Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
SlingPlayer for iPhone: A ray of hope?
Could it actually be coming? A search at the iTunes App store for Sling Media brings up the name of the company, but no application attached to the name. That's a pretty healthy sign that the SlingMobile app for the iPhone and iPod touch is 'in the system', although I wouldn't call it proof positive the app has been or is about to be accepted.It's been more than a month since the application was submitted to Apple for evaluation, and it has been a month of ups and downs. AT&T seemed to re-write its terms of service to eliminate Sling products on the network, but then AT&T relented. Then there was a rumor that the Sling app had been rejected, but that turned out to be an apparent hoax.
The last we heard, the folks at Sling Media say everything is just peachy, and be patient. The fresh listing of the company at the App Store is a good, but not definitive sign. Hopefully, it is not another chimera, and we'll all be streaming our media to our iPhones and iPod touches soon.
Thanks to Bryan Hill for the tip and the eagle eyes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dan said 12:43PM on 5-08-2009
sRemote makes mention of Sling Media in its description of the Slingbox remote app. That MAY be why it is there.
Dan
whatsoniphone.com
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Albenheimer said 12:48PM on 5-08-2009
no, Sling is listed as a 'Developer'.
drunknbass said 12:52PM on 5-08-2009
im 99% sure its been like that since it was submitted a long time ago. Same reasoning an app can show in the store before its actually available.
Tony Bowman said 12:53PM on 5-08-2009
I would be that the Sling app will be one of the marquee apps and developers for the keynote at WWDC.
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Brian said 1:06PM on 5-08-2009
i wonder what happens to all the people that upgraded their boxes because sling told them they had to, then the app gets denied
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ToddFSU said 1:23PM on 5-08-2009
As much as I now hate Slingmedia... I'd feel sorry for upgraders.
Steve said 3:12PM on 5-08-2009
It won't be denied - worst case is it will go in as wifi only
airmanchairman said 1:29PM on 5-08-2009
My take?
Be excited, be very excited...
I'm with you @Tony Bowman:
Sling Mobile for iPhone is strictly a firmware 3.0 app, and is likely part of the "one more thing" wow factor that will accompany the changes coming in June.
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Chris Whalen said 1:52PM on 5-08-2009
"one more thing" - you potentially have to buy new $ling hardware to run it...
I'm not sure that I'll be wow'ed too much to see a technology that already exists. Orb currently does it.
airmanchairman said 10:54AM on 5-09-2009
Dead right you are, Chris, Orb does it.
I stream my Sky Satellite box and terrestrial TV channels to my workplace and my iPhone 3G via Orb's service.
But I must say I need extra technology like a TV capture card and a Set-top box channel changer because of unresolved issues with the OrbChannelScan facility. However it works.
It must be said though, that Sling is a complete one-stop solution to place-shifting and remote scheduling of programs and movies to record etc
airmanchairman said 11:00AM on 5-09-2009
Oh and I neglected to say that the OrbChannelScan issues arise from the fact that I live in the UK. Orb is working on the issues.
yoyoslap said 2:05PM on 5-08-2009
Maybe it wasnt 3.0 ready and they are preparing it for new software due in July
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Rafael said 3:34PM on 5-08-2009
when will be released the 3.0 upgrade ???
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john said 5:16PM on 5-08-2009
not gonna happen unless its wifi only. I just heard on the radio a public relations executive from att say that they are banning any application on there network that "slings." He said no transfeering signals from tv to your mobile phone device. This was on the clark howard show
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swindler said 9:02PM on 5-08-2009
AT&T CHANGED their terms of service again, about a week ago. It was reported in a couple of news blurbs, but I think everyone overlooked it because they thought it was a rehash of the old story from last month. I myself reported this to TUAW, and they ignored it.
But AT&T changed it for real this time. Here's a blurb I cut from their online TOS just a minute ago.
"...redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers, web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices and/or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition devices is prohibited"
Jonathon said 6:03PM on 5-08-2009
John is right.
http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/2009/05/08/15716/
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Drew said 7:35PM on 5-08-2009
So is AT&T going to ban slingplayer for all of the non iPhone models that currently use it? I foresee many a pitchfork if all slingplayer mobile apps are banned, which they should be if it is banned from the iPhone. I see this as selective profiling, in today pollicately correct world how can iPhone users be targeted? Kinda makes one wonder
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Tony said 10:00PM on 5-08-2009
The recent change to the ATT TOS applies to ALL users and is not specific to iPhone. It will be interesting to see the fallout, considering that SlingPlayer is already available for many other ATT phones and Orb (comparable to SlingPlayer) has been available in the App Store since last fall.
I'm really not surprised that we're still waiting for the SlingPlayer app to be approved. It took over 2 months for Orb to get approved, and the initial version only supported Wifi. I hope that they don't neuter the SlingPlayer app to support Wifi only, but I'd guess that the initial version will not support 3G. That's not really a problem, as voipoverip can be used to fake it out and provide 3G support (as long as you are willing to jailbreak).
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ak said 7:55AM on 5-09-2009
it has already been neutered. it won't work with the sling boxes that the majority of us have. may this app rot in limbo.
Drew said 11:47PM on 5-08-2009
Sorry for the bad spelling in my above post. Anyway, I'll take any version of slingplayer mobile for iPhone. Let's just get it out of the gate. Wifi only would be fine for a first version. I know that I could have been using it quite a lot in the last month wifi only. A crappy stripped down version would be better than none at all. At least that's my feelings on the matter. I could have been catching up on my shows and enjoying live news and sports via my place of works wifi. I know 3g would be a great addition but as the saying goes "you shouldn't cut off your nose to spite your face". JUST RELEASE THE APP ALREADY. please
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