Google’s own Google Voice app for the iPhone was infamously rejected from the iTunes App Store, so what’s the world’s leading Web 2.0 giant going to do about it? Release Google Voice as a WebApp targeted at the iPhone’s advanced Mobile Safari web browser, of course!
According to David Pogue of the NY Times, much as they did with Google Latitude when that application was similarly denied entry into the App Store, Google’s river is finding a way around Apple’s rock:
Already, Google says it is readying a replacement for the Google Voice app that will offer exactly the same features as the rejected app—except that it will take the form of a specialized, iPhone-shaped Web page. For all intents and purposes, it will behave exactly the same as the app would have; you can even install it as an icon on your Home screen.
So, will a WebApp be enough for you Google Voice users, even one as good as Google can likely make?
AT&T has issued an even more strongly worded statement that at first glance shifts blame for denying Google Voice and Google Voice-related iPhone apps entry into the iTunes App Store, while on second glance looks like that’s all it’s really aimed at doing — shifting blame and not actually denying responsibility.
“AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store. We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it.”
As others have pointedout, AT&T has previously admitted complicity in denying SlingMedia Player usage of the 3G network for their iPhone app, and is widely suspected of having likewise limited the Skype app and having the NetShare tethering app removed from the App Store last year.
Had they rather said something closer akin to “we have no problem with Google Voice or any Google Voice-related app running on our network” it would be quite a bit more believable. (Although who knows what contractual muzzles Apple, AT&T, and perhaps even Google are operating under, though the FCC is sure trying to find out).
Apple PR has just announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and member of the Apple board of directors since August 2006, is resigning that position.
“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”
Schmidt already recused himself from meetings involving the iPhone, which with 5.2 million sold last quarter and an platform install base in excess of 45 million, was increasingly core to Apple’s business, even as Google began to explore the platform space themselves.
No word on who, if anyone, will replace him (though Apple’s own chief operating officer, Tim Cook, has widely been rumored as a potential board member for a while now).
Google Latitude — the service that either allows you to keep track of your friends or be stalked by stalking stalker types, depending on your point of view — is finally available for the iPhone and iPod touch. No, it’s not built into Google Maps as part of iPhone 3.1 with push update capability. No, it’s not built into Google Mobile app. No, it’s not even set up as an iPhone app in and of itself.
Google Latitude is a WebApp and it runs in Mobile Safari using the iPhone 3.0geoLocation feature.
Apparently Apple, in their infinitely-looped wisdom, hasn’t yet deigned (or Google wouldn’t yet offer them the chance?) to build it into Maps, and Apple decided it would be too confusing to users to have another app on the iPhone thats shows the same Google maps. (And it’s not when simply framed by mobile browser chrome? Sigh.)
While Google inarguably makes among the best iPhone WebApps in the business, this doesn’t strike us an ideal solution. Still it is a solution for iPhone users desperate to get their Latitude on. Until Apple gets their act together on this, here’s official word from the blog:
Our Latitude web app provides all the core functionality you might expect: you can see the location of your friends on a map and modify your privacy settings so that you control how your location is shared and with whom. In fact, if my friends and colleagues back in London haven’t yet noticed my absence, they’ll see in Latitude that I’m currently vacationing on the beach in Australia. Hi guys, remember me!?
[...] To try Google Latitude, type google.com/latitude into your iPhone’s browser. And if you miss the experience of launching the app directly from your home screen, you can add a bookmark to the home screen by opening Latitude in Safari and tapping the + icon > Add to Home Screen > Add.
Google Blogs (via Gizmodo) has announced that the long-rumored Geo-Location based services in Mobile Safari are indeed included in iPhone 3.0 and being put to use in “My Location” searches by Google.com on the iPhone.
As of today, when you visit www.google.com from Safari on your iPhone 3.0, you can choose to turn on My Location by tapping on the link on the homepage. When you tap on the “update” link, your location will be updated and displayed right there on the homepage. Whenever you want to refresh your location, just tap the “update” link. Testing this in New York, my search for “jazz clubs” returned a handful of places within walking distance. I picked one, tapped the phone number, made a reservation, and we were set for the night.
As to privacy concerns, Google stresses the service is opt-in and can be turned off via the Preferences link at the bottom of the page. Also, it currently only works in English in the US and UK, though other languages and regions are said to be coming soon.
Good news for those looking for a local burger joint, bad news for those hoping Latitude wouldn’t be stuck in the browser…
When he’s not borrowing CrackBerry Kevin’s personal handset to snap quick pics and give Android Cassey conniptions, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is responding to reporters about his role as a member of Apple’s Board of Directors in light of Google entering the operating system space — again:
“I’ll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there’s no issue,”
Since Google Chrome OS is little more than announce-ware at this point (or, “darn, we should have made webOS instead of Android?), that may be true, but it’s hardly a tenable situation going forward. What this will mean to Apple/Google relations is unknown. Though right now the iPhone clearly benefits from Google data pipes, especially in the Maps app, how much do they benefit from Schmidt being on the board?
Our guess? Schmidt was using that BlackBerry camera to zoom on the unlicensed Mercedes — and glaring Steve Jobs — that’s been shadowing him since Tuesday, and carefully penning his resignation letter…
Our sibling site, Android Central, brings word we’d almost given up faith at ever being brought’ned. Google apps, including the Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk we love so much on the iPhone (and iPod touch), are out of beta and high on life! Google’s own blog explains-ish:
We’ve come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn’t fit for large enterprises that aren’t keen to run their business on software that sounds like it’s still in the trial phase. So we’ve focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.
Makes the kind of sense that doesn’t, but whatever. Opaque, non-standard definitions of beta aside, it’s still good news. What’s next, announce a second operating system or something?
Love them or hate them, miracle or menace, Emoji are standard message elements in Japan and have caught some favor among internet iPhone users (and TiPb Forum staff…)
The problem, however, is that there’s currently no standard way to encode the little mega-smileys across different carriers and platforms, leading to a lot of “translation” work in between. The solution?
engineers from Google and Apple have got together to try to propose an encoding for these emoji (they have identified 674 of them!) that can be added to the official standard ISO/IEC 10646, as can be seen in this document, Proposal for Encoding Emoji Symbols.
Maybe next Apple could work on not requiring complex, app-bound Emoji activation processes for non-Japanese iPhones? Sumo, tiny red cars, and weirdly smiling brown piles for everyone!
We all know Google isn’t a search engine company, they’re a company that makes googzillions of dollars monetizing search (and trying to monetize other things) via their AdSense advertising platform. For iPhones, this was previously constrained to the browser window of Mobile Safari (or Chrome Lite for Android users). Now, however, the Official Google Blog announces:
AdSense for Mobile Applications allows developers to earn revenue by displaying text and image ads in their iPhone and Android applications. For our beta launch, we’ve created a site where developers can learn more about the AdSense for Mobile Applications program, see answers to frequently asked questions and sign up to participate in our beta. Advertisers can also learn about the benefits of advertising in mobile applications.
Advertising lets Google and others supply lots of free services to users. Will it be as successful embedded in apps as it is in the browser? Developers, are you interested in Google AdSense monetizing your apps? Users, would you put up with Google advertising if it meant cheap or free apps?
