Google strikes back at Apple, releases new Google Voice for iPhone
itworld.com
itworld.com
Apple: "We don't want Google Voice on the iPhone, period. But we'll publicly tell Google they're fine to put it on as a handicapped web app, because we couldn't stop that anyway, and it makes us look like we don't have anything against it. But we do. We are worried that Google will convert the iPhone into a shell for its own products, which is why we're talking to other search engines and are (probably) building our own Maps app."
Google: "Fine. We'll build a web app, and it will be sort of shitty. But we'll keep updating it with the latest HTML5 tricks and make it pretty damn good for a web app — far better than most other companies could do anyway. We're going to release Google Voice to the public later this year, and iPhone users will be able to try it for themselves with the web app. When they find out that the experience would be even better if Apple would approve our native app, maybe we'll see a grassroots movement. Maybe not. Either way, we're keeping our best native apps on Android."
To anyone who thinks that Apple is worried about the user experience and reproducing core functionality, that's all misdirection. There are plenty of applications that similarly reproduce some of the iPhone's core functionality. There are a few apps that do EXACTLY what Google Voice does, but are targeted at a different market. Apple is trying to keep its control over the iPhone for competitive reasons, not because they're worried about user confusion.
They both did, in response to an FCC inquiry. Your theory depends on both companies not just lying but lying to the government and lying to the government in a very peculiar way that doesn't actually give either of them any kind of advantage over telling the truth.
This is not very insightful. Apple obviously did not reject the application based on what is shares in common with applications it didn't reject. So why not actually examine the differences? Moreover, why not examine the differences as referenced by Apple concerning their own actions?
For instance, Apple's claim that: "The Google Voice application replaces Apple’s Visual Voicemail by routing calls through a separate Google Voice telephone number that stores any voicemail, preventing voicemail from being stored on the iPhone, i.e., disabling Apple’s Visual Voicemail."
Is this true? Are there other, accepted applications that do this? Does this constitute a duplication of functionality that may confuse users?
TechCrunch doesn't appear to have even attempted to answer any of these questions.
So rather than being a "blatant lie", it is actually true. That's kind of my point.
We also wrote quite a few other stories about the situation that you should be able to pull up using the Google query below. For more on applications that are similar to Google Voice, check out the stories on Line2.
I don't own an iphone, but I imagine there is a native email application that Apple wrote. Let's say you have mac mail, and are popping your mail to your phone. I also imagine there are plenty of other email clients, which notably Apple has not rejected. If you then download and configure one of these other clients to pop your email is that duplicating a native function of the phone? Is it confusing? I argue no, and apparently Apple agrees since said apps certainly exist in the App Store.
Choosing to consume your data in a way other than Apple intended seems to be the problem with Google Voice. The argument of confusion by duplicating functionality is patronizing to users and pretty thin.
Then cite the facts, as said before. Denigrating people based on what they "buy" (when your argument hinges on "reading between the lines") is not convincing. You may be right, but at this rate I'll never know, because you have a long way to go between connecting "questionable" to the elaborate intrigue you described before. That is what I don't buy, because I honestly don't see any fact-grounded reason why the simple explanation isn't true, and you haven't offered any.
It'd be a waste of time for both of us to try and shoot holes in each others' speculations, because it just leads to more and more speculation, e.g. if Apple didn't want to permit things like Google Voice even as a web app why did they develop the JavaScript hooks it depends on? There is no response to that sort of question doesn't spawn more questions than it answers.
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/google-voice-for...
EDIT: this is the second time in the last couple of days an itworld article made it to the front page. Im guessing it is because of new-er HN users? FYI itworld is usually content-less and mundane (through to outright baiting) :) best to hunt for another source if the story seems interesting.
(abennet also IMO pushes the "it's ok to self post" boundary a bit too far... but that's another issue)
Developers love the SDK, web apps are obviously-less capable than native applications, but there's no approval process for web apps. That's what this has come down to: it doesn't matter how good the platform is if you can't distribute.
Likely so. Note that there is a Skype app for the iPhone but it is restricted such that it will only make voice calls through wifi. It's rumored that AT&T has been opposed to VoIP traffic over its 3G data network though it has just recently finished work necessary to make such things feasible and may reverse its earlier decisions (paving the way for full-featured skype and google voice iPhone apps).
And yes the Wikipedia entry for Google Voice is mistaken. I should probably fix that for them...
Unfortunately, it has to be written in the page rather than you deciding what you want to do when adding it to the springboard. It's the case with all Google products except Google Talk strangely and I find that's too bad…
javascript:var%20s=document.createElement('meta');s.setAttribute('content',%20'yes');s.setAttribute('name',%20'apple-mobile-web-app-capable');document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].appendChild(s);alert('Now%20add%20the%20webpage%20to%20your%20home%20screen!');void(s);
* Visit voice.google.com
* Paste javascript into address bar, click "Go"
* Dismiss notification ("Now add the webpage to your homescreen")
* Add Google Voice to your Home Screen.
I didn't test it too much, but it appears to work fine in a SSB.
It did seem to work for most apps I tried too. (Gmail, Voice, Tasks) There's also a meta tag to select the kind of status bar you want (gray, black or translucent) but it seems that it's dismissed if the page doesn't really have it.
Select "Add to Home Screen".