Apple and AT&T playing favorites with the App Store?

Correction at 7:20 a.m. PDT: Mark Siegel is a spokesman for AT&T mobility.

Just under a year since first announced, the SlingPlayer Mobile application is finally available for the iPhone. But compared with the capabilities of the same application available on other smartphone platforms, the iPhone version of SlingPlayer is curiously handicapped.

The version set to arrive Wednesday costs $30, and can stream a TV signal from a set connected to a Slingbox to the iPhone. But this version is available using Wi-Fi only. It's notable because the beta version of the application was demonstrated at CES using the iPhone's 3G connection. So why is it turned off in the official release? Recent changes in the terms of service that comes with AT&T's iPhone wireless service may offer some clues.

Apple rejected the original version of the application Sling submitted to the App Store that required use of the phone's 3G service, according to Sling. It was subsequently approved when it was modified so that it will just use local Wi-Fi hot spots. Apple's exact reason for rejecting it isn't clear. There are plenty of video- and audio-streaming applications available today in Apple's App Store, from smaller streaming services like Orb and Last.fm (owned by CNET News publisher CBS Interactive), and heavyweights like MLB.com's At Bat, CBS' TV.com, and YouTube.

While Apple has certainly not been shy about exercising its veto power over App Store applications--just ask Trent Reznor, for example--it's unclear why Sling's streaming video service is being treated differently from, say, the YouTube app (owned by Apple-friendly Google), which has been available on the iPhone since the device's launch.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment about why only the Wi-Fi version of SlingPlayer was approved. But it appears the rejection also could have been at AT&T's behest. Early in April, AT&T changed its terms of service for wireless customers, saying that redirecting TV video or audio signals--as the SlingPlayer does--was no longer allowed on its network. After a public outcry, AT&T quickly reversed its decision, citing "a mistake." But then last week the company reinstated the ban in its TOS.

Then on Friday, AT&T mobility spokesman Mark Siegel went on the Clark Howard radio show and very clearly said that "Slinging"--the process of accessing a TV signal from a Slingbox from a remote computer--was banned on the company's network.

Siegel compared using Sling's service over a wireless connection to sending bulk e-mail and spam, activities that he said eat up too much of the network's bandwidth. "You can't use a service called 'Slinging,' where you redirect a wireless TV signal to your phone. We do not allow that type of application on our phones," he said. "It's absolutely cool (technology), but if we allowed these kinds of services, the highway would quickly become clogged."

SlingPlayer for iPhone

(Credit: Screenshot by Erica Ogg/CNET)

He confirmed again to CNET News on Tuesday that AT&T believes the SlingPlayer app would take up more bandwidth than it should. To be fair AT&T does have a valid point. Streaming video eats up a lot of bandwidth. Because cellular networks are divided into cells, users in a particular cell share the available bandwidth in that cell or region. So users streaming a lot of high-quality video over the network could potentially eat up all the available bandwidth and degrade service for other subscribers in that cell.

But there's a slight disconnect in what AT&T is saying and what it is doing: Other 3G smartphones that operate on AT&T's network can use the SlingPlayer. For example, the SlingPlayer works on several BlackBerry devices, the BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Pearl 8120, BlackBerry Curve 8320, and the BlackBerry 8820. Users are able to download the mobile SlingPlayer application directly from the Sling Media Web site onto their phones.

Siegel says that AT&T's terms of use are clear when it comes to the SlingPlayer and he suggests that anyone downloading these applications onto a smartphone for use over its 3G network is in violation of the company's terms of use.

Bandwidth usage is a legitimate concern when it comes to SlingPlayer. The software is designed to provide the best quality video experience based on how much bandwidth is available. But Dave Eyler, product manager for mobile at Sling Media, said that the latest version of the SlingPlayer submitted to Apple for the App Store capped the bit rate to ensure it was below Apple's and AT&T's threshold. He said that the application actually uses a little less bandwidth than TV.com's application.

"Our latest application, which was submitted for App Store, is under the bit rate that Apple has set for these kinds of applications," he said. "And we are below some of the apps that have already been approved for the App Store."

