Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
SlingPlayer for iPhone getting closer to release?
SlingMedia thinks so. In a brief note on the Sling website, the company notes: "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."Hopefully the company knows something the pundits and rumor mongers don't. It's been a month of excitement followed by depression as lightly-sourced rumors spread that Apple would turn down the highly anticipated app at the request of AT&T, who worried about all the bandwidth the app would use. There was even a change in the AT&T Terms of Service, that the company later disowned and apologized for.
Of course other phones sold by AT&T and other carriers do offer the SlingPlayer Mobile app, but no other single phone has the footprint that the iPhone has.
There have also been rumors that the app might support WiFi only, which would be a tremendous downer for people who expected to be able to Sling away from just about anywhere. Hopefully, this whole soap opera is drawing to a close, but Sling fans shouldn't throw away their torches and pitchforks just yet.
Thanks to Matt for the tip.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rusty Boyer said 12:57AM on 4-27-2009
Of course, this still doesn't fix the bigger problem which is the large segment of Slingbox users will be arbitrarily prevented from using the app in the first place.
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Chris said 1:07AM on 4-27-2009
God damn... when are you slingbox classic owners going to stop crying and just buy a newer system. Get over it already, nothing is going to change. You know you are going to buy one anyway so stop bothering the rest of us with your unnecessary comments and crying.
MJZimmer88 said 1:23AM on 4-27-2009
hey Chris
go f*ck yourself
That is all :P
Rusty Boyer said 1:27AM on 4-27-2009
Why should I buy a new one? Because they tell me too? The box I have works just fine, and doesn't need to be replaced.
I was considering buying a newer Slingbox later this summer, but after seeing how they do business, I have reconsidered and begun looking for alternatives.
I reserve the right to complain about a company that has done me a disservice, and to tell others about how I have been treated as their customer. If you don't feel my complaints are valid, then don't tell me to shut up: tell me why I'm wrong.
You are nothing more than a cash machine to them. Just wait, and you will see. If the same people continue to run this company, eventually, they'll screw you too.
ak said 7:41AM on 4-27-2009
@Chris, sling media is not going to give you a job for defending them. They are too busy running their business into the ground.
Maybe your parents are rich enough to buy you things when a company prematurely obsolesces them, but most of us here work for a living and don't appreciate a company puling things like sling has done in this case.
I for one am not going to buy a new sling product. Ever.
The delay in approval is obvious. iPhone 3.0 is going to have a ton of new software hooks and some of them are going to allow apps that will be sling killers. Sling for iPhone is stillborn. Screwing over early adopters is not the way to win in this industry.
Calexifan said 2:21AM on 4-27-2009
Thanks for mentioning lynda.com, Maria. I visited that site a couple of years ago, and was trying to remember the name yesterday. I remembered it was a woman's name, but that was it. Now I know again!
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Calexifan said 2:23AM on 4-27-2009
Sorry, folks, for that completely unrelated comment! Apparently 1Password stored not only my username and password, but a very old post, and it put all three into the form when I meant just to activate the password.
Anyway, what I meant to post was this:
$ling Media will never get another dime from me. Not after I helped beta test their app and told all of my friends how great I thought their product was, only to have $ling take a big stinky dump all over me and everyone else who thought our Classics would continue to be supported after the app left beta.
Good riddance, $ling Media. I'll be taking my business elsewhere.
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Superstition said 4:39AM on 4-27-2009
Any bit of news to satisfy the wait is great. I cannot wait for this app... Slingbox and Flash and my iPhone will be complete!
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Jon said 4:39AM on 4-27-2009
If I have to replace my three-year-old SlingBox AV just to watch television on my iPhone then so be it. It just won't be with another Sling product- I won't reward idiocy with more money.
Hey, Hava: We know you guys are also working on an iPhone app, so please get a Mac client into the oven ASAP!
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TydalForce said 7:35AM on 4-27-2009
Sling is promoting this pretty heavily. It feels like they're trying to drum up a lot of publicity and awareness, not just for sales but... if it gets rejected, they'll have a large following of people upset with *Apple* over their approval process. Interesting way of swaying the results...
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ToddFSU said 9:41AM on 4-27-2009
Since a large chunk of their customer base won't be allowed to use their product, the public outcry won't be as big as you think.
ToddFSU said 9:42AM on 4-27-2009
Anyone want to buy a Slingbox AV?... only 1 year old.
