Google Voice Daily

Apple has taken a lot of heat for its decision to reject the Google Voice dialer app from Google, as well as for retroactively removing three existing Google Voice apps, two weeks ago. The reper- cussions continue to rever- berate and grow, from customer anger to developer disgust to regulatory action.

Most of the discussion, though, has missed the key point of the whole series of events – the one aspect of the whole brouhaha that was, at least in a broad, moral sense, a crime. This wasn’t the rejection of Google’s Google Voice app. Google’s people are big boys, and can look after themselves – as shown by David Pogue’s comment that they would develop a version of their mobile Web site for Google Voice to replace the rejected dialer.

No, the crime was the cold-blooded execution of the three existing Google Voice apps: Sean Kovacs’ GV Mobile, Riverturn’s Voice Central and gvDialer from MobileMax. These apps had already been approved and were for sale on the App Store. They had press reviews, revenues, and real, live customers – who are also customers of Apple and AT&T.

The key point is that nothing material changed between the approval of each of these apps and their being rejected. The developers didn’t all do something wrong; nothing relevant in the marketplace changed between the approval and the removal. They were crushed only because they were in the way – which is no reason at all.

Ironically, the crime against these developers is the one part of the whole mess that’s simple, clear, and unarguable; yet it’s also the one part that’s easily reversed.

The apps involved each have an interesting history. GV Mobile had quickly become the leader on the iPhone due to its friendly and useful blend of distinctive features and protective camouflage, looking just like similar iPhone functions. (Yes, that’s what Apple complained about, but it was true when the app was approved too.) The app’s developer was said to have gotten a call from Phil Schiller himself apologizing for the delay in his initial approval. Voice Central’s history went back to Grand Central days, so they had had two major approvals. gvDialer is following an interesting multi-platform strategy that may yet prove a winner; no other platform is stopping them from selling their app.

And Apple stepped on all three. In fact, it wiped them out as App Store apps. GV Mobile is trying to continue in the Cydia store for use by pwned iPhones and iPods, while gvDialer continues its multi-platform strategy, minus the biggest smartphone platform around.

Who gets the blame for this? There’s only one person at Apple who can overrule Phil Schiller, and that’s whose hand the smoking gun is in.

Is AT&T at fault? On the Google dialer app, perhaps. But not on the three existing apps. Apple had a strong response to any serpentine whisperings in their corporate ear on this front. All Apple had to say was:  ”Sorry, we already gave approval, a while ago to boot. We don’t treat our developers like that – and if we were to do so in this case, the outcry, not to mention any regulatory response, would be bad for both you and us. So, no.”

The Google dialer app decision can be argued endlessly, but there’s a pretty good case for Apple having the right to deny approval for it. Retroactively rescinding approval given to smaller players, who had already garnered customers, is much harder to defend. If there’s anything in all this that qualifies as “evil”, this is it. (And if there’s a bone in all this that the FTC can gnaw for years if it wants to, this is that as well.)

The surprising thing to realize is that this is one gun that can be un-fired quite simply. I’ll even write the statement for Apple:

“In the process of reviewing Google’s application for a Google Voice dialer app, we also reviewed three existing Google Voice apps. In the process of denying Google’s application, we decided to remove the existing apps as well.

This latter decision was a mistake. We apologize to the developers involved and to our joint customers who have been inconvenienced by this action.

We are working with the developers to restore their apps to the App Store and are discussing with them compensation for their lost sales during this period.”

Apple can release this statement tomorrow. It would make the developers, their existing customers, and their potential customers – all customers of Apple and AT&T as well – whole.

Until Apple takes this step, all these other issues will continue to circle around both Apple and AT&T. If Apple restores these three apps, all their related problems will begin to improve from that moment forward.