iphone application

• Google’s iPhone app employs a very cool way to initiate a voice search: simply lift the phone to your ear and speak. In order for the voice search to be initiated, the phone must a) be moved and b) the proximity sensor near the top speaker must be triggered.
• Easy, right? One problem. This can’t be done with the iPhone’s current set of SDK tools given to developers. As of now, devs can turn the proximity sensor on and off but there’s no way for an app to tell if the sensor is triggered or not.
• Google dove deep into the iPhone’s SDK to find a private, undocumented feature allowing the above functionality, previously only used by native iPhone apps.
• Using private APIs is strictly against the iPhone’s TOS. This means that either…
  • 1. Apple approved the Google app without realizing what they’ve done.
  • 2. Apple saw what Google did but didn’t care and approved it anyways.
  • 3. Google got Apple’s permission beforehand to use this API.
• John Gruber thinks its either #1 or #2, and I agree with him. Why ask for permission? Google knows there would be a lot of pressure on Apple to keep the app approved once its in the wild.
• Speaking of pressure on Apple: could this be why the existence of the app was publicized by Google in the New York Times days before it was approved?
• Clever. If this is the case and Apple noticed the TOS violation but buckled under the media’s created expectations, its a blow to developers everywhere. Google shouldn’t receive special treatment. All app developers should be on an even playing field.

UPDATE: Google has admitted to using private APIs to create the functionality of the app. It remains unclear under what circumstances Apple approved the app for the App Store.

Daring Fireball

{ 1 comment }