Google Voice Worth More Than Beloved iPhone

Apple and AT&T rejected the Google Voice app for the iPhone, driving TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to drop the mobile device entirely. Why are Apple and its carrier blocking an innovative program that has amazing call-forwarding features and transcribes voicemail into text? “Because they absolutely don’t want people doing exactly what I’m doing,” Arrington writes. “Moving their phone number to Google and using the carrier as a dumb pipe.”

“It’s not an easy decision,” Arrington writes. “Except, it sort of is. Google isn’t forcing the decision on me, Apple and AT&T are.” Google can port numbers to new service and has apps that tie users' Google Voice number to whichever phone they’re using. “I never have to be tied to a carrier and their restrictive contracts again,” Arrington writes. He’s getting an Android 3G handset but still likes the iPhone: “Apple, if you ever decide to put the hammer down on AT&T and do the right thing for your loyal users, I’ll consider switching back.” (More Michael Arrington stories.)