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Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern
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The iPad’s impact on App Store approvals

By | February 22, 2010, 8:51am PST

Summary: Since the iPad isn’t a telephone, and comes with tiered 3G data, Apple needs to make Google Voice available for the device — or tell us why they won’t.

An interesting take on how the iPad could have a dramatic impact on Apple’s App Store approval process:

Obviously, the App Store is going to drive the success of the iPad. I can’t help wonder how the tablet’s existence is going to impact Apple’s approval process for new apps. For example, now that Apple will be selling a computing environment for apps that is not a telephone, can Apple justify not approving apps such as Google Voice? This is just one example of an App Store rejection that, if reversed, could make the iPad a much better device.

Since the iPad will be available with tiered 3G data pricing, Apple/AT&T can’t use bandwidth as a reason to ban Google Voice from the iPad.

Apple and Google being frenemies is starting to hurt Apple customers because they are effectively locked out of almost every new, compelling mobile technology that comes from Google (witness, Google Maps Navigation, Voice, Buzz, Latitude, Shopper, Goggles, the list goes on).

It’s time for Jobs to bury that hatchet with Google before Android hatchets Apple’s golden goose.

Tip: John Oakley

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Topics

Google Inc., Apple Inc., iPad, 3G, Tablets, Notebooks, Pricing, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: The iPad's impact on App Store approvals
jjstaud 23rd Feb 2010
The Apple experience was all about not being told what to
do. You don't have to buy crummy hardware, there is an
alternative; you don't have to have a permanent beta
version Microsoft OS on a PC, you can have a Mac. Now
the very defenders of Freedom of Choice have changed the
music. Ah, Mr. Bill, now we understand why you wanted to
force users to choose your browser! And the rest of the
long string of very consumer unfriendly marketing! It all
makes dollars and sense now! It's 'Animal Farm' for the
post communist world.
View in thread
0 Votes
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the funniest thing....
nothingness 22nd Feb 2010
The only people I have known so far that can't wait to get their hands on an iPad are all 12 years old or younger kids. But their parents must be really doting if they all get one.
0 Votes
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I know several people in the 30's and 40's VERY in the iPad.
Bruizer Updated - 22nd Feb 2010
Not fully sure why, but it is rather cheap and convenient.
0 Votes
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LOL
oncall 22nd Feb 2010
well I'm 40 but my wife says I sometimes act like a kid wink Does that count?

I know a few 40+ folks very interested in an iPad, I'm not sure if that says something about the crowd the OP is hanging-out with.
0 Votes
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it's by default
nothingness 22nd Feb 2010
I have kids who are 11 yo and 6 yo.... Guess you guys are at least youth minded, definitely not a bad thing:-)
0 Votes
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I understand
oncall 22nd Feb 2010
I have twins (boy and girl) 21 months old and they both think daddies Macbook and iMac are really theirs. I can never use them because as soon as they see the Macbook come out it's all over. If it weren't for my iPhone I'd never get to surf the web at home, I offer them an iPod touch which buys me several minutes wink

Maybe I will even get to use the iPad when I buy one, we shall see.
0 Votes
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30's and into the iPad
tk77 22nd Feb 2010
I have an hour trip by train into work. Currently I use a 15" MacBook
Pro. Its sort of a pain to use as I have to bend the screen slightly
forward and hunch over to read the screen. For the most part I just
surf the web. I'm not really into the whole netbook thing as I would
still have to hunch over to read it (eye's aren't as good as they once
were).

The form factor of the iPad is very appealing. I can hold it up like a
book and easily surf via touch. If I do need to log into a system to do
some quick work I can easily run iSSH (which is coming out with an
iPad version) over the VPN. If I need to do anything more, I can easily
pull out the laptop.

Catching up on movies or the occasional TV show will also be much
better with the size of the iPad over the iPhone. And I wont need to
get out the laptop or hold it in an awkward position to really view it.
0 Votes
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Re: I know several people in the 30's and 40's VERY in the iPad.
aep528 22nd Feb 2010
I'm in my 30's, own and iPod Touch, and will never
buy an iPad.

Why? Because it doesn't fit in my pocket, and it
can't be used one-handed.

If I have to carry a device in a bag, it might as
well be a laptop with a bigger screen and a
physical keyboard.
0 Votes
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Re: the funniest thing....
mKind 22nd Feb 2010
Yeah; right... 12 year or younger are the ones that can't wait. Rest of them are matured enough to wait.
0 Votes
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I've found the opposite
Gritztastic 22nd Feb 2010
Most of the excitement I've seen about the iPad in my family/friends circle
(of which I am the exclusive 'geek') is from the 40+ crowd. The big draw
seems to be "I want quick and easy access to email/web/books, and I
don't want to mess with updates and antivirus and printers and usb, etc"

