Apple Approves Illicit Tethering App for iPhone

From DailyTech: Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) App Store regulators are at times a baffling lot. Some apps get the boot for seemingly no good reason. And other apps get approved, only to get later yanked.

The most recent App Store controversy comes in form of iTether, an iPad/iPhone app from the folks at Nova Scotia, Ltd. owners of Tether.com. As the name implies, the app allows illicit tethering -- something that is strictly forbidden on all of the major U.S. carriers, who all charge fees for tethering privileges.

ITether is billed as a "Back Up Internet" service allowing you "to have full Internet access on your laptop anywhere using your smartphone's data plan. No more Wi-Fi hotspots, extra data plans or costly Air Cards!"

It's somewhat strange that Apple would approve the app at the risk of damaging its relations with carriers like Verizon Wireless -- a joint venture between Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc. (LON:VOD) -- and AT&T, Inc. (T), who now find themselves missing out on the $20 USD per month extra [more] they charge customers in fees for the privilege of connecting their 3G modem connection to their computer.

Tether, which also makes unauthorized tethering apps for BlackBerry and Android devices -- which have been received favorable reviews in The New York Times and Entrepreneur Magazine among others -- insist that Apple is okay with the app. On their Twitter feed, the team recently posted, "We were very clear with Apple what our app did. They asked us a bunch of questions and then approved us."

View: Article @ Source Site