All the outrage over Sling Media's iPhone app—which would have only worked with the latest Slingbox models—may have been moot. Boy Genius Report says they've received a tip that AT&T asked Apple to kill the app due to concerns about potential bandwidth drain. Update: JosephFinn points out that the tip is likely fake, as the IP address came from a prison. [IntoMobile]
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Then why not make it a WiFi-only app?
Kinda sucks, but at least it'd be something.
@HRHKingFridayXX: I'm going to be out of town for the Bahrain GP, and was hoping to be able to watch it while on a train from Boston to NY. I would gladly watch all two plus hours of that on my phone rather than get the results on-line
Tell me again how it's legal for them to call the iPhone data plan unlimited?
TUAW is calling shenanigans on the report; looks like it came from an IP in the WV Prison system:
It seems to me that this just makes the case against maintaining AT&T exclusivity any longer.
I don't think Apple really digs the fact that a sizable fraction of the complaints about the device stem from network shortcomings. At least if you have options it could start a competitive race to actually spend money on better infrastructure.
Yeah this is pure CRAP from ATT here.
Sling client is already all over the ATT network with HTC and Motorola phones. To block the iphone client is anti-competitive.
Beyond that, I don't even want to use the iphone Slingbox client on the shitty ATT 3g/Edge network. I just want to use the Wi-Fi at my house and watch TV on my iphone Sling client by the pool.
YOU SUCK ATT!
@JosephFinn: So? They can't have a friend who works at Apple? Is an inmate any less reliable than most Apple tipsters?
@axiomatic: Agreed. I'm glad I waited for the app to actually be released before I bought a Slingbox. I will barely use the EDGE network (or better if I upgrade in the summer) to watch TV but I'm paying for unlimited bandwidth and if it's good for Blackberry users paying the same amount for unlimited data then this sounds illegal. If we're breaking contracts maybe I'll cancel my plan and take my iPhone and go home. Home to t-mobile or a cheaper provider.
I Sling on my Sprint Treo (EVDO) all the time. It's fine for the most part, I can't imagine how all the iphones+slingboxes could drain their bandwidth. Gimme a break.
I'll believe the rejection when someone with an iPhone confirms it.
@rhobite: because you have unlimited opportunity, and basically unlimited access to download as much as you want with your phone, provided that you pay up once you're over the cap they set.
@JosephFinn: I though the feds exempted AT&T for all the federal crimes they committed with their wiretaps.
@bdsakx: How much is their cap and how likely is an average user to go over the cap? I'm contemplating the iPhone and I wonder whether the average person could actually download and use enough content to go over a cap.
@bdsakx: That's not correct. Apple and AT&T place many restrictions on what I can download. Even if this tip is fake, there are other bandwidth-intensive apps they have killed. They disabled Skype over 3G, and they do not allow me to download more than 10MB of podcasts over the air. That is not unlimited opportunity.
Anyone know how much is this app going to cost or will we need a mobile slingbox license?
@rhobite: sorry, the unlimited opportunity I meant was that you can get on the 3G network anytime of the day, whenever you want, unlimitedly... :(
@rhobite: The data plan is unlimited. Just because the software does not allow you to do something is not a data use restriction. Its just something you can't do. Which imo is better that, sure you can do that, oh you used that too much and now we are going to charge you out the ass.
I will never understand the draw of watching more than 3 minutes of video on a mobile device.