Apple Blocks Google Voice App
July 28, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Cellphones, software
Yesterday, Apple blocked Google’s official Google Voice application from the App Store. And this after Apple’s Phil Schiller, the Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, gave his personal approval.
In retrospect, you just had to see it coming. The Google Voice iPhone app basically allowed free texts and much cheaper calls. That meant more money for carriers from data plans, but less profit from their traditional voice and SMS services.
It’s easy to point fingers at partner AT&T, as they’re the carrier with the most to lose if iPhone owners figure out how to send texts and do calls without adding to their monthly bill. And this is yet another way of limiting what subscribers can do for the sake of making more money.
Yet the whole brouhaha is also the fault of the App Store’s “walled garden”. That’s the setup that allows Apple to officially limit what iPhone owners can do—whether through its own initiative or under pressure from a partner—even after these customers have committed to a long-term investment to Apple’s product.
Sure, iPhone users can always jailbreak their phone. But why force paying customers to do something extra just so they can maximize their purchase? Just so they can do whatever they want with their gadget?
Source
Google Voice iPhone App screenshots courtesy iPhoneFreak
Why? For exactly the things you state! It >IS< their “walked garden”, and you KNOW that going in and agree to accept the fact in the terms and conditions to which you must agree prior to using the device. If you don’t like it you should have done what it says and return for full refund.
Seriously, its really lame if people to agree to something and then whine about it later.
You do have a point, but somehow I see incompatibilities with iPhone marketing and the limiting reality of un-jailbroken units.