So why won't Apple allow the SlingPlayer for the iPhone to be used over AT&T's network if it doesn't eat up any more bandwidth than other video applications that have already been approved by Apple?

That's a good question. Eyler said the explanation given to his team was that AT&T doesn't allow video services that redirect TV signals onto their network. But interestingly, OrbLive, which is offered on the App Store, also redirects TV signals onto the iPhone. The application is designed to allow people to stream media from a PC to the iPhone wirelessly. And the company's web site explicitly states that live TV can be streamed over 3G, Wi-Fi, or the slower 2.5G EDGE network, if someone is using a TV tuner card in their PC. This essentially "turns your iPhone or iPod touch into an on-demand media center," the site says.

OrbLive's application sounds very similar to what the SlingPlayer does. Eyler admits the situation is confusing and a bit frustrating. But he says the company isn't getting too bent out of shape about things.

"We think our app is awesome," he said. "There is a lot of Wi-Fi out there. Of course, we'd like it to be available on a 3G network, and that's ultimately our goal. But we don't have any more details about the decision making process."

Update 11:02 a.m. PDT: This still leaves the question of why. Sling was bought by EchoStar, owners of Dish Network, in 2007. Sling sells standalone Slingboxes, but Dish Network now also offers integrated Slingbox capabilities in its combination satellite TV/DVR boxes. That means AT&T and Echostar both sell TV subscription services with DVR capabilities. But Dish's product could be considered by some consumers to be superior given the Sling capability. Handicapping that capability on the iPhone would cut into that perceived superiority. It's unclear if there's a direct connection there, but it is worth noting.

[DarkHawke]

Kudos on the excellent reporting job! Keep at it; we need more exposure about the capriciousness of Apple's App Store policies. The iPhone/iTouch will not achieve their fullest potential until Apple finally sets them free.

[seven7dust]

it's weird that they havent done it already
considering Apple will sell a lot more iPhones if they free it from At&t
plus the customers benefit as well
the only company benefitting from the current situation is AT&T
the things Apple does sometimes are weird as hell !

[mynameiscoffey]

who would benefit really in the US from a non-AT&T Apple? The iPhone only runs on AT&T and T-Mobile's networks in the US (GSM) and T-Mobile's 3G coverage is laughable at best.

[seven7dust]

they could make a cdma version for other networks it's not that hard !
almost all manufactures sell phones on all networks Apple is the only exception !

[larahs]

this is true of the blackberry too...

there's a simple reason why slingbox wont work over cellular networks, the wireless companies cant make money off it and it will kill their bandwidth OR they have competing paid services like Verizon's vcast.

[mknopp]

The executives at Apple can be incredibly stupid for a group of intelligent individuals. They have very little real competition at this point with regards to services like the App Store, but instead of working to solidify their leading position they are being closed lipped, capricious, hypocritical, and playing morality cop. They are squandering their opportunity to rule to mobile market in a way that Microsoft ruled the PC market all for some asinine reason that nobody can figure out.

They had better pull their heads out of their ***** or in a decade people will be talking about the days when Apple USED TO be a leader in the mobile market.

[sting7k]

Great coverage cNet of this cNet. While I do not have a slingplayer I think it's pretty insane that there are plenty of other video streaming apps that work on 3G and yet AT&T gets in a tizzy over SlingPlayer. I use OrbLive all the time to stream videos from my media center over 3G. Fortunately I live in an area where there is ample and very good 3G coverage north of DC.

Is AT&T going to start shutting people off with the other smart phones with SlingPlayer?

[gdavidgates]

Wow, 2 different comments using the word capricious? Amazing.

[SIGHUP]

Make that 3

[monkeyfun14]

Only reason the Sling Player will run on other phones is because AT&T really has no say in the respective companies app stores.

[thelemurking]

If you are paying for UNLIMITED DATA... it should be just that UNLIMITED DATA! Don't limit me to 5gb of data a month. That's far from unlimited. Don't put crazy restrictions on what I can use my data package for, again, that's not UNLIMITED DATA!

I love how AT&T comes off trying to sound like they have the biggest network in the world, but then try to sneak in the restrictions when no one is looking. Big deal if I can use my phone in China to Chad, Sri Lanka to Sierra Leone... where's the fun and good in that if I restricted / crippled data package that prevents me from using my phone the way I want?

