(VOICETALK.ORG) — In a shocking blow to iPhone users, the official Google Voice app by Google has been denied by Apple. Caught in the sweep were two leading third party applications for Google Voice that were removed from the Apple’s App Store on Tuesday — both GV Mobile and VoiceCentral. The reasons cited by Apple to Sean Kovacs, GV Mobile developer, was that his application duplicates features already available on the iPhone such as SMS messaging. GV Mobile is now available for jailbroken iPhones via Cydia. GV Mobile developer Sean Kovacs wrote on twitter noting Phil Schiller — Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing,
Existing user(s) will be able to keep GV Mobile… Funny how my app gets approved personally by Phil Schiller, now to get pulled. WTH Phil!!?
A Google spokeswoman told wired.com, “We work hard to bring Google applications to a number of mobile platforms, including the iPhone,” adding “Apple did not approve the Google Voice application we submitted six weeks ago to the Apple App Store. We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users — for example, by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers.”
If we examine this move in more details, it’s likely that AT&T — the exclusive iPhone provider — may have influenced the removal of these applications. Google Voice software can hurt their bottom line if customers begin sending SMS messages via Google Voice rather than the AT&T network. For example, it costs $20 a month for an unlimited SMS plan. Most can now get away with the lowest AT&T plan of $5 for 200 messages when implementing Google Voice.
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