'VoIP’s Best Week Ever’ is a segment of our blog dedicated to fresh and interesting links to all things VoIP, from unified communications news to VoIP phone releases. If you want to know what stories have the Junction Networks team buzzing, then be sure to check in every week for updates.
Apple, AT&T, Google, and Vonage Does anybody else remember the Apple commercial back in 1984 in which the woman throws a sledgehammer at a giant screen of a man talking down to his mindless minions? Besides being a really well done commercial, it delivered a strong message against the evil monopolies and ‘anti-competitive’ monsters dominating the markets at the time. Well, it seems a lot of people are viewing Apple quite differently now that it’s at the top of the food chain.
The recent rejection of the Google Voice iPhone app has left a lot of people scratching their heads, especially since very similar applications already exist in the App store, according to Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt. Both Apple and AT&T have responded to the FCC’s request for information about the rejection of the Google Voice App and other third party applications for the iPhone. AT&T has acknowledged that Apple and AT&T have an agreement to block VoIP apps from using AT&T’s cellular networks, but maintains that VoIP apps which use Wi-Fi are okay. Meanwhile, Apple denied that they rejected the Google Voice application, and then described how the Google Voice application hurts “the iPhone’s distinctive user experience.”
TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington had some very choice words to say about Apple’s response. Lets just say he didn’t buy it. Apple itself is taking this issue very seriously as it could potentially be a PR nightmare, and has dedicated a section of their homepage to answering questions. Click here to go there now. In other related news, Vonage stock has shot up over 300 percent over the past week. Why the sudden jump? It might be because Vonage has also submitted a mobile app to support its services on the iPhone. Seems like all the surrounding publicity breathed new life into the company. Today the stock has dipped 25%, and is now trading at around $1.50.