Report: Apple gives Google Voice app the nod of approval

It looks like we'll finally be seeing an official Google Voice App for the iPhone in the App Store. TechCrunch reports that not only should we expect to see the official app in the App Store soon, but that it's already been approved by the higher-ups at Apple.

Google Voice, a phone management system, has been a long time coming on the iPhone--beginning all the way back in July 2009, when the first official Google Voice app was rejected from the App Store. Apple claimed that the official Google Voice app, as well as third-party Google Voice apps, duplicated features inherent to the iPhone, and was thus banned.

In other words, Apple felt that Google Voice threatened its/AT&T's potential profits on calling plans. The decision to ban the app did garner some attention from the FCC, though nothing really happened on the Google Voice front for about a year. Google was also accused of hypocrisy, as it tried to block a full-featured version of Skype for Android (Google claimed that it rejected the Skype app because the first generation of Android did not support full-featured VoIP apps...sure).

Google eventually released a Web-based version of its Google Voice service (m.google.com/voice), which brought (limited) Google Voice functionality to the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Palm Pixi.

Just a couple of weeks ago, however, Apple loosened its App Store policies--and none of its policies seemed to ban Google Voice apps. So, GV Connect, a third-party Google Voice app, managed to make its way onto the App Store on September 18. Another third-party app that was pulled from the App Store over a year ago, GV Mobile, also returned to the App Store on September 18.

Well, hopefully the rumors--that Google's official Google Voice app will be coming to the iPhone platform--are true, because we've been waiting a long time for an official Google Voice app.

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