Fight to Keep Google Voice App Off iPhone Catches FCC's Eye

— -- Who should control wireless applications — customers, carriers or handset makers? That is the core question being considered by the Federal Communications Commission, which has asked Apple and AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive U.S. distributor, to explain why Google's free voice application, called "Google Voice," is banned from the device. The app allows consumers to use one Google-issued number for office, home and cell. It also blocks telemarketers, transcribes voice mail and offers unlimited free texting.

Google, which is trying to become a major player in wireless, also was asked to explain its business practices. Comments are due Aug. 21.

While Google Voice might have been the trigger, the FCC's mission is actually much loftier: making sure the mobile Web is an open, consumer-friendly environment like the Internet. What regulators don't want is for the mobile Web to follow in the footsteps of cable TV or traditional (voice) wireless, where operators tightly control the consumer experience.

The Apple-AT&T-Google dustup is the first shot in what is destined to become a global war among carriers, device makers and software developers, predicts Jagdish Rebello, principal analyst with iSuppli, a market research firm. With mobile applications red hot, Apple, Google and others "are trying to muscle in on the wireless carriers" for their share of the action.

The clash, he says, will result in "a dramatic shift for the global cellphone industry."

Profit is the driver. Global revenue for wireless data services, excluding messaging, is expected to reach $87.7 billion in 2009, up 26.2%, a new iSuppli projection shows. By 2013, it will more than double to $188 billion, it says.

The fast rise of the mobile Web is a testament to the power, creativity — and deep pockets — of the global wireless community. A few years ago it was a cyberversion of Mars — forbidding, difficult to reach and not much there once you arrived. Today it's an integral part of daily life for millions.

The wireless handset is the entry portal. Consumers spend hundreds of dollars to buy advanced smart devices such as the iPhone that can handle cool new apps like Google Voice. And they don't want or expect meddling from carriers or their partners, says Ben Scott, public policy director at Free Press, a consumer advocacy group in Washington.

"Who is in control of the wireless Internet — the consumer or the carrier?" he says. Google Voice "is merely symptomatic of that larger question."

Consumers could be the biggest winners, says Craig Moffett, senior wireless analyst at Sanford Bernstein. If the FCC's inquiry leads to greater choice and lower prices, "What's not to love, if you're a consumer?"