It's the Feds! FCC quizzes Apple, AT&T and Google about Google Voice apps

Did you read the letters? Right there on the Google letter, it says:

"Please provide a description of the proposed Google Voice application for iPhone. What are the key features, and how does it operate (over a voice or data network, etc.)"

They don't mention VoIP at all. They ask if Google operates over the voice network (AT&T, where calls are normally placed) or a data network (Wi-Fi, Internet, etc.) FCC is playing dumb because they need to hear it from Google, AT&T and Apple themselves. They can't assume that GV isn't VoIP. They need to be told it isn't.

I love how all these conclusions are being made based on absolute bullshit. You guys don't know squat.

Mr. Bean,

Two issues with your post: 1) The letters were submitted a few DAYS ago, not "earlier today." Please, please, please for the love of all things Apple do SOME research before making a post.

2) Although I do agree with you that Google Voice is NOT VoIP, I don't think you need the knock the FCC so hard for using that term. How else would you describe the app? It's a fancy call-forwarder with rules, as well as an SMS app, which also happens to do voicemail. I'd say calling it a VoIP app isn't the worst thing the FCC has done in recent history.

Otherwise, good post. I'm *VERY* happy to see the FCC doing something about this. Apple & AT&T's practices are becoming uncompetitive and simply hurting consumers. You make an excellent point that Google Voice is running on many AT&T branded BlackBerries.

-MRCUR

The more successful Apple becomes the more they become like Microsoft. I remember how Apple use to bash M$ about their practices.

For me, I'm becoming less of an apple "fan boy" and waiting for someone to take them out.

After reading a few of the other comments I had an idea. In the early '90s I used a phone and service called Tele-go. When you were out on the street it was a cdma cell phone but when you got in range of its base station in your home or office it became a landline so you didn't use cell minutes for calls.

If you could have a GV based app that could detect when you were on wifi and reroute your calls to voip and even have a simple rules engine that knew when you were roaming internationally so during the day calls went straight to VM instead and when you were back at the hotel you could make a receive calls over wifi - just as if you were stateside but without the billion dollar a minute roaming fee. Sure we can do most of this with skype but I like having one number and seamless integration.

It's not just a voice (voip) app. When you look what GV does it really makes sense that AT&T would be afraid of it. When you have features like voicemail transcripts, personalized greetings per caller, conference calling, phone switching, etc... many of these are features AT&T would like to sell you as add-ons to your account for a monthly fee and not have enabled by a free third party app. At least relegating it to the web interface kind of keeps it out of easy reach and thus out of mind.

AT&T spent millions implementing Visual Voicemail for the iphone and they want to protect that investment because once you start having network independent features the network itself because a commodity and consumers will have less reasons to maintain loyalty and will switch on a whim.

The FCC is asking a broad set of questions because that's where you get real information. FCC Attorneys are undoubtedly smarter than blog writers/readers in these matters, and it's very naive to suspect that the FCC is walking down a blind alley or that they are concerned with an app or two not making it to the App Store. I suspect that the FCC knows that Google Voice isn't VOIP, but simultaneously perceives that Apple and AT&T are colluding to prevent wide-scale VOIP from running on their devices/networks at significant expense to the consumer. An expense which is profitable to both AT&T and Apple (since Apple gets a rev share on AT&T service contracts). I don't think the FCC gives a rat's @ss about Google Voice, but it's a means to an end and a significant event to use as the trigger for an investigation. If the FCC can establish collusion between AT&T and Apple to reject apps that are harmful or less-friendly to both companies profits then you are potentially looking at a coercive monopoly involving one of the fastest growing consumer electronic products in the world. If the latter were not true the point would be moot. Finally, Apple and AT&T are taking the long view. If you allow an app like Google Voice into the App Store, Google can quickly build up it's VOIP capabilities. GV could easily make use of the existing push notification service to deliver telephone calls over the iPhone and AT&T's network, which means subscribers could cut back to the lowest monthly service contract + unlimited data, severely cutting into AT&T + Apple (rev share) profits.

What does VoIP have to do with it? They're just asking for background information because this is part of on already ongoing investigation within the FCC, and they're trying to understand the market.

It's arguably a much more serious problem for all three companies because GV doesn't use VoIP. The FCC is investigating in general the relationships between phone manufacturers, carriers, and third party software vendors. GV is an ISV trying to innovate and compete, and we have a manufacturer and a carrier potentially conspiring to put the kibosh on that, and that's a big deal.

VoIP is just part of the equation and therefore just part of the letter: do carriers have a legitimate reason to limit its usage on their network (in terms of bandwidth, they probably do)? And it's also not: since GV is essentially just a dialer, and you're paying for your cell phone plan already, then Apple had better have a Very Good Reason for disallowing software that provides no technical difference to the operation of the phone.

Being from Germany I don't really know that much about the FCC and its role as a regulatory goverment agency, so maybe someone can explain to me whether Apple is actually obiged in some way (by law or whatever) to actually answer to the FCC at all…?! Could they simply choose to ignore it and what would the possible consequences be…?! Can the FCC actually force or order certain companies to fulfill their rulings…?!

Thanks!

The Feds, like always, sure know what they are doing!