The curious case of Google Maps for mobile

Responses from Google, Apple and AT&T are due Friday in the FCC's investigation into the rejection of Google Voice from Apple's App Store. And every tech journalist and industry pundit in the country--me included--is desperately hoping the replies will be made public.

But the whole Google Voice imbroglio raises a wider, separate question about the efficacy of app stores in general. Although the success of Apple's App Store has served to shine a spotlight on the white-hot app store trend, it's worth noting that app stores--at least, non-Apple ones--aren't the alpha and omega of app distribution.

Take, for example, the strange case of Google Maps for mobile. This is another free mobile application from Google, providing location-based access to mapping information, and it's available for platforms ranging from Java to BlackBerry to Windows Mobile. (It's also the built-in mapping app for the iPhone, G1 and other devices). I find Google Maps for mobile incredibly useful, and I prefer it to many of the premium mobile mapping applications from the likes of TeleNav and MapQuest.

However, Google Maps for mobile is not available through many of the market's major app stores, including RIM's BlackBerry App World, AT&T's MEdia Mall or Sprint Nextel's Digital Lounge (although, surprisingly, it is available through third-party app retailer Handango). Does this mean there's a similar conspiracy to keep Google Maps for mobile out of circulation, as there appears to be for Google Voice in the Apple App Store?

Well, not quite. I asked Google why its Maps for mobile app is not available through various app stores--after all, aren't app stores the critical place to be right now? "Google is working with companies to make GMM available in their respective application stores," Google said in a statement. "Users can easily download GMM by going to m.google.com/maps from their phone's browser."

Translation: We're Google, and we don't really need to get our stuff into those app stores because we cast a wider net than any app store on the planet. After all, according to Compete, Google had 157 million U.S. visitors in the month of June.

So what does this mean? It means that there's a significant market for apps that fall outside the purview of the industry's app stores. Indeed, the whole app store scenario reminds me of wireless carriers' walled gardens of just a few years ago.

Now let me get back to Google Voice. Google unveiled its Voice app for BlackBerry and Android platforms in July. Although its iPhone app was rejected by Apple, Google Voice is available through Google's Android Marketplace. But what about BlackBerry App World? So far, there's no sign of Google Voice on RIM's app store. Another conspiracy?

I asked RIM about it, and a spokesperson said: "It's my understanding that RIM wouldn't know what the outcome of any application submission would be until it happens," which presumably means that Google hasn't submitted Google Voice to BlackBerry App World--and is therefore taking the same approach with Google Voice for BlackBerry as it is with Google Maps for BlackBerry.

RIM's spokesperson also directed me to the company's BlackBerry App World vendor guidelines. Although I have no idea if Google Voice would be allowed under RIM's App World guidelines, it's worth noting that the BlackBerry maker prohibits apps that "degrade or adversely affect any software ... service, system, network or data used by any person including RIM or an Airtime Service Provider or otherwise have a detrimental effect upon RIM and/or its brand, an Airtime Service Provider or any of their respective customers or products or services."

Draw your conclusions at will.

Now, let me return to Apple's rejection of Google Voice and the FCC's investigation into the matter. The reason that this whole issue centers on the iPhone App Store is because there is no on-deck/off-deck scenario for the iPhone. While BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Java devices can access apps outside of an app store, iPhone users are locked into Apple's iTunes-based app distribution system (unless they jailbreak their device). And therein is the root of the issue.

So let's all hope that the FCC makes the responses from Apple, AT&T and Google public, so that we can see why the iPhone must be protected from the hazards of the off-deck, outside-of-the-app-store world while the rest of the industry's platforms, including BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and the like, do not. --Mike