Sixteen months post its launch, and the drama that ensued after Apple not approving the app, Google Voice finally lands on the iPhone today. Apple had made a case stating that the app duplicated the functionality of its native app and had not rejected the app, but was put on hold. With FCC intervening and now with Apple relaxing certain rules on its app store, the official Google Voice App was approved and can be downloaded for free from iTunes.

The Google Voice app allows users to make economical international calls from within the U.S on their iPhones and send free text messages to any number within the United States. Users can also see their voicemail transcriptions in the app akin to the HTML5 based web app that was launched earlier this year. The app also allows for push notifications when a user receives a new voicemail or text message.

The native app can access user’s phone’s contact list. This enables users to set up Quick Dial Contacts and place calls. Users can set up a Google voice account for free (at www.google.com/voice) and start using the service. Google Voice number is displayed as the user’s caller ID when making calls.

Google Voice for the iPhone launches only in the U.S for now, and the international roll out is planned for 2011. iPad and iPod Touch could have the app on them soon, according to Google.

Images + Content Credit: Google + RWW