Roll Over Ringo

Who cares about the Beatles on iTunes? The real news Tuesday is that Google Voice has finally arrived, officially, as an iPhone app.

Apple refused to allow the app, which serves as a de facto replacement dialer and SMS client, from joining its app store in the summer of 2009, saying the app duplicated built-in phone functionality. But the decision also clearly prevented competition against Apple’s telecom partner AT&T, a move we called “inviting regulation.”

Google number

Google Voice lets users route all of their phone calls through a Google number, giving them cheap overseas calls, text translation of voicemail, per-contact call routing rules, phone recording and free text messaging, among other features. Unlike Skype's VOIP application, Google Voice uses the traditional phone channel, not the data plan.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs is furiously taking scissors to his closet of turtlenecks in rage at the sullying of his baby, singing to himself, “While My iPhone Gently Weeps”.