Apple has told US regulators it is studying a Google Voice application for iPhones and is not conspiring with telecom partner AT&T to bar the software from the coveted mobile devices.
Apple, Google and AT&T each explained their sides of the story in letters released on Friday by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials investigating why Voice for iPhones hasn’t made it to the App Store, a distribution network for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
“Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it,” Apple vice president of worldwide global affairs Catherine Novelli said in letter to the FCC on Friday. “Apple is acting alone and has not consulted with AT&T about whether or not to approve the Google Voice application.”
Late last month, FCC investigators intent on finding out whether Apple is unfairly flexing its muscle in the smartphone market sent “inquiry letters” to Apple, Google and AT&T, iPhone’s exclusive carrier in the US.
“AT&T does not participate in Apple’s day-to-day consideration of specific applications,” AT&T senior vice president of external and legal affairs James Cicconi said in written responses to FCC questions. “Nor does Apple typically notify AT&T prior to including applications in the App Store.”
At Google’s request, the Internet firm’s answers to FCC questions about what it was told by Apple on rejecting the Voice iPhone application were removed from a copy of the letter released publicly.
In his written response, Google’s Washington telecom and media counsel Richard Whitt referred to the subject of the correspondence as “Apple’s rejection of Google Voice for iPhone application.”
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said inquiry letters were sent because the agency wanted to get “the facts and data necessary to make the best policy decisions on behalf of the American people.”
The FCC move came after Google said a Voice application for the iPhone was rejected by the App Store and related applications were removed.
Apple said it has not approved the Voice application because it appears to replace the iPhone’s mobile telephone features with a Google interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.
Voice also transfers data from iPhone users’ address books to Google servers and Apple doesn’t know how that personal information will be safeguarded, Novelli said.
“These factors present several new issues and questions to us that we are still pondering,” Novelli said in her letter. “Apple spent a lot of time and effort developing this distinct and innovative way to seamlessly deliver core functionality of the iPhone.”
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by