The big news that everyone and their mom wants in on today is that Apple finally submitted its response to the FCC’s inquires over Apple’s rejection of a Google Voice application for the iPhone. Apple submitted this pandering, neither-here-nor-there response about how the app wasn’t really rejected and that it duplicated functionality and blah blah blah blah blah. Yes, it sucks that you can’t use Google Voice on the iPhone. But the fact of the matter is that this issue is getting so blown out of proportion for no reason.
The FCC investigation, as I think I’ve said before, is not for the purposes of telling Apple how they have to run their business. No, the FCC’s current questioning is a part of a larger whole: the current US government is trying to figure out how the smartphone market works, and whether or not in its current form it infringes on the rights of consumers. Don’t forget that it’s not just the FCC doing this, but the government as a whole: even the Obama administration wants to know what’s going on.
A lot of blogs are just going nuts (there’s even a story from TechCrunchIT reporting on the story from TechCrunch) about the FCC right now, but never getting at why they care. And the underlying reason is this: many a techie has a little thought at the back of his mind saying “the FCC might open up the iPhone.” Guess what? That’s not going to happen. And the reason why it’s not going to happen is because no FCC statute is violated by Apple’s control of the iPhone platform. When Apple sells you a phone, you know what you’re getting into: you have to use the device more or less the way they want. If you have a problem with that, you can either install a custom firmware or throw out your phone and get a Pre or an Android handset. If the Federal Trade Commission were investigating this I might understand the excitement the issue is generating, but they’re not, and they won’t.
Eventually, all smartphones are going to have an open side to them. Some day in the future, you’ll be able to use the App Store just as you do now, but if you’re so inclined, you’ll be able to buy iPhone apps from other channels and install them at your own peril. Apple won’t endorse this, but they won’t stop this because that’s just the direction in which computing moves. Apple would’ve owned the personal computing market had they opened up the Mac platform back in the day, but that’s just not the sort of company Apple is. So sure, Apple might well approve Google Voice in the end simply to not look so dictatorial, but the iPhone is years away from being open.
