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iTether App Pulled From App Store

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Apr 12, 2001
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Just hours after becoming the top-grossing app on the App Store, tethering app iTether has been removed by Apple. The $14.99 app, which went live on the App Store last night, allowed users to share their iPhone's internet connection with their Mac or PC computer over USB. With iTether, users could bypass a $20/month service offered by cellular providers for tethering services.

In 2008, Apple briefly approved another tethering app called Netshare but, as with iTether, quickly pulled it from the App Store. The approval of iTether may have been an oversight by Apple, but there has been no official word yet on the reason for the removal. As in the case of Netshare, it should continue to work for those who bought it before it was pulled.

Article Link: iTether App Pulled From App Store
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/29/itether-app-pulled-from-app-store/
I don't think it was a mistake. Apple seemed to understand exactly what it did before they put it in the store.

My guess is that they were pushing the limits with the carriers to see if they complained. Of course, they did, but perhaps Apple wanted to make them have to complain, just to let them know that Apple could totally allow this if they wanted to.

Perhaps some future pricing negotiations are going on right now and Apple wanted to let them know who really has the power right now.

I dunno. Far fetched? Maybe. Or maybe not.
 
What a way I get rich quick! Wonder how much try pulled in...

I wish I could develop an app that goes live for half a day and reaches the #1 position!
 
Tether claims "We were very clear with Apple what our app did. They asked us a bunch of questions and then approved us." So it may not be getting pulled.:confused:
 
wow! i just emailed this to my friend because he has been complaining about not having this ability with his non-jailbroken phone w/o the $20/mo fee so i sent him the macrumors post only to find that it was pulled from the store at practically the same time. oh well :p
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

In other words, someone high up in a carrier company just phoned Tim to rant..
 
I've still got HandyLight, which was only 0.59p.

Works over WiFi, and aside from taking a minute or two to set up each time, I'm actually quite happy with it. Beats paying $15 for this app, even if it is just a one off payment. HandyLight lets me tether to an iPad, or any WiFi device.
 
Glad I snagged it when it went live last night! Now to wait and see if At&T can track my use... I am unlimited, and am not switching to their freaking capped data plan, and paying MORE to tether... they are greedy to say the least!
 
I guess the carriers weren't happy with Apple.
 

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I'm guessing that what often happens is that a 'low level' approver at Apple approves an App based on a set criteria without always understanding the ramifications of what an App will do, but when someone higher up the pecking order becomes aware then that's when approval decisions appear to get reversed.

I really prevaricated about whether to get this - glad I did in the end!
 
I don't think it's fair that the author of this app basically got rich because Apple made a special exception just for him.

If tethering apps were allowed, there's be dozens of them, all competing and making less money individually than this app did. If anything Apple should refund everyone who bought the app and not pay the author a single cent.

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swb1192 said:
I guess the carriers weren't happy with Apple.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit suspicious here.. why would this app require "servers" from the developer? I'm starting to wonder if this may be a scam or might spy on the user's data transfers.
 
ouimetnick said:
Thought they said they talked it over with Apple, and it will stay. I wonder if they said that just for the hell of it.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Dude, the app's name has the word TETHER in it. I would think it would have raised some red flags at Apple.
 
I would vote with the "Apple ok'ed it but carriers objected" camp here. Since it didn't offer wireless tethering but just through USB as I understand it, app approval people figured it technically didn't violate their terms. I guess someone higher up looked more critically after carrier complaints and found it to be in violation after all. Just wondering if people who got it will still be able to use it though...
 
Damn, and here I was about to buy it also. It was there this morning when I checked it out but didn't want to buy it because I kept hearing the PC/Mac Apps were not easily available. I finally get them to finish downloading and now it's gone. :(

I absolutely refuse to pay $20/month to use the unlimited data I already have. I don't want to abuse it either, just a few emails from the soccer field and such.
 
:eek: dang, that was fast turn around. I was too late. Well I'll continue to do with out. No way am I paying ATT an extra twenty a month. I'd jailbreak before doing that.
 
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