Welcome to Mercer house, Mr. Kelso. — Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski, in the FCC’s first major inquiry since Genachowski took over the agency on June 29, has launched an inquiry into AT&T and Apple over the rejection of Google’s voice application for the Apple iPhone.
On Friday, the FCC sent letters to executives at Apple, Google and AT&T, saying it was “interested in a more complete understanding of this situation.”
“AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store,” the company said in a statement. “We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it.”
The FCC wants to know the process behind the company’s rejection of Google Voice apps.
It also wants to know whether Apple acted alone or consulted with AT&T. Network neutrality appears to be a priority in the new FCC.
Google wants the mobile Web to be as open as the Internet, to enable them to use their apps and services on most any platform. Apple is not about being open. Every app on the iPhone (all 50,000 of them) must be approved. The first proceeding on open access dates back to 2007 when Skype requested that cell phone carriers open up their networks to all applications (see Skype’s petition here). Like Google Voice, Skype helps consumers bypass the carriers.
Apple approved the Major League Baseball streaming application which provides 15 three-hour baseball games live every single day of the week, and AT&T is apparently okay with that, too. But the carrier has restricted Sling’s SlingPlayer Mobile application to Wi-Fi only.
Mobile carriers don’t want to become “dumb” pipes. But public sentiment is moving towards an “open” platform that doesn’t close off competing applications or services.
The future of the wireless Web may be at stake, says Business Week. It’s Carterphone all over again. Meanwhile, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s board.
Last week, Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 (pdf).
This legislation would protect Net Neutrality under the Communications Act, says Savetheinternet.com, and safeguard the future of the open Internet, and protect Internet users from discrimination by network owners that increasingly seek to control the free-flowing Web. Timothy Karr of Free Press lists seven reasons why net neutrality is needed.
