The Technograph

You find out about a great new app for your phone that lets you centralize your phone calls, voicemails, and text messages. You rush to download it, wanting to show off its cutting edge features to all of your friends. But you can’t find it, no matter how hard you look. It’s the Google Voice App, and Apple has blocked it. You have unwittingly become part of a feud between the two biggest players in the world of technology.

Google Voice is a service that is now in private beta and offers users a way to streamline multiple phone lines and call screening. Google acquired a Web company called Grandcentral in 2007 that pioneered the concept of localizing telephone features online. Years of tinkering have created a Web application that could change telephone service.

You choose a new phone number that can include spelling something out, such as (217) 824-4774 or (217) TCH-GRPH for the Technograph. You can place and receive phone calls from this number, as well as send free text messages, receive voicemails, and even have voicemails transcribed into text message. All of this can be forwarded to your mobile phone, or even screened from certain numbers

This innovative service has come under some serious scrutiny, as Apple has blocked the app from entering the App Store for iPhone users. Apple claims it violates their terms of service, as some of its features—like the number dialer and voice service—duplicate features already on the phone. Other mobile operating systems like Android have embraced the service and have relatively few roadblocks to its implementation. Apple and Google have pointed fingers at each other about who is responsible for blocking access. It has become enough of an issue that the Federal Communications Commission has been brought in to investigate claims of network and device monopolization.

This is a case study of the shift in the mobile phone industry. Service providers like Verizon and AT&T used to have the final say in everything that happened on their networks, but with must-have devices like the iPhone, the control is beginning to shift away from the traditional model. This all comes down to the technological war between open source and closed source computing. Should a mobile operating system allow a user to use whatever application they deem best to provide the service they want? Or should a company be able to decide what will work best for their device and network? These questions will be decided soon in this generation of devices and services. Ultimately, it will come down to what the user wants and what they believe to be the coolest way of doing their everyday work, like calling home to your parents or sending a text to a friend.

Tagged with: Google, voice, phone, future