Every day we read every story and blog posting on Google Voice that we can find online, so you don’t have to! Then we excerpt the most interesting ones for reference your edification.
FastCompany: Seven (More) Reasons to Ditch Your iPhone
Regular FastCompany contributor (and my Google Voice for Dummies co-author) Chris Dannen points out that it’s been a tough week for iPhone users, what with the Google Voice apps being pulled. He points out seven reasons to ditch the iPhone, including the FCC request for information, hacker attacks, Apple pulling the Google Voice apps (and telling developers to pay the refunds), the messy arrangement of apps on the iPhone, the messy arrangement of apps in the App Store, better phones running Android and better connections and cheaper plans from – well, almost anyone but AT&T.
Dannen admits that he’s a fan, using an iPhone 3GS now and the previous models before that. His point is that, when he and other die-hards start looking hard at alternatives, Apple should pay attention.
National Business Review (New Zealand): If Skype goes, what would fill the gap?
eBay is looking to float Skype in an IPO that might be worth US$4B, points out blogger Mitchell Hall. But the original developers of Skype want to buy back the company – and are the owners of the technology license Skype uses to operate. eBay is frantically working to develop new underlying technology that doesn’t violate patents, but both that effort and negotiations between the parties fail, that could do in Skype. If Skype fails, that would leave a big hole that Google Voice could fill by expanding its capabilities.
My take: Skype’s complete failure is unlikely, as that doesn’t serve the interest of any of the stakeholders. What is likely is a game of chicken; indeed, it’s already begun. The drama will undermine Skype and put a positive light on competing solutions like Google Voice and more direct competitors such as Gizmo5, which already is well integrated into Google Voice.
CircleID, Internet Infrastructure: Some Unsolicited Advice for AT&T re Google Voice
Blogger Rob Frieden describes the downside of AT&T’s claim that it had nothing to do with Apple’s decision to reject and remove Google Voice apps. In taking this position, AT&T is putting itself in a box as a wireless common carrier. In this classification, they’d be closely regulated. AT&T usually emphasizes higher-level functions such as information processing and content access to position themselves as a multi-dimensional company not subject to tight restriction.
My take: AT&T could win the battle, escaping sanctions for this decision, and lose the war to avoid tight regulation. Or it could even lose the battle and lose the war.
