**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Though the two companies increasingly find themselves competing in the same markets and industries, Google Inc. and Apple Inc. appear to be playing nice on at least one front: iOS applications.

Whereas previously Apple blocked some of the applications submitted by Google, more of those apps are now sailing through to safer landings on users iOS devices. This change not only highlights Google and Apple’s delayed reluctance to see eye to eye for the benefit of their users, but also Google’s continued desire to reach mobile users beyond its Android platform. Read more

**As published in digiday:DAILY**

For a while there, I thought I’d never see the day — an official Google Voice app for the iPhone. Google’s official app for the popular service is back after watching so many incredible layers of drama unfold. The politics, competition and seemingly everything else in between that has kept tech geeks intrigued, has also been equally frustrating as it is hilarious.

Until recently, Google Voice users that have an iPhone were mostly restricted to using an HTML5-based site, but third-party apps like http://www.digidaydaily.com/stories/name-that-app-gv-connect/>GV Connect came back to the App Store nearly two months ago. Google Voice beats all the others because of two things: SMS notifications and dialing in the background. These are the key features that make Google Voice such a powerful communication platform. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

It’s been exactly two months since Apple Inc. acquiesced and approved a third-party Google Voice app for the iPhone, but now there’s finally an official offering from Google Inc.

The new Google Voice app, which made its debut on the App Store yesterday, is simpler and less noisy than the third-party apps that have been selling on the store since September. It also brings one key feature that presumably only Google can deliver: SMS notifications and dialing in the background. While Google has opened its API for the service it reportedly keeps some key features like those close to its chest, making it the sole provider of the key features that practically every user wants. Read more

**As published in DIGIDAY:DAILY**

I’ve been an avid user and fan of Google Voice ever since I got into the service when it was still available by invite only. I requested access to the service when it was still GrandCentral, before Google acquired the company and its phone management technology.

But the real power of Google Voice didn’t come until mobile apps began turning smart phones into Google Voice dialing and messaging machines. The official Google Voice apps for Android and BlackBerry devices work excellent and good, respectively, but iPhone users has been left wanting more for far too long. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Maybe time really does heal all wounds. The theory seems to at least ring true for Apple Inc. and its troubled past with Google Voice.

The company today approved the first in what many expect to be a series of third-party apps for the popular service from Google Inc.

Google Voice has faced a rough go at making its way onto the iPhone and other iOS devices like the iPad and iPod Touch. Meanwhile, BlackBerry and Android users have enjoyed a vastly superior Google Voice experience on their mobile devices for well over a year now. Read more

While Verizon Wireless may have been the first carrier out of the gates with a major announcement leading up to CTIA in San Diego, AT&T Mobility didn’t wait long to throw its hat into the ring.

Just hours after Verizon Wireless announced some bold plans for a new partnership with Google — one directly aimed at Apple and AT&T nonetheless, AT&T said that it will no longer prevent VoIP apps from running on its network, the The Wall Street Journal reports.

Apps that were previously stripped-down to appease AT&T’s wishes can now be made to actually do what they were first intended to: make voice calls over the Internet. AT&T’s about-face on the issue will surely leave many iPhone users hoping for better apps from VoIP providers like Skype, however AT&T’s decision alone doesn’t not guarantee that Google Voice will ever have its day as an app on the iPhone. Apple has already admitted that it chose not to approve the Google Voice application on its App Store for its own reasons. Read more

**As published by RCR Wireless News**

On the surface, there isn’t much to suggest that this newly Democratic-led FCC will make any radical regulatory changes in the wireless industry. There is a loud camp cheering for new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to take a more heavy-handed approach in wireless affairs, but popular opinion inside the Beltway paints a different picture.

While the President Obama appointee is digging into wireless matters such as competition, innovation and third-party application control perhaps more swiftly (and publicly) than his predecessor, the Federal Communications Commission is only asking questions at this point. Questions are cheap. Policymaking is an entirely different matter that must measure political fallout against results. And more important: the nation is still digging out of the greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression. Read more

Generally, it isn’t kind to kick someone when they’re down, but AT&T and Apple deserve it in this case. Word came out today via TechCrunch that Apple has pulled a pair of third-party Google Voice-enabled applications from the App Store. Apple also blocked Google’s official Google Voice app from ever seeing the light that is App Store glory.

After waiting probably two years for my GrandCentral invite request to come through, I was finally green-lighted for a new and improved Google Voice account earlier this month. I’ve been toying around with the service for a few weeks now and it is remarkable.

For starters, it begs the question: Why pay AT&T $5 a month for 200 text messages when I can receive unlimited SMS for free on Google Voice via the monthly $30 data plan I also pay for on my iPhone 3G S. I’m all about getting more for less these days. And I sure as hell don’t like paying for duplicate services. SMS is data no matter how you slice it and I want it included in my data plan. That’s why I was so thrilled to see Google Voice applications launched for BlackBerry and Android earlier this month. That paired with talk of an iPhone app in the works was all I needed to hear. Read more