Rumors have been flying ever since Android launched that Apple will be replacing the search giant’s services on the iPhone. The latest, which seems completely ridiculous for a reason, is that Apple is going to build a search engine. The Business Insider says the biggest reason to keep Google on is that the search provider pays Apple upwards of $100 million a year for the iPhone deal.

For a company like Apple, $100 million isn’t exactly a lot. It’s more like mortgage payment, but it’s enough to keep Apple from entering an already saturated search market. There’s no denying that Google and Apple now have a contentious relationship. As Business Insider has it, it only took two weeks to nail down the original Google Maps deal for the iPhone. When the 3GS launched it took six months.

Source: Business Insider at Gizmodo

Shortly after the announcement of the Google Nexus One, BillShrink put together one of those nifty little charts as a cost comparison for the “next generation of smartphones.” (I’m glad to see it didn’t adopt Google’s new term: superphone.) The results read like yet another reason the iPhone needs to get off AT&T.

The cost of ownership for a top tier plan on the iPhone runs $3,799 over the course of your two year contract. The Nexus One, by comparison, is just $2,579, and that’s without the 5GB data cap. It’s an ugly stat for AT&T, which doesn’t even compete when you step down to an average plan. The total cost is still $500 more than the Nexus One.

The chart also throws in the Palm Pre and Verizon’s Motorola Droid, but now that the Nexus One is out I think we can pretty much forget about the droid. And the Pre? What’s that again?

Source: BillShrink

It appears Apple isn’t going to take allegations that it did indeed reject the Google Voice app lying down. The company has fired back in a short statement to Silicon Alley Insider.

We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in their FCC letter. Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google.

Well someone is lying – we know that much – and I’m still going to bet it’s Apple. Why would Google release statements to the contrary if they were still in talks with Apple. That doesn’t fit with Google SOP in any way, though ass-covering does seem to fit fit Apple quite well. As SAI has it, Google declined to comment any further on the situation. I just hope the FCC is around to break-up the ensuing slap fight should things get any worse.

Google has handled the FCC investigation over the rejection of Google Voice applications on the iPhone applaudably well. The search giant has offered lengthy explanations of just what the application does and answered FCC questions with tact an honesty, even going so far as to keep private the conversations it had with Apple regarding the subject matter.

Those conversations weren’t meant to stay private, though, and after several Freedom of Information Act filings Google’s letters to the FCC can now be viewed in unedited form (PDF). The most interesting response, and the one Google had tried to keep private, cements Apple’s villainy in the matter and suggests Apple lied to the FCC with regard to the application.

According to Google, Apple did reject the application, the news of which was delivered by none other than Phil Schiller. You may recall that Apple claimed it did not reject the app but was still pondering just what to do. It’s been a month since that claim surfaced and yet we still have no Google Voice app.

It seems pretty obvious that Google was giving Apple some time to do the right thing. So what if they wanted to lie; if the application finally made it into the store, even on a few months delay, no problem. But Apple did nothing, so instead of asking the FCC to reject the FoIA requests, Google released the documents in full, which puts Apple in a very unfriendly sort of limelight. No one is happy about this decision, and a lot of people are downright pissed. From here it looks like we’ll just be waiting to see whether Apple will try to appease the consumer and the FCC with an approval, or be forced to do so via legislation.