Question 2:
Did Apple act alone, or in consultation with
AT&T, in deciding to reject the Google Voice application
and related applications? If the latter, please describe
the communications between Apple and AT&T in connection
with the decision to reject Google Voice. Are there any
contractual conditions or non-contractual understandings
with AT&T that affected Apple’s decision in this matter?
Answer 2:
Apple is acting alone and has not consulted with AT&T
about whether or not to approve the Google Voice
application. No contractual conditions or non-contractual
understandings with AT&T have been a factor in Apple’s
decision-making process in this matter.
--
I guess that is about as straight an answer as we could have hoped for on the issue. Apple, not AT&T, made the call.
If ATT called Apple and simply asked them to deny GV approval then that is certainly a "non-contractual understanding". There do not need to be reverse conditions AFAICT - if there are it's a contract.
From AT&T's answer, you finally know why all those applications are a problem:
AT&T and Apple discussed a proposed iPhone application from MobiTV and CBS that was designed to stream live video and audio from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. AT&T and Apple discussed the likelihood that such an application could cause substantial network congestion and degradation of service for certain customers on AT&T’s 3G network, especially customers accessing cell sites located near colleges involved in the tournament.
The questions are good. The answers may be honest or not. Hard to say. It wasn't too long ago that Apple tried to cover up their problems with backdated stock options.
As much as I'd like to believe this, it just doesn't feel right. Why didn't Apple respond in this manner sooner? Why did it take a strongly worded letter from the FCC for them to do so?
Personally, I suspect that Apple would prefer that AT&T take the blame for as much as possible.
From the tone of the letter, it sounds like Apple tries to shift blame onto AT&T where they can- For instance, Apple was responsible for the initial SlingPlayer rejection.
Apple's response says that they rejected the app because it violates AT&T's TOS, but doesn't say that AT&T requested the rejection.
Viewed in the context of the Google Voice rejection, this leads me to believe that Apple is happy to be able to point to the TOS as the reason for the rejection, rather than having to decide if they want to allow an (indirect) competitor to their iTunes TV store.
Apple's original reason for rejecting the application was that it duplicated functionality. This is almost exactly the same statement with more direct answers to specific questions.
"No contractual conditions or non-contractual understandings with AT&T have been a factor in Apple’s decision-making process in this matter."
I wonder if that implies that there are contractual conditions and non-contractual understandings that exist, but were not a factor in the decision-making process in this case (but was a factor in other cases). Though I guess answer 3 answers that.
Answer 2: Apple is acting alone and has not consulted with AT&T about whether or not to approve the Google Voice application. No contractual conditions or non-contractual understandings with AT&T have been a factor in Apple’s decision-making process in this matter.
--
I guess that is about as straight an answer as we could have hoped for on the issue. Apple, not AT&T, made the call.