∞ Apple responds to Google's FCC letter

Google on Friday lifted the confidentiality clause on a letter sent to the FCC in late August concerning Apple and the Google Voice iPhone app. What it revealed was that Apple did reject the app. However, while Google says the app was flat out rejected, Apple is sticking to its original statement.

“We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in their FCC letter,” Apple representative Natalie Kerris told The Loop. “Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google.”

In its letter to the FCC, Google says that Alan Eustace, Google’s senior vice president of Engineering & Research, received a call from Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, on July 7 and told him that Google Voice was being rejected.

Google also said that Schiller told Eustace on April 10, at the Apple offices, that Google Latitude was being rejected.

Apple said in its original letter to the FCC that Google Voice was still being considered for the App Store. “Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it,” Apple said in its letter to the FCC. “The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, 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, text messaging and voicemail.”