Done with Sling products and already canceled my DishNetwork.
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Chris Whalen said 9:52AM on 4-27-2009
I agree with the comments here. I bought an A/V two years ago. After contacting $ling and asking why they were still selling "outdated" hardware, they informed me that they weren't. I pointed out that you can still buy most of the models through amazon, best buy and many of the other electronics stores. They denied any involvement with those stores.
hummm....
If for nothing else, Hava and Orb are getting a ton of free publicity from this CF that $ling started.
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Jeff Brown said 10:08AM on 4-27-2009
AT&T really has no leg to stand on if they force WiFi only on the sling player. They allow sling on Blackberries, and the BB footprint is of a similar magnitude. So AT&T would basically just be treating its iPhone users a 2nd class citizens (something it already does with tethering).
Apple & AT&T better watch it. With cheap Netbooks that are 3G equipped, the iPhone is just a little less appealing. And if they start sticking it to their customers, they're gonna shoot themselves in the foot. I never really wanted to leave Verizon (their practices annoy me, but their service really is the best), and without an uncrippled iPhone, there is no way I would be signed up for AT&T.
I also feel bad for the owners of old slingboxes. Mine is new enough that it will work, but it really should be illegal for companies to deny service to hardware when there is no functional justification for it. If the hardware is no longer capable of the task that is one thing, but if it is a matter of installing a software switch that just denies service, that is unethical.
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rg said 10:20AM on 4-27-2009
"There have also been rumors that the app might support WiFi only, which would be a tremendous downer for people who expected to be able to Sling away from just about anywhere."
Um...Isn't this the sort of question Sling needs to be answering?! They are the ones that gave the app it's functionality, not Apple or ATT. Why are these specifics not listed on their site, or why aren't these questions being asked of them. Seems Apple/ATT aren't the only ones withholding info.
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deadrevenant said 10:23AM on 4-27-2009
Oh my God, just STFU about your Slingbox AV already. We privilaged few who actually own *GASP* current hardware, are annoyed and tired of hearing your whining. We get it: they screwed you. Its the same thing Apple has been doing to it's entire customer base since the first mac came out. Deal with it and either buy a new one, or just go away. We don't care, we will never care and you are just white noise drowning out the real comments on anything Slingapp related.
Thanks.
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ToddFSU said 12:48PM on 4-27-2009
When you release a new product that has no new features and force people to upgrade... thats lame.
New Macs have new features... if you think you're getting HD from your *new* slingbox... then you are an idiot.
Ryan said 10:51AM on 4-27-2009
I'm with deadrevenant on this one. I've got an AV myself though.
I bought it a year ago and it does exactly what I purchased it for. I can watch my cable box remotely on my computer. I'm not sure about yours, but there are no promises of iPhone compatibility on my box. You are upset that a company won't upgrade your product with new features for free?
You get what you pay for, sometimes you get added features as time goes on (iPhone 2.0, 3.0), but that's just a bonus when it happens.
Go bitch about your DVD players not being able to play Blu-Ray, or something.
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Evilhomer said 11:52AM on 4-27-2009
I don't think Sling is screwing anyone telling them that you will need to upgrade your hardware if you plan on using it with the iPhone. I don't think they ever guaranteed compatibility with an iPhone application that didn't exist when you bought your Slingbox. Your current model does EXACTLY what it did when you bought it. Crying about lack of compatibility with technology that didn't exist when you bought it is futile. And silly.
Having to upgrade hardware for new technology is nothing new. When I wanted HD programming on my Slingbox, had to update to a Singbox HD. When I wanted HD from my satellite, had to upgrade the Dish and the converter box. Hell, when I wanted HDTV, I had to upgrade the TV. When I wanted full 1080p vs 1080i on my HDTV, I had to buy ANOTHER HDTV.
If you are an early adopter, you are going to be subject to these kind of issues. If you can't afford to keep up, I'd suggest not being an early adopter. I'm not trying to be a jerk.
So go ahead an boycott Sling and decide you'll never use it again. It's a bit of an overreaction if you ask me, and you are only denying yourself.
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rodalpho said 12:35PM on 4-27-2009
Again, what you're missing is that beta versions of the iphone sling app worked on all slingboxes, and sling/dish purposely disabled that functionality to force their users to upgrade. That's why we're outraged. If it was a technical limitation, we would shrug and move on.
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