“The thing that really bothers me about the move is that Apple is now actively stifling innovation. Google Voice is the kind of service that can actually have a positive impact on your life, and not in a frivolous, entertainment-related sense. It makes it easier to connect with people, and to manage those connections. Apple can point to the App Store’s 50,000 applications all it wants, but how many of them could truly be called groundbreaking? Are they really putting a dent in the universe?

All the more upsetting is that this comes from the company that Steve Jobs built. The company that once made record labels bow to a flat 0.99 pricing structure for years longer than they would have liked is now screwing customers because AT&T asked them to. They’re trying to limit what I can and can’t run on my mobile phone — a phone whose marketing is largely based on its extensibility.”

There were a dozen stories about this yesterday. I was given an iphone when I worked at Apple and I gave it away because I hate AT&T. I hate that one of the worst names in technology and customer service has seemingly ruined the reputation of one of the finest, but that Apple has diverted all of its efforts into the mobile phone market and virtually abandoned its pro applications (and customers) to become synonymous with techno-corruption and corporate greed is beyond infuriating.