Slingbox App Rejection Rumor Debunked

Last week, I was lucky enough to receive a Slingbox and an ad-hoc copy of the latest build of the Slingbox iPhone app for review purposes. While I won't be able to release a review of the app until it goes live, I'm thoroughly impressed.

Today, all over the internet there has been "an unconfirmed tip from a source close to Apple’s approval processes" claiming that the app had in fact been denied due to pressure from AT&T. The app is slated to allow use over 3G and WiFi, meaning that it would in fact be a bandwidth burden for AT&T, but considering the app already exists on the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones which AT&T sure carries a few of, there's no reason to believe this rumor to be true (even BGR agree's!)

David Eyler, Product Marketing Manager of Mobile at Sling Media responded with the following statement when questioned about the app being denied by Apple:

“We submitted our app to Apple a few weeks ago and as of this morning we are still waiting for approval. We are in contact with Apple, but we have no news, yes or no at this point.”

The fact that this app requires actual hardware to take advantage of means that it wouldn't be as bandwidth intensive for the carrier as it would if it was the uStream app working on 3G. Unless there's some data pointing to Slingbox owners being mostly iPhone owners as well, the AT&T rumor makes little to no sense.