Come on, it's like anyone is really going to bit torrent over 3g... or watch sling TV shows hours on end. The iPhone has a limited battery life, so it's highly unlikely people will watch more than 1 hour of TV at a time.

[dcunited99]

This is why T-Mobile's G1 is better. The open-source Android OS negates all this lunacy about what apps Apple considers acceptable. Leave it up to the developers and the users to decide what's good.

[Universal_Indie_Records]

But T-Mobile's coverage is no where near that of AT&T or Verizon. In the Poconos, PA - T-Mobile is the absolute worse. You can even stay on a call for more than a minute or two. Also, until the Pre is released... there's not a T-Mobile phone that I would even want.

[inachu1]

Here again shows AT&T incompetence at learning that paying customers of the iphone demand access and are paying for it already but AT&T refuses to upgrade their data centers to grow with demand. This is what keeps USA networks at a lower standard VS Korean or Japanese networks.

USA is falling behind all for the greed of money instead of making customers happy.

[Cruton]

Really? Eating up bandwith for 'high quality' video on the iphone? The resolution on the iphone is 480 x 320, why do you need high quality video on a screen that has half the resolution of VGA? AT&T & Apple are friggin jokes. They have an amazing product and its going to their heads.

[jleemc44]

I love my iPone as much as any other user. However they can really peeve me off with things like this. There are many other bandwidth heavy apps out there.

It's not like we're getting true service for free. I use about 250MB a month and pay $30 a month for the data portion. That makes the cost per MB far more expensive then my comcast.

[hleeowen]

i blame ATT. their network sucks and they know it. so they block this app to make sure the network doesn't fail. if they'd beef up their network, this wouldn't matter.
apple should threaten to leave them for verizon whos network would handle this.

[tgrenier]

The whole "There's an app for that" campaign really bugs me. If the browser was really a full featured browser that supported Flash, you would not need an app for every little task. I don't an APP for mlb.com on my computer or one to listen to Sirius. I don't want an app for that. I want a browser for that.

Think different = think closed

[Universal_Indie_Records]

Truth is mobile flash sucks right now. It's slow as heck. Once Adobe completes a version that works a lot better, then I'll champion it.

[infinitely]

Flash sucks period. These small apps can deliver a much better experience than any flash application ever could. Not to mention the fact that there's almost nothing Flash can do that can't be done using HTML, so there's really no excuse for these sites not to work on the iPhone except for laziness and the fact that web browsing is inherently less pleasant interface-wise and other wise than a dedicated application.

[chris8051]

It's time someone starts a class action lawsuit. This is crazy.

At the very least AT&T should be sued for advertising unlimited data. This is clearly false advertising.

[probell]

Fads are generally created by good marketing campaigns for products controlled for the benefit of single companies (e.g. Coleco's Cabbage Patch Kids or BanDai's Tamagotchi). Trends are the result of natural market forces (e.g. the switch from landlines to mobile phones or the growth of the Internet).

There is surely a trend towards varied video services on mobile devices but the iPhone as a leading mobile device appears to be a fad.

[infinitely]

Why? Apple clearly has the superior product, and the closest competitor to Apple (the Pre) is vaporware right now. That means there's a chance it will never be released, and if it is it could suck as much as any of the other iPhone copies out there.

[probell]

I contend that the underlying technologies in the iPod and iPhone are, for the most part, not unique and the success of iPod and iPhone is due largely to an expensive marketing campaign on television, billboard, magazine, etc. The marketing is paid for by the higher prices charged for Apple products than similarly capable competing devices. After the iPod/iPhone fad wears off the competing products that spend less on marketing, sell at lower cost, and are built on open standards will feed the underlying trend for what consumers are buying today from Apple.

[PFFXV]

Oh the horrors! ATT is limiting our TV access. Self-immolation is the only appropriate for of protest for such an injustice. It's the domino effect: Slingblade falls, then Twitter and before you know it we'll be licking stamps and sending snail mail.

