September 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I cannot believe that Leander Kahney has just blindly followed commenter Steven’s line of thinking. I am not an Apple shill, and I am simply waiting for all the facts to come to light. Until then, it is incredibly presumptuous for anyone, including (and maybe especially) Mr. Kahney, to be assuming that simply because an app is not in the App Store that it has been rejected; who’s to say that it truly isn’t still under review and that Apple and Google aren’t working on it? It’s easy to believe whomever you want in this situation, but I’d rather not believe anyone and just assess the facts themselves when they come out.
I am frankly appalled that Leander Kahney has written such unsubstantiated conjectures as if they were simple and obvious truths. In my eyes, you have sullied your own reputation, and I will be reading your writing more warily from now on.
@Xavier
This has nothing to do with “how imaginative some people can be,” but simply waiting for some light to be shed on the truth and evaluating from an objective standpoint. Until then, we should be careful to believe what any company tells us, including Google and Apple; any company can lie, and we might never know their motivations for doing so.
Andrew, on September 19th, 2009 at 2:38 am
I heard that it was because of Apple’s agreement with at&t that no VOIP based application shall be released on the app store.Or am i wrong here??
Darryl, on September 19th, 2009 at 5:09 am
I really don’t want Apple or AT&T telling me what Apps I can have on my phone, which I purchased.If you buy a house, would you let someone tell you what you could put in it? I think Apple is being a bitt too much like big brother from their 1984 commercial.
Chris Chapman, on September 19th, 2009 at 5:49 am
My girlfriend says the same thing: “If you won’t marry me, it must mean that you hate me.”
Are we married or not?
We are not, and until we are, it’s pretty clear that I hate her.
DGF, on September 19th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Apple has the right to deny any application for whatever reason they please (subject to existing laws, of course). But they should have the honesty to admit when they have done so.
Don Pope, on September 19th, 2009 at 10:02 am
You Apple backers crack me up. Your blind devotion keeps you from seeing through their facade. If it’s really ‘under review’ for 6 months, let’s hear about why, then fire the reviewer for taking so fucking long.
It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.
Matt, on September 19th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I don’t understand this controversy at all. In any process of review there will likely be many “rejections” and resubmissions along the way. Phil’s rejection of z after x and y were fixed only means Google needs to resubmit after fixing z and the process of review continues. Eventually they make Apple happy (perhaps) and then likely at some future date AT&T says approve it only if it is WIFI only. So, where is anyone lying?
avatera, on September 19th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
His Logic really amuses me
Eiteck, on September 19th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I think Apple is just waiting for Google to take it out of beta before they approve it
Gary, on September 19th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Lee – You often have opinions that are different than mine, which is not always a bad thing. I hesitate to say it, but in this case, your opinion is not just different, it’s downright stupid!
The Pee Wee Herman “I know you are but what am I?” school of logic fails:
1) I wrote an app that guts the OS, steals traffic from AT&T, and plays “it’s A Small World” until the owner gets dizzy and vomits.
2) Apple rejected it, because it changes the OS, and violates the TOS and contracts with AT&T
3) I complained, because everyone can run another version of it on their browsers, PCs, and phones (witness all the vomit and woozy callers)
4) Apple still won’t approve it, even though I demonstrated that people are still using it on other phones
5) It’s Apple’s fault it hasn’t been approved
Q.E.D.
I’m not saying Apple is or is not lying. In fact I’ll bet there’s a few twisted truths on both sides of the argument. But you have no basis for such a specious claim.
imajoebob, on September 19th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
This is really much to-do about absolutely nothing.
Who cares about this anyway?
Apple should be able to approve or reject any app they want to.
It’s their product, remember?
NATE, on September 20th, 2009 at 9:11 am
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/apple-answers-fcc-questions/
By reading this it seems pretty easy to understand.
If a product you created for a single to purpose was some how change for a different purpose you would be upset to.
I don’t care who you are (and I am a MAC guy through and through) it is all about money.
Shelby Hanneman, on September 20th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
“Is the Google Voice app available in the App Store or not?
It is not, and until it is, it’s pretty clear that Apple is lying.”
Your 2nd grade teacher is spinning in her grave. You obviously haven’t learned much in the way of thinking skills.
Here’s another option – the app has not been accepted OR rejected – it is still being evaluated.
I notice that you fail to mention the easy way to resolve the dispute. If Apple rejected it, Google should be able to provide a copy of the rejection letter or email. Where is it?
Joe Anonymous, on September 21st, 2009 at 9:27 am
Another thing people seem to be missing here is that every time someone makes or receives a Google Voice call, AT&T collects revenue from Google for either origination or termination, because Google Voice uses the PSTN to render its services. So, add that into your mendacity matrix before reaching any conclusions about who’s lying and why.
Lonnie Lazar, on September 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm