Google said that Apple has rejected its voice app for the iPhone. According to redacted material made public on the FCC’s website, Google stated that the Apple representatives informed the company that its voice app was rejected as Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone and could potentially replace such functionality.
Apple told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month that it did not reject the Google Voice app for the iPhone and is still studying it.
Google Voice service assigns one number for all user’s calls and SMS. It reportedly allows users to receive calls from multiple phone numbers and make inexpensive international calls.
Earlier, FCC has launched an inquiry to seek information on Apple’s rejection of Google Voice and has sent letters to Apple, Google and AT&T.
In Google’s response to the FCC, it has asked the commission to keep the information confidential. However, recently it notified the commission that it decided to drop the request for confidentiality.
Richard Whitt, Google’s Washington Telecom and Media Counsel said in a blog post: “When we submitted our letter on August 21, we asked the FCC to redact certain portions that involved sensitive commercial conversations between two.”
”Shortly afterward, several individuals and organisations submitted Freedom of Information Act requests with the FCC seeking access to this information. While we could have asked the FCC to oppose those requests, in light of Apple’s decision to make its own letter fully public and in the interest of transparency, we decided to drop our request for confidentiality.”
