SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone to be Approved Soon?

A search on iTunes App Store for keyword ‘Sling Media’ brings up the name of the company but with no further details.

Now, is it just an indication that SlingPlayer Mobile might soon make its way on the iPhone or does it simply mean that the iPhone App is still being reviewed (as history will tell you).

A lot has been speculated about the approval of the SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone. We have been tracking this story ever since Sling Media had given a brief demo of their pre-alpha proof-of-concept version of their iPhone app back in June 2008 on a jailbroken iPhone.

On March 26th, we finally got the news that Sling Media had submitted their iPhone app - SlingPlayer Mobile to the App Store for approval.

But then came the rumor that AT&T might have put pressure on Apple to reject Sling Media's iPhone app as they had concerns on bandwidth consumption. But there was no confirmation from either Sling Media or Apple confirming the news.

Then on March 30th, AT&T's concern was further accentuated when they updated their terms of service (TOS) to say:

Downloading movies using P2P file-sharing services, customer-initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, Web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices and/or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition devices is prohibited.

The timing of this update was impeccable since it appeared to have been put in place to block SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone which was submitted to the App Store only a few days back.

However, due to public outcry AT&T retracted these changes and explained that the changes were made "in error."

In the meanwhile, Sling Media kept reiterating that “SlingPlayer app has been submitted to the App Store, and is pending approval.” The app was submitted 6 weeks ago and Sling Media attributed the delay to the fact that SlingPlayer Mobile is a highly complex app especially in comparison to many of the run-of-the-mill iPhone apps. They have recently added the following comment:

We are in close contact with our partners at Apple and are optimistic that it will be approved soon. We hope the wait won’t be much longer.

The latest chapter to get added in this seemingly endless saga is that of AT&T updating its terms of service (TOS) and have re-introduced the anti-video-streaming terms:

While most common uses for Intranet browsing, e-mail, and Intranet access are permitted by your data plan, there are certain uses that cause extreme network capacity issues and interference with the network and are therefore prohibited. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation...downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers, Web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices....

However, this time there is a difference from their earlier objection. The current AT&T objection targets personal computers, and the earlier objection was directed at the usage of ‘mobile device’. 

Is this and "Sling Media" showing up in iTunes indications that we could see the SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone soon?

Let's hope so as I have just bought Slingbox Pro and can't wait to try out the iPhone app.

As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thanks Geogo3r for the tip!

[via TUAW]