Google Voice finally gets to the iPhone with browser app

• READ
• COMMENTED
• SHARED

• Exclusive: Gen-i to launch iPhone sales, support
• No mandate for all-of-government tender
• PC assemblers eye massive govt tender
• FryUp: ACTA warmup
• Hosted Drupal CMS planned for midyear

• Deskop Linux is still not happening
• CallPlus unbundles Hamilton, offers 'data banking'
• IE9 proves Microsoft is back in the browser battle, says analyst
• Gen-i to launch iPhone sales, support
• Government outlines rural telecommunications plan

• ‘Veneer’ of integration likely for Auckland
• Exclusive: Gen-i to launch iPhone sales, support
• Some subtle tips for standout interviews
• CallPlus unbundles Hamilton, offers 'data banking'
• Forum: The enigma that is the Supercity

 

• Tailored enterprise security solutions needed: Trend Micro
• Rent-a-CIO
• Chink in the mobile-phone duopoly
• NASA’s tips for a stellar social media policy
• Tweeps and Facebook friends, let's smarten up

 

• SUBSCRIPTIONS
• NEWSLETTERS
• NEWSFEED

Computerworld is New Zealand's only specialised information systems fortnightly.

Subscribe now for $97.50 (24 issues) and save more than 37% off the cover price!

Get the latest news from Computerworld delivered via email.
Sign up now

Subscribe to Computerworld's
RSS newsfeed here and get news stories as they break.

• Opera bets on Apple approval for its iPhone browser
• Google's rivals tipped to grow in 2010
• Apple decision on Google Voice was made by senior execs
• Apple tries to 'pull the wool over' FCC's eyes, says iPhone dev
• AT&T says it didn't block Google Voice
• Apple VP responds to App Store rejection rage

Google has found a way to let iPhone owners use Google Voice, the telephony management service whose iPhone-specific application Apple rejected last year.

On Tuesday, Google is launching a Google Voice web application that runs on iPhone devices with the 3.0 OS or later versions, as well as on Palm WebOS devices.

The Google Voice application leverages HTML 5's functionality for running sophisticated web applications on a browser at speeds matching those of native applications, Google said.

The application lets users tap into a "streamlined" version of the Google Voice inbox, display their Google Voice numbers in caller ID systems, listen to voice-mail messages, read voice-mail transcripts, exchange text messages free and make international calls billed at Google Voice rates, Google said.

To access the application, users need to go to the URL http://m.google.com/voice and sign into their Google Voice accounts. They don't need to download anything to their phones.

Google and Apple, former corporate buddies turned snarling rivals, got into a spat last year when Apple rejected a Google Voice application for the iPhone. Apple reportedly justified the rejection by arguing that Google Voice duplicates some native iPhone functionality, which Apple wants to avoid in third-party iPhone apps, while Google called the decision unfair.

The Google Voice-iPhone conflict is one of several issues putting the companies on a collision course. Google's release of its Android mobile OS and devices based on it, as well as the development of the Chrome browser and Chrome OS all put it in a competitive position against Apple.

Citing increasing areas of competition, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stepped down from Apple's board of directors last year.