Jeff Pulver has weighed in on his perspective on the move by the FCC to get involved in what I’m calling GoogleGate.
I for one think the following:
1) Google are the one’s who protested to FCC.
2) AT&T is the innocent spouse in this matter
3) Apple made the decision to not have the app in the store (for now)
Here’s my take on this:
1) Apple has realized they and Google are no longer friends. So they got somewhat punitive and laid the smack down on Google.
2) There is the lingering matter of Google figuring out some things within the Apple iPhone SDK that no one else has yet with the Google Apps app and I think mapping
3) Apple is looking for a reason to break the exclusive deal with AT&T and this could be the trigger
4) The issue is not only a USA issue. Many people I know outside of the USA have GoogleVoice numbers and use the service “creatively” to make calls. For example right now I can trigger GV via one of the apps that has been removed and GV calls my Truphone number which forwards to my Spanish SIM. It just of easily could call a Skype In number and have the same result so it will be interesting to see if this becomes a global issue with other regulatory bodies.
5) My suspicion is the two apps that got pulled had it done to remove the “but you allowed them in…” argument.
Are we seeing a more toothier FCC now than the past eight years? Yes and as Jeff said, we all welcome it.