NetShare iPhone Tethering App Reappears in App Store [Updated]

[gdoes]

Apple again took down Netshare!

 

[aristotle]

I asked Apple why Netshare was taken down two times and whether the app was in violation of the terms of service of Fido. I'm waiting for a response.

 

[eliotschreiner]

I'd imagine that NullRiver will make a ton of money off this app. Everyone with an iphone and a laptop will want it. I'm wondering why Apple is resisting them.

 

[macaddict0501]

apple's top brass is waiting for Steve to come back to negotiate with at&t about a plan to tether the iPhone.

 

[aristotle]

apple's top brass is waiting for Steve to come back to negotiate with at&t about a plan to tether the iPhone.

Screw AT&T. We want a world wide agreement.

 

[rworne]

I'd imagine that NullRiver will make a ton of money off this app. Everyone with an iphone and a laptop will want it. I'm wondering why Apple is resisting them.

I wonder: if the application *IS* in violation of the terms in the developer's agreement, will Nullriver even be paid for all the applications that were sold?

Apple could simply blacklist the app and credit all the downloaders.

Every damn time I read about the 3G iPhone, I keep getting more and more reasons not to buy one. Every one of those reasons has AT&T attached to it.

 

[gdoes]

I wonder: if the application *IS* in violation of the terms in the developer's agreement, will Nullriver even be paid for all the applications that were sold?

Apple could simply blacklist the app and credit all the downloaders.

Every damn time I read about the 3G iPhone, I keep getting more and more reasons not to buy one. Every one of those reasons has AT&T attached to it.

When you try to download, you get the following message back:

Is there any way to trick the system to be outside the US?

-Glenn

 

[GTDaveMac]

Well, technically I agree, they're totally able to do that. I assume that would be pretty easy for them.
But that's just not legal. They sold it to you, they don't have any right to take it back. There may be DRMs, but it's just a sale. They could ask you, but not make you accept a refund.
I don't know how it works in the US, but I'm pretty sure of what I'm saying. That's totally impossible in France anyway.

From the AppStore terms and conditions (US). Check your country:

4. LICENSE OF PRODUCTS. The software products made available through the Service (the “Products”) are licensed, not sold, to you.

 

[Lyshen]

When you try to download, you get the following message back:

Is there any way to trick the system to be outside the US?

-Glenn

Not available in other stores, ie Japan.

 

[seppoj]

nor in the UK

Not available in other stores, ie Japan.

Downloaded it last night; now " Your request could not be completed"

 

[jeremiah256]

I wonder: if the application *IS* in violation of the terms in the developer's agreement, will Nullriver even be paid for all the applications that were sold?

Apple could simply blacklist the app and credit all the downloaders.

Every damn time I read about the 3G iPhone, I keep getting more and more reasons not to buy one. Every one of those reasons has AT&T attached to it.

QFT

America's Telcomm industry has us by the family jewels. Apple, by getting so deep in bed with AT&T (for five years) hasn't helped.

By the way: Nullriver needs to find out immediately if Apple will allow their app. It's now a money issue. There are torrents and instructions on the net on how to load netshare onto jailbroken iPhones. Nullriver is going from the possibility of making mucho bucks from the AppStore to the real possibility of being bittorrented out of a great business app. Another reason why any developer needs to seriously consider whether Apple's current AT&T dependent business model is in their best interest.

 

[thisisarcadia]

NetShare

I read about this on 2 websites and found it on the App Store. The next day when it reappeared i bought it before it was taken out of the U.S. Store! It works great. It is very easy to set up and the data you use shows up on the total amount of usage for that month in you phone! If it comes back BUY it!

 

[DR'O']

Turn OFF Auto Lock...

After having downloaded and used the app, I have a hunch that people here might be over-speculating the cause of this app being pulled off. I think I've only used this for maybe 10 minutes consecutively without it requiring a reset of the iPhone. For some reason Proxifier all of a sudden cannot connect to the proxy server (i.e. the iPhone) even though it had been working for 10 minutes or so prior. Even if I reboot the app and reset the wifi connection, it still fails to work properly. New connections from Safari or iTunes fail to register.

