Heard the story of podcaster? Seems a guy had a great idea for an iPhone app – an app that allows the downloading of podcasts independently of iTunes – makes sense huh – allows the users to slice and dice it however they wish?

Unfortunately that sort of slicing and dicing is anathema to Apple who decided in their wisdom to reject the app from the App store – it seems slicing and dicing is fine so long as it doesn’t hurt Apple in any way.

So Alex Sokirynsky, the developer of podcaster, found a backdoor way to distribute his app – using a little known function that was designed for enterprise application deployment – and downloading from a store he set up.

If this was Microsoft – you’d hear the hounds baying all the way from Redmond – but somehow Cupertino tends not to suffer from those sort of repercussions.

Anyway – I reckon Alex should be congratulated – both on the app itself, and on his dogged determination to let the world see it. I’m not an iPhone user (for reasons alluded to above) but if you are – go and check out his site.

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Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

7 Comments
  • Wait until Steve Jobs flick the Kill Switch (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/08/11/dlapplephone111.xml).

    Yes, people tend to “forgive” Apple. Too much. One day…

  • So you don’t use an iPhone because apple are evil? Really? How do you know your current device provider isn’t evil?

    Apple can ‘get away with this’ because, in general, they deliver what they promise. There are some signs of wobbles here (MobileMe for one) however when you compare the differences in MS and Apple for ,as an example, music then it’s pretty obvious why Apple is cut quite a lot of slack. It’s because they don’t leave their customers in the lurch. Just look at MS and their ‘Plays for Sure’ which doesnt anymore

  • @Miki – I don’t use an iPhone for two reasons

    1) It’s fiscally more responsible to use what I do currently
    2) I’m a keyboard sort of a guy

    It does surprise me that fanboys get so dogmatic and virulent in their support of Apple. Don’t get me wrong – I love Apple’s designs what gets me is the “support at all costs” mentality that Apple seems to garner – justified or otherwise

  • Ben I totally agree with you. It is as if you are not allowed to mention that the emperor has no clothes. I love Mac products but should you not be happy with it you are to keep it to your self. For example I have a iPod mini which is fundamentally useless at this point – the battery is gone so it has to stay plugged in to work. It became useless after about a year because in 30 minutes it is dead. The solution send it off and spend 100 bucks to get it fixed. Now wait a minute that is just crap – there are no guarantees that I won’t just have to do that next year. The solution buy a new one and throw the old one out. Hmmmm kinda like the 1 year lifespan for the iPhone because it is soooo last year. Hmmmm I still have my blackberry 8700 3 years later and it still works for days on a single change – hmmmmm.

    Good post Ben – the only way things can get better is if people have a voice and can speak it. I sometimes think that perhaps the Mac Fanboys are actually Microsoft Fanboys in disguise as a way to turn you off Mac products. They get so hostile that they paint this picture that to be a Mac user you need to chug-a-lug the Kool-aid at all costs.

    Cheers – Eric

  • This is the second podcast application that was rejected by Apple. Another was rejected a week earlier..

    http://podcastanswerman.com/itunes-app-store-denies-iphone-without-consistency/

    Note: We have stopped our companies development of a podcast application due to Apples Actions. I am no way associated with either app that was rejected.

  • So how does this app directly or indirectly “hurt” Apple? Podcasts are by and large not sold, so what’s the problem? I guess it won’t be long before a podcast app is approved by Apple and when it is, I expect you all to be jumping up and down yelling how you were all just having a grizzle because the opportunity arose.

    Come on you sorry bunch of gloaters: if you don’t like the kit, don’t buy it. Apple technology doesn’t occupy a market-dominating position and you don’t need an iPhone to talk to or otherwise communicate with people who do use one.

    The Apple iPhone/iPod touch app store assesses submitted apps before they are available for purchase. If Apple didn’t do this, it would be a wild-west for virus-writers, scammers, spammers and other miscreants, and you lot would be the first to jump in and say Apple are irresponsible for exposing their customers to the dark side of humanity. Assessing apps on whatever basis is time-consuming and complex. From a security standpoint, there are many aspects to be considered and many of them not immediately obvious.

    Lastly, yes, I think Apple has solved a bunch of problems (UI, OS architecture although this is largely inherited, etc.) pretty well. The platform is easily used by people who just want to get on and achieve a goal as opposed to enter a world of hassle, ridden with security risks and UI that is wired up backwards (no prizes for successful guesses). To boot (joke for the initiated), the hardware looks pretty sharp although I would be the first to agree that it is the beholder that decides what is beautiful.

    That said, I’m too concerned with issues of security and usability to be an Apple fanboy, or user of Apple technology at any cost.

    Seriously, my suggestion is to get over it and get onto something interesting.

    Cheers.

  • Apple Inc. today filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission declaring that it was openly adopting Evil(tm) as a corporate policy.

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