Google Defends Open App Policy for Android - InternetNews.com

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Google Defends Open App Policy for Android

Search giant takes issue with report suggesting it acted in concert with wireless carrier to limit functionality of popular VoIP application.

Google sprung into action today to set the record straight in response to a news report suggesting that it had limited access to a popular Internet phone application at the request of T-Mobile, the lone U.S. carrier supporting handsets based on Google's Android operating system.

A story in today's USA Today suggested that Google stifled some of the functions of the Skype Android mobile app, called Skype Lite.

The app is available in T-Mobile's Android Market, but it routes calls on the carrier network, rather than the Internet, which is how most VoIP technology works, a Skype spokesman explained.

The report claimed that Google tweaked the app, presumably so that T-Mobile would make more money if the users ate up minutes of their voice plans as opposed to data plans.

Andy Rubin, Google's vice president of mobile platforms, tells it differently.

"As we told USA Today earlier in the week, Google did not reject an application from Skype or from ...

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