Luke-warm welcome
Over a year after Apple rejected the Google Voice app for its App Store, Google has announced the launch of the app for the iPhone.
When the app was rejected, the reason given by Apple was that it offered functionality to similar to some of the iPhone's own. However, Apple subsequently came under pressure from US authorities not to abuse its position as gatekeeper to the App Store and, a couple of months ago, capitulated on the matter of Google Voice.
The app offers some novel unified communications functionality, such as a single Google Voice number for multiple phone accounts, transcription of voice messages, and cheap international calls (Skype-style). Sadly it's still only available to US users and a query to Google today confirmed there are no updates about international availability.
You can see Google's handy video overview of Google Voice below, and here's what the corresponding blog post had to say about it on the iPhone:
In addition to these benefits, the app provides some features that make using Google Voice on your iPhone a much better experience: With push notifications, the app will alert you instantly when you receive a new voicemail or text message. Most of your calls will be placed via Direct Access Numbers, making them connect just as quickly as regular phone calls.
