RingCentral: It’s Like Google Voice for the iPhone!
By Harry McCracken | Monday, August 24, 2009 at 11:57 am
Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt points out that Apple long ago approved an iPhone app that’s very much like Google Voice and presents all the issues that it says it doesn’t like about that application: RingCentral.
The app is called RingCentral Mobile and not only does it perform most of the same functions as the Google (GOOG) app that’s making all the headlines — universal telephone number, voicemail, dial-by-name directory, click-to-call, call forwarding, answering rules, call screening, music on hold, etc. — it was the template on which both Google Voice, and its predecessor, GrandCentral, were built.
As Elmer-DeWitt says, it’s hard to imagine that Google Voice being a Google product didn’t play a part in Apple’s unwillingness to approve it in a prompt fashion. (RingCentral’s from a venerable but small company.) And we already knew that one of the most significant issues with the App Store approval process is that it’s deeply inconsistent.
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RingCentral: It’s Like Google Voice for the iPhone! | India Phone cards Says:
August 24th, 2009 at 5:25 pm[…] See original here: RingCentral: It’s Like Google Voice for the iPhone! […]
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August 24th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I guess I’m not surprised, because I don’t think anyone thought that the reasons Apple initially gave were legitimate. From their website, it looks like RingCentral isn’t free, which may be why it wasn’t viewed as much of threat as Google Voice.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I don’t really get what Apple’s deal is. Not only is this likely an example of inconsistency, but even if it was totally legitimate, Google can (and will, according to http://www.newsy.com/videos/defending_the_app_store) easily get around it by making a web page for Google voice that does the exact same thing as the app is supposed to.