Clearly someone pulled the Google Voice app.

Seriously?  So, neither Apple, nor AT&T yanked the application from the AppStore? Right.  So, then Google’s Voice App should still be in the AppStore.  Oh wait, it’s not.

This giant pile of speculation is more annoying than usual this go around, because everyone and their brother is claiming both Apple and AT&T weren’t responsible for pulling the application.  And neither of them are saying whether or not they were talking during the application approval process.  Here’s the thing, scientifically, the simplest explanation is always the right explanation. Gas companies say they’d don’t collude either, but we all know they do.  If they didn’t, gas prices wouldn’t fluctuate so much from one supplier to another.  They collude, and the capitalist in all of us know they’d be stupid not too.

All the FCC response consists of is lawyer speak, and you can bet your money on the fact that there’s an on going dialog between the two companies, whether it’s through their lawyers, managers, or code monkeys.  Someone from AT&T is calling to point out their “legal” rights every time an application goes against their original contract.

Let’s take a step back and talk about what this whole thing is really about.

Is the iPhone my phone or Apple’s phone.  If it’s my phone then I’ll install Google voice if I please and Apple shouldn’t have a say in what the heck I put on it.  If I want to duplicate core functionality on the phone then I should have every right to do it.  If it’s Apple’s phone and I’m just renting it then my hands are tied, and they can take it back any time they want and make me abide by any draconian policies they want me too.

So for once, can we talk about what this is really about.  Because, I’d like to know if I’m really purchasing a phone or renting it.  If I’m just renting, then I’d like to know when the due date is, because I’ll be sure to return the phone as soon as possible.

But please, for the love of all things holy, please, please, please stop being so naive, and start to realize that no matter what either company says, there’s probably a good chance we’re still only getting half the story.

Photo Credit: Lori Greig

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld… Full Bio