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Apple Rejects Google Voice iPhone App

Why does Apple get to decide what applications your iPhone can run? That’s a question on customers’ minds today after Apple rejected Google Voice as an iPhone application, apparently to protect AT&T’s lock on iPhone users.

This is another example of how Apple’s monopoly control over iPhone apps is bad for customers.

Google Voice is a next-generation telephone mangement system that allows users to share a single number among all their phones. It also provides SMS, voicemail, and speech-to-text conversion of incoming voicemail messages. All for free.

It’s easy to imagine Google Voice users might not to want to pay AT&T for features that Google is giving away. So, apparently to protect AT&T, Apple rejected Google Voice.

Currently available by invitation only, Google Voice is already available as a mobile application for Android and BlackBerry handsets. The app provides access to Google Voice features, including the ability make a call appear to be coming from the user’s Google Voice number.

A friend who uses Google Voice says the BlackBerry app is a life-changer, though I think he’s overenthused. Still, I am starting to use Google Voice in my office and am generally pleased thus far. I especially like getting transcripts of voice messages sent to my email.

If you are interested in using Google Voice, request an invitation here. Google is clearing out a backlog of requests and the waiting time is now only a week or so.

Apple is well-known for its control-freak tendencies, but rejecting Google Voice as an iPhone application is just too much. Apple should be ashamed. And it’s iPhone applications monopoly should be broken.

[Thanks: http://www.pcworld.com]

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