Depending on how many people have tried this and found similar results, it is quite possible that it might be due to general bugginess of the app that it has been taken down and Apple just hasn't gotten around to telling Nullriver about it.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Apple's lawyers had a heart attack when they saw it and they're reviewing the fine print of their contract with AT&T...

Settings - General - AutoLock - Never.... It work just fine!

 

[pitouthestar]

From the AppStore terms and conditions (US). Check your country:

4. LICENSE OF PRODUCTS. The software products made available through the Service (the “Products”) are licensed, not sold, to you.

I took a look at the US App Store terms and conditions, I didn't find anything saying they can't delete it.

Here's what I found in the French terms and conditions

22. PROPRIETE INTELLECTUELLE.
b. Suppression de contenu iTunes ou d'autres éléments. [...] La suppression de Produits du Service n'aura pas d'impact sur les Produits dont vous aurez déjà acquis une licence par le biais du Service.

It means that if Apple deletes something from the App Store, it has no effect on the products I already have a license for.

I think it depends on the country...

 

[macUser2007]

Pathetic...

How pathetic!

I've been thinking of replacing my 2-years old HTC Trinity (used on AT&T) with the new 3g iPhone.

But, man, I can currently use my fast 3g connection to feed my MacBook when I travel and there is no wi-fi (with no additional apps and no extra charges, and I don't see why there should be any.)

I also have a choice of navigation software (I use iGO, which has way better graphics than TomTom,) yet there is nothing like this available for the iPhone, other than vague promises from ToTom.

I can cut and paste, use Skype, use a different SIM card when overseas, listen to radio, watch TV, use an iPhone-style keyboard in landscape mode, and so on and so on....

I love Apple and its interface, but man, the limitations are ridiculous!

 

[rlt54]

Anybody been charged for the app yet?

I get "bills" for $0 when downloading the free apps within minutes. So far, I have had NetShare for 24 hours and have not received a bill yet. Something tells me when I sync up soon it will magically go away.

Has anyone gotten a receipt from iTunes yet?

 

[rlt54]

5GB limit

By the way, a friend at an AT&T store said that if you go above 5GB a month (no matter how), you'll get a stern warning, and then if done again, a huge bill or cut off. What happened to unlimited data use?????

 

[MRU]

I get "bills" for $0 when downloading the free apps within minutes. So far, I have had NetShare for 24 hours and have not received a bill yet. Something tells me when I sync up soon it will magically go away.

Has anyone gotten a receipt from iTunes yet?

Haven't received the bill reciept but my CC has been charged (checked online).

 

[Snide]

Settings - General - AutoLock - Never.... It work just fine!

This is how I'm still doing it using the good ol' srelay/socks proxy on my 1.1.4 iPhone v1.

(MacRumors home page loads in 4 sec on EDGE tethered MacBook vs 40 sec on iPhone)

 

[gcmexico]

I get "bills" for $0 when downloading the free apps within minutes. So far, I have had NetShare for 24 hours and have not received a bill yet. Something tells me when I sync up soon it will magically go away.

Has anyone gotten a receipt from iTunes yet?

*
ur right I haven't received the email yet...but I have been charged, if you go to your itunes acct, it should be under your purchase history, mine is with the order#, so I did buy it!

 

[janey]

Well, technically I agree, they're totally able to do that. I assume that would be pretty easy for them.
But that's just not legal. They sold it to you, they don't have any right to take it back. There may be DRMs, but it's just a sale. They could ask you, but not make you accept a refund.

It is certainly legal. You are licensing the application. Just like any other software. They can make this app stop working on your phone (short of, say, you never syncing and upgrading your phone ever). Also I said signed, not DRM. DRM is meaningless here, signed code can have their certs revoked. This is like the whole point of the iPhone developer program.

