The Google Voice app scandal: is Apple losing control over the iPhone?

I was out of the loop last week when Apple, AT&T and Google all answered Washington's questions surrounding the (apparent) rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone. Over the weekend, I had a chance to do some reading on what had gone down and, more importantly, the official statements from the three companies.

I couldn't believe what I was reading.

Google's statement didn't say much because most of the good stuff was redacted. AT&T's statement was brief, mostly repeating what it had previously said, that it had nothing to do with the fate of the Google Voice app for the iPhone. But it was Apple's statement that was most interesting - and not because it offered the best insight into what happened with this controversial app.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I'm a big Apple fan - but this time, I cannot sit here and defend the company. The answers to the questions from the Federal Communications Commission were so vague and misleading that I couldn't believe they came from a company that prides itself on launching game-changing, cutting-edge technology. Consider some excerpts from Apple's official answers - with my emphasis on keywords and phrases:

The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience...

It appears to alter? In all this time, Apple hasn't been able to determine if the app alters the iPhone experience? I might argue that the app - and so many others in the app store - actually enhances the iPhone user experience. In fact, one of the things that actually sets the iPhone apart from other smartphone copycats is the app experience.

In its answers, the company points out that it "spent a lot of time and effort developing this distinct and innovative way to seamlessly deliver core functionality of the iPhone" and goes on to point out how Google's app "replaces" some of Apple's phone features.

I'll give them that one. They developed a breakthrough product and they want to make sure that the value of the product isn't diminished by an app. But the iPhone has become bigger than just the phone itself. The iPhone is the whole package. It's the apps that make the iPhone experience what it is (just watch Apple's commercials) and Google Voice is just another option on ways to make calls. It doesn't replace the need for the phone service on the device.

By now, Apple should know this. But, its answers imply that it still has a lot of unanswered questions about the app, Google and VoIP technology.

I also kind of cringed when the company engaged in some fear-mongering, raising privacy concerns about the iPhone Contacts on Google's servers and saying that "these factors present several new issues and questions to us that we are still pondering."

Still pondering? Pondering? I can picture it now: Steve Jobs, sitting in a leather chair wearing a Hugh Hefner-like house robe, puffing on a pipe with his hand on his chin, looking like he's weighing the the meaning of life. That's how one ponders. I would expect a company like Apple to study, research or - gasp - just ask more questions so it can quit pondering and figure out once and for all if there actual privacy issues or if the app actually alters or just appears to alter the iPhone experience.

And then, once it's determined that, then it can figure out whether that makes the app worthy of rejection.

As for the role of AT&T, Apple was clear that it acted alone and did not consult with AT&T about whether or not to approve the Google Voice App, yet it goes on to note that there is a provision in the Apple-AT&T deal that "obligates Apple not to include functionality in any Apple phone that enables a customer to use AT&T’s cellular network service to originate or terminate a VoIP session without obtaining AT&T’s permission."

From the way I understand it, Google Voice is not a VoIP app. VoIP - just by its name - involves transmitting a voice call over the Internet. Skype is VoIP. Vonage is VoIP. Apple says it "does not know if there is a VoIP element in the way the Google Voice application routes calls and messages, and whether VoIP technology is used over the 3G network by the application."

It doesn't know? Did anyone at Apple ask anyone at Google? I'm sure the Googlers who built Google Voice, the iPhone app and submitted it for approval will be more than happy to answer the question - if it's asked. From where I sit, I'd say that Google Voice is not a VoIP service. Google Voice uses the Internet to initiate the call but the voice transmission itself takes place over the landline or mobile phone's voice network.

You know what these answers really tell me about Apple? It tells me that the company is threatened by Google Voice but now has to backpedal on its reasons for rejecting the app, starting with a clarification that the app hasn't officially been rejected. It also tells me that the company is starting to lose control over iPhone apps, now answering to the government about specific rejections.

After all, all of this is about control over the mighty iPhone - and Apple isn't about to just let that go. After all, that's why the Apple partnered with AT&T in the U.S. in the first place: Control. Consider this sentence from Apple's opening remarks in its answers to the FCC questions:

In the United States, we struck a groundbreaking deal with AT&T in 2006 that gives Apple the freedom to decide which software to make available for the iPhone.

Did you catch that? The deal gives Apple the freedom to decide. It doesn't give the customers the freedom to decide. It doesn't give the app developers the freedom to decide. No, it gives Apple the freedom to decide for the consumers and the developers.

But now that the government has come knocking, it could mean that the control - I mean freedom - that Apple has long enjoyed may be short-lived. So, now, we either wait for the government to respond to the ball that's been thrown back into that court or we wait for Apple to go ahead and just approve that Google Voice app.

I wonder who will blink first.