Infinite SMS iPhone app blocked by Google
When Google found out that it was footing the bill for the unlimited text messaging being sent via Infinite SMS on the iPhone and Touch, they moved to block those messages and shut down the service.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, although that is essentially what Infinite SMS, an iPhone/Touch app from Inner Fence, was offering. If you paid 99 cents for the Infinite SMS app and downloaded it from the Apple App Store, you were able to send unlimited text messages from your iPhone or iPod Touch for free. However, that proved only to be true for about a month.
The messages were actually being sent using Google’s free Gmail Labs SMS service, which Inner Fence had tapped into via its app. So, while the text messages were free to Inner Fence and to the user, Google was actually picking up the check, according to a Washington Post story. As a result, Google is now blocking Infinite SMS and all other external XMPP clients from using its SMS service via the API. In part, Google said “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.”
In its own defense, Inner Fence says that they acted in good faith when they built and sold the Infinite SMS application. They noted further that they had taken advantage of “a feature publicly announced by Google over open protocols they made available.” Inner Fence stated further that their use of the free Google Gmail Labs SMS service“was no different from accessing Gmail’s near limitless storage over the open IMAP protocol.”
Inner Fence feels that their only offense was becoming too popular. The app was released in February and quickly became one of the Top Ten Paid Apps in the Apple App Store. Infinite SMS was apparently particularly popular with iPod Touch users that wanted an SMS system similar to that on the iPhone.
Since the App Sore rules prohibit refunds, Infinite SMS users will not be able to get their 99 cents back despite no longer being able to use the app. Probably most purchasers got their money’s worth before the service was shut down. As far as the users of the app were concerned, they really did get a free lunch for a while, although they have Google to thank for it.
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