FCC Looking Into AT&T Rejection Of Google Voice App
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Federal Communications Commission has launched an inquiry to AT&T Inc. (T) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) over the rejection of Google Inc.'s (GOOG) voice application for the popular iPhone.
Context & Ripple Effects
This inquiry lands on a familiar battlefield: AT&T and Verizon were already fighting Google's push for open wireless rules when they opposed its airwave proposal back in 2007, and the FCC had already signaled its posture by ruling against Comcast over blocked web video traffic in 2008.
What changed is the target: instead of policing the network pipe, the FCC is now questioning how apps get onto the phone itself, sending inquiries to both AT&T and Apple over Google Voice's absence from the iPhone. The story traveled quickly — Dow Jones Newswires' report was picked up by TechCrunch the same day, signaling that the app-gatekeeping fight has moved from trade press into mainstream coverage.
First-order effects
- AT&T and Apple must formally answer FCC questions about why Google's Voice application was rejected from the iPhone, putting the carrier's exclusive US iPhone arrangement and Apple's App Store approval process under regulatory examination for the first time at this level.
- Google gains a regulatory lever it could not get through negotiation: its voice product's exclusion from the most popular smartphone is now an official matter of public record rather than a private dispute.
Second-order effects
- Other handset makers and carriers watching the exchange now face a precedent risk — if the FCC establishes that blocking competitive applications draws federal inquiry, app-rejection decisions everywhere become potential compliance events rather than routine business choices.
- Verizon and other carriers that fought Google's openness agenda in 2007 are effectively on notice that the same scrutiny applied to AT&T's iPhone exclusivity could be applied to their own device and application controls.
Third-order effects
- If the inquiry matures into policy, the net-neutrality principle the FCC established against Comcast on wired networks in 2008 extends de facto into mobile — treating application access on handsets as part of the open-network question rather than a device-maker's private prerogative.
- The longer-run structure points toward a split in platform power: carriers and device makers may retain approval gates, but under a regime where regulators can demand justification, shifting leverage toward application developers and away from distribution gatekeepers.
The trend: Regulators are widening network-openness enforcement from broadband pipes into mobile application distribution, with the Google Voice inquiry marking the first major test of whether app-store gatekeeping becomes a regulated activity.