Oh yeah, I'm not an Arrington fan (SCREW YOU, ARRINGTON!). I'm not going to take their word for it. And my apologies, I could have sworn I'd hear that the app was out briefly and then rejected.

Technically, the app did not "replace" functionality. I'll concede that it "duplicates" functionality. You still need the official iPhone dialer and SMS app to handle calls and texts to and from your AT&T number. And I don't know how it works on the iPhone app (I guess nobody does), but actually, on the G1 I still use the built-in dialer too. Regardless, I think the way they're putting it is not valid. And their response is not acceptable.

From a technology standpoint, Apple (to a small extent) and AT&T (to a much larger extent) should be a little afraid of what Google Voice represents. I must admit that I keep finding myself using more and more of Google Voice. At first it was exclusively a way to give out a second number for my business. But now I'm giving it out a lot more, using the texting features (I've never liked texting before, probably because I can't imagine paying for such tiny amounts of data), and the visual voicemail is a really nice feature.

I guess I can't be all that upset, in the end. Once my contract with AT&T is up, I'll be switching to TMobile (so I can get 3G on my G1). When I'm there I'll get more minutes, and even though I had to buy my phone at full price, I have to admit that it's going to be nice to not be under contract.