Google blocks Infinite SMS app

The future of Infinite SMS--an iPhone application offering users free text messaging via Google's Gmail Labs interface--is in grave doubt after Google notified app developer Innerfence that it will block access to its service. Launched about a month ago, Infinite SMS essentially plugged into Google Talk to enable iPhone users to send text messages for free (after downloading the app from Apple's App Store for 99 cents, that is) and soon entered the App Store's Top 10 Paid Apps chart. According to Innerfence, Google first contacted the firm on March 9 to indicate its plans to block the service, with a subsequent email update stating the web services giant will initiate the block sometime today.

"Google has claimed no grievance with Infinite SMS other than its success," reads a post on the Innerfence blog. "Their given reason for the block isn't abuse or wrongdoing; it's that we brought too many users (and thus too much cost) to an experimental service. We acted in good faith, accessing a feature publicly announced by Google over open protocols they made available. Other non-Google apps have been able to access the SMS feature since its launch. To us, this was no different from accessing Gmail's near limitless storage over the open IMAP protocol. We never could have guessed that the two of us would write an app too big for Google."

The Innerface website also posted Google's official statement, which reads "Infinite SMS is a third party app that has been using Google technology to provide free SMS for users, while we were paying for the cost of the text messages. While Google is supportive of third party apps, we've decided we can't support this particular usage of our system at this time. SMS chat is still just an experiment in the early testing stages in Gmail Labs. We're blocking all external XMPP clients from sending SMS; we're not singling out Innerfence."

For more on the Infinite SMS controversy:
- read this VentureBeat article