This holiday season, we would like to give something back. So here’s more about Voice Central Black Swan Edition.
We feel it is ready for beta testing which will be starting very soon and we’re counting on the patient iPhone user, Google Voice lover community to help us put the finishing touches for the 1.0 release. Enough said, go check it out.
Happy holidays!
This week I’ve been hearing a lot about Apple’s new step towards transparency for the App Store review process. In a nutshell, they have added submission histories and a new status step of “Waiting for Review”. See more info in this TUAW article by Erica Sadun. On the surface I think it’s at least a welcome step and certainly represents an acknowledgment of a major deficiency area. Any developer will know the frustration of watching the boiling water pot as you log in to your iTunesConnect account daily looking for a change in status. Especially in light of the fact that Apple’s emails of acceptance or rejection rarely coincide with the actual timing of such action.
But in reality how does this help? Do folks not remember when they submit their Apps? Or how long they were under review? And adding a status that is in reality no different then the already popular “In Review” is like saying “In the Oven” versus “Baking”. As always though it’s nice marketing by the masters of the art. The only catch is that currently not every developer has this new feature enabled on their account. So it is really nice to show off a quick approval like the image in the TUAW article but I can’t help but wonder: what would our timeline for VoiceCentral look like?
So needless to say our time line in their tool might be a little too messy for their liking. I sincerely doubt we will see this feature turned on for our account anytime soon. Our issues aside, it is nice to see Apple attempt to add transparency it’s only too bad this attempt is, well, um… transparent. No real value. No improvement for developers. It’s simple marketing fluff, “See guys we’re trying!”. Apple try harder. Folks are dropping like flies.
UPDATE: Here’s yet another terrible saga of App Store Shenanigans.
Screenshots after the jump… (more…)
The FCC responses are in and now we know what Google, Apple and AT&T have to say on the matter. AT&T claims innocence. Apple claims… well I don’t what they are claiming because their answers don’t make sense. And, frankly, we are calling BS.
Be forewarned, the insincerity in their response lies thick and the facts simply don’t support their arguments. Here are some selected quotes from their response letter:
“Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it.”
That’s not what Mr. Richard from Apple told us. He said that it was “not allowed due to policy.” And that sounds very different than we are “pondering it”.
“The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.”
Um, no. The SDK does not make it possible to “replace” the iPhone’s core anything. This is simply a very specific solution for Google Voice Users to utilize that distinct and separate service. It has to be accessed just as any other App does and it does not replace a thing. It also has to be installed by the user who chose that App for its specific functionality. Would a user that went out of their way to download and install the app really have a “confusion” issue between this and the native phone app??
“For example, on an iPhone, the “Phone” icon that is always shown at the bottom of the Home Screen launches Apple’s mobile telephone application, providing access to Favorites, Recents, Contacts, a Keypad, and Visual Voicemail.”
Always shown at the bottom? I guess so, that is unless a user chooses to put something else in their dock as Apple allows. This example is really just silly, perhaps Apple forgot they enabled that “feature”.
“The Google Voice application replaces Apple’s Visual Voicemail by routing calls through a separate Google Voice telephone number that stores any voicemail, preventing voicemail from being stored on the iPhone, i.e., disabling Apple’s Visual Voicemail. Similarly, SMS text messages are managed through the Google hub—replacing the iPhone’s text messaging feature.”
Again they choose the word “replace” which couldn’t be further from the truth. This is where we get to the heart of what Apple is ignoring: Users deserve choice. This App simply gives users options. By personal example, I give my AT&T/iPhone number out mostly to personal friends. I use the AT&T/iPhone voice, voicemail, and SMS services natively for my interactions with them. However, I have that same iPhone number as a member of my Google Voice profile. I use the Google Voice number for business. So, then I can use VoiceCentral to access voicemail, transcriptions, and SMS for my business line. Therefore I use the native Apple functions and the Google Voice functions interchangeably and about equally. That’s my choice. Never been confused and nothing is duplicated. It’s not a “separate” number and it would be ludicrous to consider Apple’s Visual Voicemail “disabled”. Oh and another thing, Google Voice’s SMS works best when you use it in conjunction with the iPhone text messaging since there is no good way to enable a Push Notification for SMS at present.
“In addition, the iPhone user’s entire Contacts database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways.”
Wait, what?!? Maybe Google’s app did something different but ours simply allowed convenient access to your iPhone Contacts for initiating calls. Just as countless other apps do and their API specifically enables.
