James Delahunty
16 Apr 2009 17:36
According to reports, SlingPlayer has become the latest service to have its iPhone application banned from the Apple App Store at the request of AT&T. SlingPlayer for iPhone was first introduced at MacWorld this year, and conformed to Apple's guidelines for user interface. However, just as it did with the Skype iPhone app, AT&T used possible excessive traffic on its network as an excuse to oppose its use on the iPhone.
Sling Media hasn't gotten any word from Apple yet on what the decision is for the application, and the website still states they've "submitted the first release of our application to the iPhone App Store." However, reported surfaced today that Apple made an executive decision this morning to reject the apps entry to the App Store.
If AT&T did in fact ask Apple not to add the SlingPlayer App due to network data traffic concerns, then Sling may have to do the same thing as Skype and limit the application to Wi-Fi only. However, there is also speculation recently that AT&T is working on its own mobile video technology, and it has silently changed its terms of services basically prohibiting the use of services like SlingPlayer on its network.
Of course, if AT&T doesn't manage to retain iPhone exclusivity, then Sling may have nothing to worry about soon.