In its response to a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into why Apple rejected an official Google Voice application for the iPhone, Google stated (PDF Link) that Apple did in fact reject its Google Voice application, a charge Apple denied in its public response on the matter, claiming it was still studying the application. The majority of Google’s response was redacted from the original public filing on the basis that it was confidential; the full document was released today, and reveals that Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller personally talked and met with Google Senior Vice President of Engineering & Research Alan Eustace about the Google Voice and Google Latitude applications, both rejected by Apple on the grounds that they duplicated core iPhone functionality and could potentially lead to customer confusion.
In a particularly damning passage, Google indicates that Apple rejected Google Latitude because it would “offer new features not present on the preloaded maps application,” and “did not want applications that could potentially replace such functionality,” using similar grounds to reject Google Voice. Google also states that it had no contact with AT&T on the matter, a claim which both Apple and AT&T have previously confirmed.
Google says that it has no other proposed applications pending approval with Apple.
Update: Apple has released a terse statement on the matter, saying, “We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in their FCC letter.
