Apple is under the cosh from US regulators after it rejected the Google Voice iPhone app out of hand. Over in the States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is running the rule over both Cupertino and AT&T after the Big G’s app, which lets you use one number across landlines and mobiles, was frozen out of the App Store. Read on and see just what Apple will have to face up to.
Google Voice was all set to offer iPhone punters a killer way to call punters and send texts for nothing when Apple gave it the heave, after initially slinging out any 3rd party apps from the App Store which use the Big G’s latest innovation.
As ever, Apple has not made its reasons for rejecting an app public, but now the FCC is stepping in after claims that AT&T, which flogs the iPhone Stateside, was involved in the decision. After all, why would it want an app that would let you make calls and send texts for free?
Google Voice iPhone app quashed
The FCC has sent a letter to Apple, AT&T and Google asking, “why Apple rejected the Google Voice application for the iPhone and removed related “third-party applications” from its store.”
This is all part of a wider investigation into anti–competitive posturing across the pond, but it could clearly have implications for all of us. Imagine Apple being made to unleash contentious apps on the iPhone? There’d be no rumble over the Spotify iPhone app, that’s for sure.
Apple (via The Wall Street Journal)
