In the immediate aftermath of Apple ’s recent changes to its App Store policy , the prevail attitude was one of “ waitress and see . ” To many critic , the change sounded positive enough , but Apple ’s often cavalier position had made them cautious . Less than two weeks after the change , though , there are already sign of the zodiac that Apple has turned over a novel leaf — previously persona non grata in the App Store , Google Voice may turn out to be the prodigal Logos .
When Apple announce its App Store change earlier this calendar month , hope for Google Voice was reignite . GV Mobile developer Sean Kovacs cover that he wasinvited to feed back his applicationto the store , and last workweek the first third - party Google Voice app , GV Connect , appeared for download . GV Mobile followedshortly thereafter .
Google ’s telephony service , which lets users take advantage of digital voicemail , the ability to ring multiple number simultaneously , and complimentary texting , was unceremoniously booted from the App Store last year . Apple pulled several existing third - company applications , such as GV Mobile , GVdialer , and VoiceCentral , giving only a vague apology about “ duplication of features . ” It was one of the first hints that the antecedently solid relationship between Google and Apple was start out to show signs of strain .
Not long after that , it come to light that Google had at some point submitted its own iPhone guest for Voice , which initial reports aver had been rejected from the App Store . The plot thicken when the Federal Communications Commission investigated the allegation ; Apple carry an open reception to the FCC in which it claimed it was “ continuing to contemplate the Google Voice program . ”
Google ’s own response to the FCC investigating had contained a redacted surgical incision which the ship’s company laterunredactedand published . It stated that Apple fourth-year frailty president Phil Schiller had personally called Google senior frailty president Alan Eustace and assure him that the app was rejected . The softly creaking sounds of strain between Google and Apple were now punctuate by the first sharp crack .
Of naturally , the elephant in the room is Google itself . Will Apple ’s new rules lead to enshroud a company that has more and more positioned itself as a major competitor ? There may yet be hope ; Apple ’s recent change also backpedaled in another domain of contention between the two companies : analytics .
Earlier this twelvemonth , Apple changed its rules to nix third - party program from give out analytics information the advertizement networks besides Apple ’s own iAds , a move some determine as vengeance for the fact that Google had snapped up fluid advertiser AdMob , which Apple had been in the market to buy . But the alterations to the regulation appear to unfetter competition once again , and Google itselfhas been positive about the move .
It ’s unclear as to whether or not Google has or will resubmitted its Google Voice app to the App Store . A Google representative thatMacworldreached for commentary say only , “ We currently extend Google Voice mobile apps for Blackberry and Android , and we declare oneself an HTML5 web app for the iPhone . We have nothing further to declare at this metre . ”
However , now that Apple ’s approved a pair of third - company apps for Google Voice , it would seem to be in a bind regarding an official , first - party client : if Google ’s were to submit an app that did n’t get approved , Apple would have some tough questions to respond . In the meantime , the app remains in limbo , along with Google and Apple ’s relationship .
