Well, there’s a case to be made that Apple is partly at fault because they caved to AT&T. Remember that Apple seems to have gotten AT&T to rearchitect voice mail so that Visual Voicemail would work and got AT&T to allow easily updating the iPhone with what I assume is minimal carrier testing (although I suppose it’s possible that Apple makes any updates available to AT&T privately well before they go live).

Of course, Apple wouldn’t be the only OEM to cave to carriers. Verizon got OEMs to remove or cripple Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi functions on various handsets, so Apple isn’t alone.

I do have one question, though. If an app is removed from the store, does that affect all carriers, or can Apple remove it only for customers on AT&T? If removal isn’t carrier-specific, that’s giving AT&T way too much power.

Steve

I remain truly amazed at the silly vitriol that goes back and forth between pro-Apple, anti-Apple, pro-Microsoft and anti-Microsoft fan-boys/zealots. We all just need to collectively get a life.

Second – BGRs source is unverified (BGR is the only one to report the original rumor).

Third – as of my posting this, the last word from Sling was that they hadn’t heard anything from Apple yet, but they weren’t anticipating rejection.

You really should have also posted all the known facts rather than getting people all riled up over speculation.

I sincerely hope Apple doesn’t decline this application, I think it would be a mistake for them to do so.

Here’s what the Sling Community (and Sling) has to say regarding this rumor:

http://www.slingcommunity.com/blog/entry/35045/SlingPlayer-Mobile-for-iPhone-Still-Awaiting-Approval-Despite-Rumors/