[cobaltblue1975]

I'm really surprised no one has started a class action suit against AT&T for their claim of unlimited 3G internet access. Its like going to an all you can eat buffet and then being told you are limited to one plate of food. Unlimited means unlimited, and its interesting that AT&T thinks they are big enough to re-write the definition of it. I was interested in the 3G connect USB device until I found out they had a 5 gig limit. That's flat out false advertisement. When I mentioned that to the rep he just shrugged as if to say "So what?". I'll stick to T-Mobile. They may not have warp speed net access but at least they deliver what they promise without an almost Gestapo like control over what I do with what I pay for. AT&T is only acting like this because they have an exclusive contract with Apple here in the states. When that lapses I sincerely hope Apple comes to its senses and decides to open the platform to other carriers. Once you see some competition in the market then miraculously AT&T will be as sweet as pie. I only hope people's memory is long enough to recall how they are behaving today when it comes time to renew those contracts. If we stop rewarding these people for false advertisement and poor customer service then they will dry up and die or get their act together.

[OS11]

People need to realize... regardless of carrier... the cell network is fairly limited... so apps that have been rejected like a "bit torrent" app, are clearly rational from many perspectives.

Yes, the faster we kill off the cell network and go fully to WiFi / WiMax the better... but everyone needs to sit back and "LAUGH", when someone complains Apple or AT&T has rejected a bandwidth hungry app for reasons beyond anyone's control.

It's BANDWIDTH People!

Please learn what that means...

[madmongol]

Bandwidth is a valid argument. However it is not clear that Sling is any more/less than *ANY* of the other applications currently approved. If it is a bandwidth issue, then all streaming apps should be placed as WI-FI only and leave all others to larger companies via some sort of high dollar connectivity plan. However when you have a situation where there are no rules nor guidelines about how to get your streaming app approved it is tremendously frustrating.

[jeffhesser]

well if you read the article you may have noticed that they capped the bitrate for the 3g version to ensure their app would eat up no more bandwidth than already approved apps. Just because ATT reps that don't understand how VERY small the sling audience really is relative to the iphone user pool doesn't mean that the sling users should be thrown under the bus. The truth of the matter is ATT is trying to protect their 'mobile tv' options that they bundle with a number of their phones. They have spent a lot of money on rights and services to support that business model and i'm sure they'll fight to protect it.

[OS11]

sure, but Sling capping out bandwidth each day is a serious problem for everyone else. I doubt it's related to AT&T's mobile tv option... nobody uses it anyway... but at the end of each day... it all ends up being a BANDWIDTH issue.

i hate to bring up the word "metered", but until the mostly free WiMax services are fully in place, bandwidth hungry apps like sling, bit torrent, elgato, on and on don't make sense on a cell network.

a unified 4 cent per megabyte charged by ALL cell carriers might be a solution... but until then, there will be ongoing "*** for tat"... with no real winners.

[DeusExMachina]

@OS11
The word it "***" not "***"

[kmarei]

well now we know we have a limited unlimited plan :)

also AT&T does not have the best global coverage
once you step outside the US you are not using the AT&T network
you are roaming on foreign networks
so in that case whether you are AT&T or T-mobile in the US
you are still using the same foreign network once you step outside

[cobaltblue1975]

Well perhaps for AT&T, but T-Mobile's presence is bigger outside of the United States. I have friends who visit from the UK all the time and they don't get charged roaming at all.

[OS11]

oh MY GOD that is funny!

AT&T IS the network everyone in the WORLD uses... it's the ENTIRE backbone of phone, cell calls... yes, their rates might not be the best... but for coverage they are far beyond any carrier in the world... other carriers still go through AT&T to route their calls... so your comment is naive at best...

once you walk outside the US, you are certainly on a AT&T network... it just might not appear so...

AT&T invented something called the "telephone"... perhaps you've heard of it?

[infinitely]

At 30 dollars it's a ******* joke. People paid for their sling hardware, why the hell should they have to pay THIRTY dollars for this app? I bet it's one of the most expensive real apps on the damn store.

[jeffhesser]

sling charges $30 (maybe $20 now) for all of their mobile apps and normally i say it's a good deal but with this gimped version they should really consider offering it at a discount.

[idfubar]

What's a reasonable price then?