FCC Says Apple Has Some Splainin To Do
Apple Rejects Google Voice on iPhone and the FCC is Investigating. The controversy that started when Apple rejected Google voice on their iPhones was enough to get the FCC interested. Although it is not quite clear whether it was Apple or AT&T who rejected the application, the FCC has asked AT&T, Apple and Google for an explanation. The original reasoning behind the block was that Google Voice duplicated features that came with the iPhone although Apple would not say exactly which features.
However, Google Voice is totally different than the applications that come with the iPhone. One possibility is because Google Voice is as powerful as it is, AT&T has asked for it to be removed. Google Voice makes many mobile phone services easily accessible such as changing your number, savings on SMS and receiving cheap calls. This is a blow to carriers who do not want these services to be so easily accessible or cheap.
Regardless of the reasoning, there seems to be more to the investigation than meets the eye. It seems the FCC is making a statement that the time has come for the wireless networks to be as easily accessible as the Internet. One of the reasons for this decision is the change in the way we use mobile phones. They were once used only as communication between callers but today they are Internet connections as well. Many believe the same rules that apply to Internet should apply to cell phones since they are a main wireless connection for a large percentage of people.
The wired connection allows any brand or type of computer to be used while the wireless connection only allows their brand or applications approved by the carrier. In 2007 Skype asked that the cell phone carriers open their networks. Skype, similar to Google Voice helped cell phone users to use their phones without using the carrier. Naturally, the carriers do not like this one bit. Now, only a couple years later with the FCC questioning whose decision it was to remove Google Voice apps from the iPhone, the time may be near that consumers may choose their wireless provider the same as they do their wired connection.
