AT&T played no role in blocking Google Voice? Is Apple being evil?

Phone giant AT&T (T) stated today that it played "no role" in the rejection of the Google Voice application from Apple's (AAPL) iPhone Application Store, according to tech blog Engadget. This statement came from a letter to the FCC from company SVP S James Cicconi. This can only mean one thing. Either AT&T is lying or Apple was the culprit in blocking Google Voice. If Apple is at fault, this casts the whole brouhaha in a new and more sinister light.

The iPhone is becoming the dominant smartphone in terms of Internet usage. iPhone users are far more likely to download applications and to surf the Web from their handsets than are owners of other smartphones, including Blackberries. But this has made Apple a target for the FCC and the wrath of the blogosphere as the question of control of the smartphone cuts to the quick of the questions over who will control the mobile Internet.