Before Railing Apple or AT&T, Do You Know What Google Voice Does?

      by Wyatt Walter

I had to laugh while browsing through comments on one of the articles on Digg about how the Google Voice App for the iPhone was rejected. While I would totally agree with the consensus that Apple is treating its developers poorly and walking on thin ice with them (I said it very nicely..), I’m thinking that the majority of them don’t understand at all what Google Voice is.

Google Voice is not a replacement for your home phone, cell phone, or any other phone you happen to have. It’s not about using your cell phone provider’s network to make phone calls so you don’t have to pay for them. It’s an enhancement to your phone – allowing you to hand out a single phone number to reach you at multiple phones. The service might be a “VoIP” service, but it’s no more of a “VoIP service” than the backend of your local phone company that reaches your home either digitally or via analog signal. Neither Apple nor AT&T have nothing to lose should Google Voice take off as it’s merely a filter in front of your devices.

That being said, Apple needs to stop denying apps to its store without explaining why. It’s getting out of hand. In Apple’s defense, there’s definitely some overlap with contact management, the ability to make phone calls, voicemail, and text message management. However, the Google Voice app rejection is just yet another sign in a broken system.

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Filed under Tech Trends : Comments (0) : Aug 4th, 2009