I've already explained this in older posts. Briefly, you are *not* connecting your laptop to the Internet via the iPhone. Instead you have an app running on the iPhone that does all the transfer. You setup a private network between your laptop and the iPhone and when you want data, you talk to the iPhone and say, hey, please get this data for me, and the iPhone gets it. The laptop never talks directly to the Internet, because it is not connected to the Internet directly. So, it avoids the above definition.

I'd love to see you make that argument with AT&T. In short, it doesn't matter HOW you're doing things, you're ultimately connecting your computer to an iPhone for the purpose of sharing the internet connection. That is tethering. Sorry, but these excuses have been dreamt up by lots of people before you.

If you then turn around and start terminating contracts, sending giant bills to the 99% who downloaded the program in good faith, it is a PR nightmare and possibly legally actionable against Apple(they are perfectly capable of blocking sale of the app in whatever countries they choose). They're just not going to do this without some sort of warning. The program will either somehow be disabled, or you'll get a stern warning from AT&T to knock it off or else(or 2.1, 2.2 firmware just disables it). Or they figure they got it off the App store early on, so only a handful of people have it and it is not worth their time to stop for a couple of thousand people. Just keep an eye out for people who are dling 10GB a month and go after them(whether they are doing it with NetShare or just the phone itself).

I agree, Apple looks like they ****ed up by selling this (at the least) in the US app store where AT&T specifically prohibits tethering without the right plan. However, apple can fix that in a bunch of possible ways basically involving the fact that, like I mentioned previously, all apps are signed.

AT&T does probably warn people that they're using way too much bandwidth, they're not just going to start randomly disconnecting people using 10gb+/month. It's a PR nightmare like the international roaming charges were, but it truly sucks for AT&T again because they specifically prohibit tethering (just like how it was known that visual voicemail etc. use data and international roaming is not cheap) and it's basically the end user's fault. If AT&T doesn't do anything about it, more and more people would tether and they'd lose out on money. They *could* change their plans so the iPhone folks get to tether, but right now it's not the case.

 

[JoeG4]

Ya'll are just a bunch of evil thieves trying to steal profits from AT&T and worse yet! Apple! How dare you!

 

[coachvic]

Get Netshare back! BOYCOTT iTunes Store

In an effort to teach Apple Computer Inc. a marketshare lesson, I encourage all potential iTunes store customers to BOYCOTT the store until Apple Computer Inc. and AT&T Inc. allow for the distibution and purchase of Nullriver's NetShare application.

Said application would allow iPhone users to access the internet with their notebook and laptop computers.

Nullriver claims that Apple has said that this app is not legal to sell in the US.

This is non-sensical since I, an AT&T and Apple Computer customer have been unsing my AT&T Tilt phone's Internet Share application for over a year! Not once has AT&T said that I could not use this application or that I am violating any agreement. I can also say that all of the employees for the company I work for have been doing the same!

Let NetShare be available! Until then, BOYCOTT the iTunes store altogether and I am certain that Apple Computer Inc. and AT&T Inc. will see the light...

 

[hexonxonx]

In an effort to teach Apple Computer Inc. a marketshare lesson, I encourage all potential iTunes store customers to BOYCOTT the store until Apple Computer Inc. and AT&T Inc. allow for the distibution and purchase of Nullriver's NetShare application.
..

No. Not worth the effort.

 

[aimfire]

This 5GB limit that everyone is worrying about is INSANE! It's 5GB a month, good Lord.

I have to agree - I've had an ATT laptop connect aircard for 6 months, it also has the 5GB limit. I use it A LOT, 7 days a week, for general web surfing, email, etc. I've never had any problems with the 5gb limit. Not even sure if I hit that, but if I have, I've heard nothing from ATT about it.

Just as long as you're not doing something foolish like downloading off bittorrent all day long, etc. - you should be fine, don't worry about it.