Who do I yell at this time?
Posted on 11 August 2009, at 11:00 am, by Larry Greenberg
Apple or AT&T.
The buzz around the internet is that Sling Media has released its first update to its SlingPlayer application for the iPhone OS.
The good news first. The 1.1 update is said to include full 16:9 wide screen support when viewing content on the phone, meaning it’ll take up the entire screen. And DISH Network users will be able to navigate using a touch-supported native browser.
That’s all great.
Now on to the bad news (at least for customers in the U.S.).
The current version of SlingPlayer only supports streaming of live TV when the iPhone is connected to WiFi.
The version submitted to Apple for approval is said to now support live streaming over 3G but this important upgrade is only available as a separate version to customers who are not on AT&T Wireless.
Of course we all know how the App Store approval process goes and this version has only just been submitted but it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
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August 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Maybe one day someone will come out with a seperate cell network just for making phone calls. :~)
Either that, or public WiFi will become ubiquitous enough that the cell data networks will fall out of favor. Then we’ll become a nation of streaming-media-addicted zombies who don’t even look up to speak to others passing us on the street. Of course, natural selection will kick in as they start stepping out in front of cars whose drivers are glued to their devices as well. :~)
Seriously, AT&T may be thinking in terms of their own “streaming TV”, and not wanting to help a competitor. Can’t say that I blame them, but I’m not sure that will pass the FCC.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
As I have noted before, I recall that as recently as this year’s SxSW conference every AT&T user was moaning and griping about how impossible it was to do anything involving data, presumably because all of the bandwidth was saturated, and you want to add live TV streaming to the mix?
I’m kind of thinking that until AT&T can improve the amount of bits that they can pass, this is probably a good thing for all.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
AT&T already allows it on every other device.