There was another interesting twist today in the dispute between Google and Apple over Apple's rejection of the Google Voice Application for the iPhone. Apple rejected Google's Voice App and wouldn't allow it to be sold in the App Store. Google got mad and asked the FCC to investigate. The FCC did investigate and now those documents have been released after
Google waived confidentiality. Google confidentially told the FCC that Apple refused to allow the Google Voice App to be sold because "it duplicated core functions on the iphone."
Apple Inc. said it rejected Google Inc.'s voice service for the iPhone because the application replaced a "core" function on the phone, according to a confidential reply Google gave federal regulators.
"Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone," Google said, according to the reply released today by the Federal Communications Commission after Google relinquished confidentiality. "Apple's representatives informed Google that the Google Voice application was rejected."
That's pretty shocking, but it gets weirder. Apple now says that this statement is inaccurate, in other words they are calling Google's execs a bunch of liars. Apple then had the nerve to say that it hasn't rejected the app -- although it still isn't sold in the app store.
Basically, Google and Apple are each calling each other liars and the Google Voice App is not available for iPhone users. AT&T, which is the only licensed carrier for the iPhone, then issued a statement to the effect of "hey, we had nothing to do with any of it, so please don't blame us that you can't get Google Voice on your iPhone."
