Google Voice sparks battle against Apple
Google has done it again.
Adding to their many Web, mobile and desktop applications, Google Inc. created Google Voice in mid-June. The online application allows users to create a single phone number that rings all of their phones. With the application, there would be no need to tell someone to call your work phone until 5 p.m. and then your cell phone after that; Google Voice will ring them both at the same time.
Additionally, the application allows users to send free text messages and place free calls anywhere in the United States. There are other handy options, such as the ability to transcribe voice mails and the ability to listen in while someone is leaving a message.
But the use of this cool new application is limited. Less than a month after Google released Google Voice, they submitted an iPhone application for Apple to review. The application, and its services, would be free. However, at the end of July, Apple rejected the application, and others that used Google voice, on the basis they ‘duplicate features that come with the iPhone.’
While Apple may not have a direct conflict with the application, AT&T, the sole service provider of the iPhone in the U.S, probably would. If the application were to take off, people would just use Google Voice instead of buying minutes and text message packages. On a whole, it could severely damage AT&T’s profit.
But if Google Voice is rejected because it duplicates functions of the iPhone, then why are programs that use the built-in camera or programs like fring and Skype that offer similar internet-based phone calls, acceptable?
Christopher Finkle, communications manager at Syracuse University’s Information Technology & Services said it’s too soon to know exactly what this means for the long-term relationship between Apple and Google.
‘Google claims the app has been rejected, Apple claims they are still studying the app and have yet (to) approve or disapprove the app for the iPhone app store,’ Finkle said. ‘Clearly, relations between the two companies are cooling, if not deteriorating.’
With Apple and Google making extremely conflicting remarks on the application’s rejection, someone is either lying or confused.
After the original conflict over the summer, two major things happened: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an investigation into Apple, AT&T and Google to find out why the application was rejected, and if such rejection is legal. The other major change was that Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, left the Apple board of directors. Finkle said this is a sign that Apple and Google are becoming ‘more competitors than collaborators.’
The FCC investigation is still in progress, but this whole controversy means two important things to the average technology consumer. Finkle explains the first, saying:
‘My guess is that we’ll see increasing animosity between the two, most of which is likely to be posturing and smoke-screening. The upshot longer term is the potential of better, cheaper products and services from both firms for users of all sorts.’
The second that will certainly come out of the FCC investigation is regulation of Internet neutrality. On Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski spoke in Washington, D.C. about potential Net Neutrality legislation. Parts of his speech seemed almost directed specifically towards the Apple and Google controversy.
‘Broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications,’ Genachowski said. ‘This means they cannot block, or degrade, lawful traffic over their networks, or pick winners by favoring some content or applications over others in the connection to subscribers’ homes.’
Regardless of whether Google or Apple becomes victorious, the FCC is on a mission to determine what is acceptable on the Internet. In many ways the Internet is the new frontier and laws still need to be put in place. Let’s hope we, the users, come out victorious.
Ben Tepfer is a sophomore radio, television and film major, and the tech columnist. His columns appear every Tuesday, and he can be reached at bstepfer@syr.edu.
