Leave it to Michael Arrington to hit the nail on the head. In a post over on TechCrunch, Arrington points out how the recent approval of an iPhone app for Vonage merely serves to highlight the total nonsense Apple spewed when trying to explain their Google Voice rejection.
The gist… Apple said the Google Voice app was rejected because it
appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls…
All good and well until you take a closer look and see that many apps do just that. Numerous camera apps all but replace the “core” camera functionality. And phone apps like Skype, Truphone and the recent Vonage app have.. gasp… dialers of their own.
That’s when Arrington nails it. He writes…
the real reason Apple won’t let Google Voice through is that they are scared out of their mind that Android and Google Voice will eat their iPhone lunch over the long term. Apple can’t win the fight over the long term, but they sure are willing to say and do anything in the short term to stop the advance of Google.
But he’s not done. He goes on to write…
the truth is this – Apple isn’t threatened by Vonage. The smart thing would have been to reject their app anyway, to stay consistent. But unless someone actually forces Apple to play by the rules, why should they?
I suspect he is correct on all fronts and it just makes the matter worse. It is annoying if Apple was being heavy-handed in its approval process, but if they are using it to limit competition it is VERY annoying. Sure, it might be their right to do so (I am no lawyer), but it does tick me off.
Here’s a novel idea Apple- Instead of playing the app rejection game (which won’t work in the long run anyhow), try putting your energy into making sure the iPhone remains the best device out there.