Apple Rejects Another Google iPhone App [Silicon Alley Insider]
For two companies as close as Apple and Google, with Google's CEO serving as a member of Apple's board of directors, the news that Apple has rejected a second Google application for the iPhone in the past week has caused many observers to sit up and take note. Last week, Google revealed that Apple had rejected an application for its Google Maps Latitude technology, which allowed users to share their location with friends. Instead of a separate application, Google decided to launch the service in a web page for iPhone users.
Yesterday, Apple rejected a second Google application -- Google Voice. Described as an Internet calling system that allows users to route calls to specific phone numbers based on user defined rules, Google Voice also provides users with voicemail transcription. A Google representative said of Apple's move:
"We work hard to bring Google applications to a number of mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Apple did not approve the Google Voice application we submitted six weeks ago to the Apple App Store. We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users — for example, by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers."Apple (and the iPhone's exclusive U.S. carrier, AT&T) have used the walled garden of the iPhone Apps Store to reject or disable applications that might duplicate or compete with their existing applications and products. In a previous case, it meant disabling the ability for SlingPlayer application users from streaming cable programming on their iPhone from AT&T's mobile network. Apple made that move at AT&T's request. Maybe the idea that Google could provide some neat phone features that AT&T couldn't concerned AT&T enough to request that Apple block the Google Voice application.
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