We reported last month that AT&T were asking Apple to ban an upcoming application. The Slingplayer iPhone app would let users access satellite or digital TV on their iPhone. Apparently the pressure from AT&T worked to a limited extent, as the app has been released – but it only works across WiFi, and not 3G.
Slingplayer works through a piece of hardware called a Slingbox. This device, which costs less than 200 dollars, sits on your TV and allows you to view it through any connected wireless device. AT&T delcared that this would be too much of a data hog, and tried to get the app banned altogether.
The app has now been released (and for the original price tag of 30 dollars), but it can only access content through a WiFi connection. AT&T won’t touch a single byte of data to or from that service.
What we think?
Is it me, or is there an extremely depressing pattern at work here? Something new and brilliant comes along – something that people will have a definite interest in. I would love to be able to watch all of my digital channels on a smartphone. But the new service could be interpreted as a threat to an operator. And so it is sat on. The problem with something like Slingplayer is that just doesn’t have the mass appeal that Skype does. Mobile operators are being forced to adapt to the presence of VoIP – where they might just be able to ignore (or destroy) services like Slingplayer.
