Google Shuts Down Infinite SMS
Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 5:00 PM PDT (Update)
We’re starting to get reports of people getting the error “SMS_ERROR_10: Sorry we don't support free SMS messaging through this client. Visit http://gmail.com/sms for more info.”
Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 11:27 AM PDT (Update)
Got an email from Google. They say they’re going to start blocking sometime tomorrow, 11 March 2009.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 8:53 AM PDT
Google will soon block Infinite SMS and all other non-Google software from sending free text messages.
For now, Infinite SMS will continue to work, but when the block goes into effect, you’ll start getting an error every time you try to send a text message.
If you have comments for Google, you can visit their Text Messaging Google Group.
Google has claimed no grievance with Infinite SMS other than its success. Their given reason for the block isn’t abuse or wrongdoing; it’s that we brought too many users (and thus too much cost) to an experimental service.
We acted in good faith, accessing a feature publicly announced by Google over open protocols they made available. Other non-Google apps have been able to access the SMS feature since its launch. To us, this was no different from accessing Gmail’s near limitless storage over the open IMAP protocol. We never could have guessed that the two of us would write an app too big for Google.
Our first warning was an unexpected call from Google on Monday, 9 March 2009, indicating that the service might be blocked as soon as the very next day.
We asked them to reconsider or at least give us more time to change our program or migrate our users. We scheduled a call for the next morning to hear Google’s final time line.
We immediately removed Infinite SMS from sale, since we could not in good conscience continue to sell a product whose lifetime was so likely to be cut short.
This morning, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, our email is overflowing with questions about why Infinite SMS is not available in the app store. We’ve decided we need to get real information out there for people, despite not having the complete picture yet. We will update this page when we hear from Google again.
We hope that Infinite SMS users will see this announcement and have some warning before they can no longer use our app for messaging.
Apple does not give app developers any way to perform refunds. Hopefully, at 99¢ people will feel like our app paid for itself after only a few messages.
Google’s free SMS feature isn’t entirely gone. They’ve only blocked non-Google apps like Infinite SMS. You can still send free text messages through the Gmail web interface (but it doesn’t seem like it works in Mobile Safari). The instructions are in their original SMS chat announcement.
Google’s Official Statement
Infinite SMS is a third party app that has been using Google technology to provide free SMS for users, while we were paying for the cost of the text messages. 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. We're blocking all external XMPP clients from sending SMS; we're not singling out Inner Fence.
About Infinite SMS
Infinite SMS was an iPhone/iPod touch app that allowed users to send and receive text messages using Google’s free SMS service. It was first released on 12 Feb 2009 and found a strong audience among iPod touch users who wanted an iPhone-like way to exchange text messages with their friends. Infinite SMS quickly rose into the Top 10 Paid Apps, where it remained for 11 days before the underlying service was blocked by Google. Inner Fence removed it from sale on 9 March 2009.
About Inner Fence
Inner Fence is a bootstrapped two-person startup in the Seattle Area. Its principals are Derek Del Conte and Ryan D Johnson. Their current concentration is on the Apple App Store.