There was a lot of hoopla made regarding Apple’s banning of Google Voice from its App Store. Fingers were pointed, names were (probably) called. Today Google announced that the FCC has made its letter (pdf) available to the public. The letter reveals what Google claims to be the explanation it got from Apple about why it would not accept its Google Voice app (as well as Google Latitude).
“When we submitted our letter on August 21, we asked the FCC to redact certain portions that involved sensitive commercial conversations between two companies — namely, a description of e-mails, telephone conversations, and in-person meetings between executives at Google and Apple,” says Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel at Google. “Shortly afterward, several individuals and organizations 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.”
Apple has of course denied in the past that they rejected the app, along with AT&T. But according to Google’s letter, Apple gave them the following explanations:
Now everyone’s pretty much waiting to see what Apple has to say for itself. It will be interesting to see how the details shake out. Said details could end up shaking a fair amount of trust for some company.