And the greatest insult comes near the end:
“…we send the developer a note describing the reason why the application will not be approved as submitted. In many cases we are able to provide specific guidance about how the developer can fix the application. We also let them know they can contact the app review team or technical support, or they can write to us for further guidance.”
Here’s our Exhibit A: Richard. Where’s our “specific guidance”? How come our emails from July 27th still go unresponded? Apple, who can we write to “for further guidance”? Phil Schiller, you’ve been the App Store Angel lately… can we talk?
There is one thing that strikes me as funny with Apple’s continued inappropriate use of the word “replace”. That’s exactly what I’m thinking about doing: “replacing” all of my Apple gear. Starting with the iPhone. Going to try the MyTouch Android but I’ll tell you something I’ve learned over the last two weeks: the Palm Pre is a very nice device.
Yet another company has been swept up in the Google Voice nonsense. It’s starting to feel like a good old fashioned Apple versus Google pissing contest. I wonder what Apple is intending to release that makes the Google Voice service so threatening. Some extension to MobileMe that squares off against Google Voice?
Or is it less logical than that and their store has just completely run amok? As in this beyond absurd account by Gruber of what has occurred with the Ninjawords dictionary.
Reading things like that I can only think of two things. Either, children are minding the storefront… or Apple would like nothing better than to blow up the store from the inside out. Otherwise how can you explain this ineptitude. I can’t fathom that this company (of which I have been such a fan) is willfully making these repeated mistakes. It just seems so, so… amateurish. I hope I’m wrong. It’s happened plenty of times before.
Great news this evening as the FCC has decided to investigate the Apple, AT&T, Google Voice situation.
We at Riverturn are thrilled with this development.
Who knows what this will mean for VoiceCentral or Google Voice on the iPhone in general. And in one sense, who cares? Our only hope is that this will lead to more transparency for the entire App Store development process. If any good at all can come from this, it’s that developers are given a better, more fair process that they have a prayer of following. Not the current blackhole where you literally guess as to the right answer every step of the way. Or worse even, you “pass the test”, get approved, and then are removed 4 months later for a breach of policy that didn’t exist back then and still can’t be explained now.
At the very least, we hope that Apple learns a valuable lesson in communication and perhaps will respect ALL of their developers. Even the little guy.
Boy, oh boy, we should have just built a fart app… *Kidding*
Loved the very first question the FCC posed to Apple on this topic:
1. Why did Apple reject the Google Voice application for iPhone and remove related third-party applications from its App Store? In addition to Google Voice, which related third-party applications were removed or have been rejected? Please provide the specific name of each application and the contact information for the developer.
Dear FCC, we’re Riverturn and we would love to talk to you about it. Here’s our contact info
Brian has posted a demo of VoiceCentral on YouTube. If you have a GrandCentral or Google Voice account and an iPhone, check out the video below to see how much easier your life could be.
We’ve just submitted our 2nd app, VoiceCentral, to the App Store.
VoiceCentral integrates GrandCentral/Google Voice with your iPhone. We have been long time users of GrandCentral (GC), but have always wanted a better integration between GC and the iPhone. We decided to build our own way to get Voicemails and dial out using GC. Google Voice made huge improvements over what GC provided but the experience still lacked what we wanted out of GC/GV and the iPhone.
We built VoiceCentral to fill in these gaps and it provides a way for you to access your voicemails on GrandCentral or Google Voice (if you have switched yet). We also allow you to place calls via GC/GV for free and integrate your iPhone Contacts with your GC/GV voicemails.
With VoiceCentral you’ll be able to
We thought we’d put together a Lite version of our Easy Dials It app.
Easy Dials It Lite provides all of the same functionality as Easy Dials It, but only stores your 2 favorite contacts. It’s a great way to see how useful Easy Dials It is without forking over all that hard-earned cash.
The App Store and YouTube reviews so far have been great. We did get a comment from Jeff at 148apps.com who we asked to review the app:
“You really think people will take you seriously with those sample names?
Odd.”
While Easy Dials It is an elegant and professional application, we chose to create goofy photos and names to make it eye catching. The UI is intentionally minimal so there’s not many ways to distinguish ourselves. The funny thing is one of the goofiest names we used is my Dad’s actual name. 
Just posted the Easy Dials It overview on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWtlds_jczw. Also dropped a note to Arkadiusz at 2pixels to let him know we give him props at the end.
