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Podcaster dev can't provision any more licenses

Developer Alex Sokirynsky wrote a blog post this morning saying Apple rescinded his authority to provision new ad-hoc licenses for his software, Podcaster.

The blog post has since been removed, possibly because it violated his developer NDA.

Sokirynsky believes that the licenses already provisioned will continue to work, and expressed disappointment -- but not surprise -- that Apple shut him down.

He also said he would continue updating Podcaster, even though it's unclear if he has a means to distribute it. Podcaster users can contact Sokirynsky if they have questions about their device's ad-hoc status.

Sokirynsky did not say how many devices he provisioned, though we do know it's at least 1,300.



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Developer Alex Sokirynsky wrote a blog post this morning saying Apple rescinded his authority to provision new ad-hoc licenses for his...
 

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Nic

@Jeremy

Dude, seriously. You can't say that Apple hosts every single podcast (or any for that matter - is there an official Apple podcast?) and not include a sarcasm alert. People may think you have no idea what you're talking about.

September 24 2008 at 8:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
saycheese

Who gives Apple the power to decide what is or isn't acceptable to the user? Stop portraying everything Apple does to be in the best interests of the customer.

I hate the iTunes app, and want to use an alternative that has better functionality. I don't want Apple making the decision for me that I shouldn't have wanted an alternative. I think Apple has a plan to enable this kind of feature as a compelling reason to fork out a couple of Benjamins and a new contract with ATT for iPhone 3.0, and Podcaster app would have stolen their thunder. Way to care for the end user, Apple.

I am not an iSuckup. I have a brain, and I will decide what is acceptable user experience for me. Thank you very much.

September 24 2008 at 12:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Greg

You said: "Does no one see how juvenile it is to respond to a company that basically *created* podcasting, by knifing them in the back when they do the very first thing you don't like?"

I'll call BS. In fact, you don't know what you're talking about. To suggest that Apple basically created podcasting is flat wrong, and they most certainly don't own it. I also don't see how anything anyone is saying or doing is knifing Apple in the back. Your response is the juvenile one here. Your facts are wrong, your hyperbole is typical, and once again the point gets missed.

Apple made a decision. Fine. Some people don't like that decision, understandably. The problem here is that Apple approves or disapproves of apps twice in many cases, pulling apps that have already been distributed, or saying no to apps during the app store review phase that have already been developed, without providing a process for acceptance before all the hard work is done.

Please stop saying Apple created podcasting. That's like saying Amazon basically invented books. Bad argument.

September 24 2008 at 12:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bill

This functionality is already allowed on the App Store - several RSS readers can download and play back enclosures from an RSS feed - AKA, a podcast. Why, then, are they allowed to be on the App Store, but Podcaster isn't?

Apple is completely inconsistent in their ludicrous policies, and it's going to be the doom of the App Store.

September 24 2008 at 12:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alan

The only problem with completely opening up your platform is that any
developer with a text editor and half a brain can make an app. Which
is great for developers, but generally bad for the public at large
who consumes their product. It could be great, but it also could
crash my phone every time and remember, this is still a phone that
needs to make calls. Completely open sounds like WiMo to me, and we
all know how great that works.

Podcaster is something that maybe they could let through on the Touch
only to see if people actually like it, then move it to iPhone if its
bandwidth requirements aren't too great. I'm still of the belief I
posted above, that the technical risks of Podcaster make the other
arguments seem silly.

I haven't tried it, but if I got the XML feeds of individual podcasts
I could "stream" them just like DLing a media mail attachment. That's
not ideal, though, because you can't quit mail to do something else
when listening to your attachment. One of the big deals about the
iPhone is the ability to *kinda* multitask -- you can listen to your
podcast and write an email, text, or look stuff up online. When
someone calls you, your music fades out, you take the call, and then
the music fades back in again. Very clean. I suspect this
functionality is not built-in to Podcaster.

Podcaster is just not smooth when it comes to integration with
everything else. More functional? I guess by definition, sure, but
I'll take interoperability over esoteric function any day.

September 24 2008 at 11:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KevinT

Here's an app I'd like to see that I haven't yet and doesn't intrude on anything Apple is already offering...a utility that lets you assign a song or even podcast to the alarm clock function. Currently this is limited to only the standard ringtones. If it can be done with the phone surely this could work too. I'd buy that for a dollar.

September 24 2008 at 7:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MN

What really amazes me is that there are people who even for a moment find it acceptable that Apple can decide what runs or does not run in the iphone. That is such a fascist, centralized, big brother move that i don't even see where the discussion is. It just can't be tolerated. As much as like all apple products and the iphone included, freedom is much more important than a good UI. period.
Would we want to live in a world where only authorized apps would run on windows and osx ? Would we want to run in world where only authorized web sites could be uploaded to the net ? If people don't open their eyes, that's where we are heading with these closed platforms.

September 24 2008 at 6:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to MN's comment
Daniel

Did you not know this when you bought the phone? Can you install anything you want on a Motorola Razr? Why aren't you having a hissy fit about that?

The iPhone is not a PC, it is a phone. Even though it can do a lot of things a PC can do, it is still a phone. When you bought the phone, you knew that Apple would control the App Store and that was the only approved method of getting applications on the iPhone. If you don't like that, then why did you buy the phone? Since you bought the phone, you must have accepted this fact so why are you now complaining?

I'm not saying that I agree with Apple letting some apps in while disallowing other apps that I might find useful, but I also knew what I was getting into when I bought the phone.

September 24 2008 at 10:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alan

The only problem with completely opening up your platform is that any developer with a text editor and half a brain can make an app. Which is great for developers, but generally bad for the public at large who consumes their product. It could be great, but it also could crash my phone every time and remember, this is still a phone that needs to make calls. Completely open sounds like WiMo to me, and we all know how great that works.

Podcaster is something that maybe they could let through on the Touch only to see if people actually like it, then move it to iPhone if its bandwidth requirements aren't too great. I'm still of the belief I posted above, that the technical risks of Podcaster make the other arguments seem silly.

I haven't tried it, but if I got the XML feeds of individual podcasts I could "stream" them just like DLing a media mail attachment. That's not ideal, though, because you can't quit mail to do something else when listening to your attachment. One of the big deals about the iPhone is the ability to *kinda* multitask -- you can listen to your podcast and write an email, text, or look stuff up online. When someone calls you, your music fades out, you take the call, and then the music fades back in again. Very clean. I suspect this functionality is not built-in to Podcaster.

Podcaster is just not smooth when it comes to integration with everything else. More functional? I guess by definition, sure, but I'll take interoperability over esoteric function any day.

September 24 2008 at 11:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom

According to his twitter looks like he's going the Jailbreak/Cydia route.. Can't blame him

September 24 2008 at 6:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Monks

The developer already has a web app.

www.podcaster.fm

But a web app cannot download content for use when no wireless is available.

That's what's awesome about the app. Best $10 I spent.

September 24 2008 at 6:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SimonW

Although I don't necessarily agree with Apple's behaviour, the fact that he is surprised by Apple objecting to his ad-hoc distribution method does indicate a degree of naivety.

September 24 2008 at 5:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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