According to a report in CNET, Apple has restored third-party podcast apps to the desktop version of iTunes. Users who search for a podcast listening app will now retrieve a list of all available apps, not just Apple's official Podcasts app.

This short-lived controversy started last week when customers discovered that Apple was only listing its Podcasts app in search results. This odd behavior affected both the Mac and PC version of iTunes, not the mobile version App Store which listed all available apps. This omission caused a controversy among podcast listeners who were crying foul.

It's not clear why these third-party apps were omitted from search results for a short time, but it's likely a glitch and not a concerted effort by Apple to promote its own podcast app over the competition. Apple has not commented on the matter and probably won't now that the problem has been fixed.

[Via The Verge]