Chicago (IL) – Apple has yet again banned an application from its App Store. This time, SlingPlayer, which first showed its face at MacWorld Expo in January, and met all of the qualifications and guidelines for Apple’s user interface, got the boot. This morning it was announced that, at the request of AT&T, Apple has made the decision to ban the SlingPlayer application from its store.
Heavy use of the iPhone already puts a tremendous strain on the AT&T data network, as we saw just recently during South by Southwest, when so many iPhone users in one place caused the service to take a turn for the worst. This morning, BoyGenius said that AT&T has asked Apple to reject the SlingPlayer for iPhone application from the company’s store. No reason for the requested ban was cited.
One possibility for AT&T’s request to deny the SlingPlayer for iPhone application could be their speculated desire and plans to launch their own mobile service in which they would offer mobile streaming video for uses, placing the SlingPlayer in direct competition. In March, AT&T changed its terms of service to prohibit the offering of services like that of SlingPlayer on its network.
If AT&T’s request to Apple for application removal was launched due to a possibly overwhelming bandwidth use then the application might have to find a different method for landing back on the App Store shelves. This situation is similar to the one which Skype entered into, in which the software was required to only allow calls to be placed utilizing WiFi, which reduces the bandwidth usage by customers.
At this time SlingPlayer has had no news from Apple on the status of their iPhone application, but their website still says they have “submitted the first release of our application to the iPhone App Store.”