Personally, I'm lukewarm on the whole idea - though I think it would be a
FANTASTIC Home Automation/Home Theater/Security control/monitoring
system when combined with Wifi to IR/RS232 bridges, IP cams, etc.
0 Votes
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that would make one expensive general purpose remote
nothingness 22nd Feb 2010
Like many others (well, perhaps not on here as I can see I may be in the minority), I am definitely lukewarm to iPad, it just isn't useful enough to justify the cost.
0 Votes
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Small Kids and Older People are natural audience... BUT
Roque Mocan 22nd Feb 2010
I don't know if I would leave this glass thingie costing half a grand with some very young kid... (at least not with peace of mind)
0 Votes
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I think it is well past time for Apple to bury the hatchet. They are only
DonnieBoy 22nd Feb 2010
helping Android. But, on the other hand, I am hoping that
Apple will offer competition to Google to keep them in line.
0 Votes
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My understanding is that the reason Apple banned
frgough 22nd Feb 2010
google voice is because Google violated developer
agreements regarding user interface guidelines; in other
words, killing the iPhone UI and implementing their own UI
when you launched the app.
0 Votes
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Issues with GV
Gritztastic Updated - 22nd Feb 2010
I think Apple gets a bad rap here on blocking Google Voice, since I am
fairly certain that ATT threw a fit to prevent Apple from approving it.

For ATT, unlimited SMS is worth 20$ per user per month. Google Voice
gives its users free unlimited SMS. Sure, GV is still in Beta and closed
invite, but as we saw with gmail, it has the potential to become
ubiquitous - and ATT wants to nip that in the bud.

Of course, ATT can't block GV from every phone OS on its network, but
by blocking it from the iPhone (possible to do by pressuring Apple,
since Apple controls all legit app sales), the remaining market is
fragmented between WM, RIM, Android, Symbian, WebOS- combine all
these OSes together, and subtract corporate accounts (where
individuals never even see the phone/SMS bill), and you have a much
smaller group than the iPhone.

I have no evidence to back up this theory, but given how important RPU
is to Mobile carriers' bottom lines, it makes more sense than all the
conspiracy theories out there.
0 Votes
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Any way you look at it, they limit functionality and keep prices high.
DonnieBoy 22nd Feb 2010
That is the goal between Apple and AT&T. Works in
the short term!

Free unlimited SMS will be the norm eventually.
0 Votes
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Being "locked out" of Google apps.....
Userama 22nd Feb 2010
is a positive feature, isn't it?
0 Votes
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Customers are smart enough to decide what they want to be locked out of.
DonnieBoy 22nd Feb 2010
NT.
0 Votes
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And sometimes dumb enough not to know what they get locked into.
Userama 22nd Feb 2010
no text
0 Votes
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Yes, well documented that the average Windows user does not understand
DonnieBoy 22nd Feb 2010
all of the dirty tricks that keep them locked to the
Windows platform.
0 Votes
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Agreed. And personally...
Userama 22nd Feb 2010
I'd put Google in that category also. People are so enamored with
"free" that they forget they are selling their souls to the Google.
0 Votes
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Yes, fair enough. You use Google Apps, and, you are locked in. Maybe not as
DonnieBoy 22nd Feb 2010
bad as Windows, but, still, you are locked in.
0 Votes
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RE: The iPad's impact on App Store approvals
WilliamsiPad 22nd Feb 2010
Article bookmarked. I think the Appstore should be
split into smaller developer stores. Developer
stores allow your content to be published faster.
Developer store status can be bought once you have
a set number of apps
0 Votes
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Comment moved (nt)
Userama Updated - 22nd Feb 2010
nt
0 Votes
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Do you run a multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year mega corporation?
NonZealot 22nd Feb 2010
It's time for Jobs to bury that hatchet with
Google

No? Then your opinion doesn't count. Nothing that
Apple does can ever be questioned by anyone who
doesn't run a more successful company. Those are the
rules. Well, only when Apple is concerned. When any
other multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year mega
corporation does something that the haters don't like,
they feel more than entitled to let us all know how
that company is wrong.

Cue the double standards...
0 Votes
+ -
App in the iPad Home page..
guypoz1 22nd Feb 2010
The new iPad Home page http://www.200linx.com/
Everything, one click away..
0 Votes
+ -
Time for a change?
rhon@... 23rd Feb 2010
Given the fact that Apple is losing quickly its edge in the
areas of navigation and VOIP I would not think twice to ditch
the Iphone for a Google phone. Apple might not realize that
a phone is not like a computer, the same will be valid for the
Ipad.
I assume that Google will soon rival Mobile.me too.
0 Votes
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"Apple might not realize that a phone is not like a computer"
Userama 23rd Feb 2010
On the contrary. Apple realizes very well that a phone is not like a
computer. It doesn't try to make it do everything that a desktop
or laptop can do--Flash, multi-tasking, etc., etc., etc. It's the
feature-loving geeks that think a handheld, battery-powered
device should be able to do everything equally as well as plug-
in-the-wall computer. VERY unrealistic!
0 Votes
+ -
RE: The iPad's impact on App Store approvals
jjstaud 23rd Feb 2010
The Apple experience was all about not being told what to
do. You don't have to buy crummy hardware, there is an
alternative; you don't have to have a permanent beta
version Microsoft OS on a PC, you can have a Mac. Now
the very defenders of Freedom of Choice have changed the
music. Ah, Mr. Bill, now we understand why you wanted to
force users to choose your browser! And the rest of the
long string of very consumer unfriendly marketing! It all
makes dollars and sense now! It's 'Animal Farm' for the
post communist world.

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