I have some disappointing news for all those waiting for NetShare to be available in the App Store again, Nullriver has just posted on their blog that their iPhone App – NetShare that briefly brought 3G/EDGE Tethering for iPhone only to be pulled down from the App Store after being available for 20 minutes and then available again briefly only to be pulled down again has been banned by Apple.
The last we had heard from Nullriver was that they were working with Apple to get NetShare back to the App Store, however it was widely speculated that the likelyhood of NetShare making it back to the US App Store remained remote as AT&T spokesperson Brad Mays had already confirmed that that tethering with iPhone is not allowed. He had cited a clause in AT&T’s Terms and Conditions which further confirms this:
"Furthermore, plans(unless specifically designated for tethering usage) cannot be used for any applications that tether the device (through use of, including without limitation, connection kits, other phone/PDA-to computer accessories, Bluetooth® or any other wireless technology) to Personal Computers (including without limitation, laptops), or other equipment for any purpose."
Nullriver has published this on their website:
"Looks like Apple has decided they will not be allowing any tethering applications in the AppStore. As such, NetShare will not be available in the iTunes AppStore. We are seeing a lot of similar reports from various developers who’s applications were abruptly removed and banned from the AppStore without any violations of the terms of service. This is all unfortunate news for the iPhone platform end-users."
I am not sure if Apple has formally communicated their stand on tethering applications in general but Addition’s decision to release their tethering iPhone app, iPhoneModem, to jailbroken iPhone users seems to confirm Nullriver’s claim.
NetShare joins a growing list of iPhone apps to be banned or removed from the App Store. It will be interesting to see if Nullriver follows Addition and also releases NetShare as an unofficial iPhone app for the jailbroken iPhone via Cydia.
What’s your take on this latest development?
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