Apple App Store Woes

What the hell is the matter with Apple and AT&T!  It appeared that at launch of the iPhone 3G Google had a pretty strong relationship with Apple.  This is based on the fact that the iPhone 3G and 3GS come loaded with a Maps application, which is basically a Google Maps application, and Google has been given access to undocumented APIs in the SDK for the iPhone.  Seems like that has been thrown out the door...

Latitude, Google's answer for Loopt, just recently came out on the iPhone but not as a native iPhone application but as a web app.  Why?  Apple rejected the application version that was submitted.  Apparently Apple felt that the end-user (you and me) would be confused between the Latitude app and the Maps app.  My take on that is... well who cares?!  Untrained monkeys can tell the difference between two different icons... right?  So where is the confusion?  Latitude is great but it's not an application and should have been intergrated with the Maps application and have had the ability to toggle tracking on and off.  Isn't the point of the Maps application to find locations?  To me that would make sense that I would use that application to find points of interest, businesses, addresses, friends, etc... hmph.

On top of that, this week Apple has pulled off GV Mobile and Voice Central off of the app store.  These applications were used to access Google Voice, of course currently in beta.  As a Google Voice user you select a phone number and set up some or all of your phones to ring when that number is called.  You can set it based on who is calling, you can record calls, voicemails are transcribed, send SMS, etc.  Some really cool stuff all from one central number that is yours no matter which carrier you are with.  Most of the industry believes that AT&T had placed some pressure on Apple to remove those apps that use Google Voice's services and not AT&T's.  again... hrmph.

The irony in this is the fact that on the App Store you see things like fart apps, lame quiz apps, apps with partial nudity, and just plain crap apps, but things like this are not approved.  Apple really needs to review that approval process...