Sling says Sling Player App submitted to App Store, working closely with Apple

Chauncey Dupree
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April 26, 2009
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Sling updated their iPhone progress over the weekend.  It is submitted and awaiting approval.  We'll believe it when we see it in the iTunes store:

 

Comments (6)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 4:44am

Saying it is one thing and seeing it with your own eyes that it's available in the iTunes store to download is believing. Its been awaiting approval from Apple 6 years ago. I'm exaggerating that, but that's how long it feels. Seems at least a million iFart apps have been downloaded since Slingmedia said this Slingplayer is awaiting approval.

scott (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 5:10am

Slingmedia wants to keep this whole thing out in the open. They're making sure that everyone knows the ball is in Apple's court. The pressure on Apple is high because of this.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 6:56am

hey're making sure that everyone knows the ball is in Apple's court.

I think you're right. I think Sling wants to make it look like it's Apple that is causing all this delay.

But if the app is rejected, it's an excellent bet that it's because of the poor quality of Sling's submission. As the very hardest part of delivering an iPhone app is creating a working app that can pass QA. Been there.

The non-tech issues are easy to overcome - read the iPhone development agreement with Apple. It is quite easy to read. It would be shocking if Sling decided to pump in a few million into an app without reading the agreement first. So this isn't a terms-of-agreement issue, it's a tech issue.

If the app crashes every twenty minutes, or if it leaks memory, or if it builds itself an unbounded database, or if it can't even be compiled properly, it simply isn't going to pass Apple's QA step.

As far as I know, Sling hasn't developed any other iPhone apps, right? That's a bad sign in terms of their ability to execute - they might have a few guys LEARNING about the platform while building a major application. I hope they hired an outside firm to build this.

Ali G (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 11:51am

Are you kidding me? I've seen the app work perfectly on the iphone, and stating that "it's an excellent bet that it's because of the poor quality of Sling's submission" is just inaccurate. There are tons of garbage quality applications release by 1 person developers that pass the QA test with flying colors. Sling media is a large company that has the resources and funds to makes sure it address all key points of Apple's testing.

The truth is that AT&T does not want to allow video to bog down the bandwidth as users everywhere stream free video over 3G. The more likely candidate here is it's being delayed due to AT&T's influence and partnership with Apple. The result will most likley be that they release this app with access via wifi only. Simliar to what they did with the Skype app. Which is BS in itself.

fe (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 1:46pm

I love to see this app working on 3G. However, if the problem/concern is the bandwidth use, then it may be in every one's best interest to hold off the 3G version until ATT is ready or can support the bandwidth without hurting other users. I believe the problem is reaching a balance between full access on 3G, Apples interest in making lots of money from this app and ATT's interest in keeping their other related businesses without competition.

Free iPhone (not verified) | April 28, 2009 - 6:11am

If this is true then it will be the most amazing thing to ever happen in my life.

I already have a slingbox and use it for my laptop but it will be amazing to be watching TV on my iPhone.

I cant wait!