iPhone: Why Apple pulled Netshare

iPhone: Why Apple pulled Netshare

Good amount of speculation going around as to why Apple pulled Netshare (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/08/iphone-netshare-working.html), an iPhone tethering app, from the App Store. Most obvious answer is that tethering is not allowed by AT&T's terms (unless you pay extra) and is not part of the iPhone plan. AT&T, however, points out that Apple runs the App Store (http://gizmodo.com/5035034/why-netshare-is-probably-not-coming-back-to-the-app-store), putting it back in their court, though there's no admission that they didn't press for the removal. But let's say the removal was all Apple's doing. Why wouldn't they want people to use iPhone's as mobile modems? Why else: they plan on selling mobile modems.

First, Apple does stuff like this all the time. They included 802.11n wifi in their Macbooks and didn't announce it until their 802.11n router was released (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/01/truth-behind-mac-80211n-fee.html). They announced Time Machine would back up to a network attached drive, then reserved it for their own network drive, Time Capsule. Maybe this time they let Netshare through then someone realized it conflicts with their mobile computing plan.

Second, I think Macbooks with embedded mobile Internet connectivity are coming. I blogged this a couple weeks ago (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/07/apples-next-big-move-isnt-tablets.html). Basically. it looks like Apple is prepping a big push into mobile computing, and it seems likely Macbooks with mobile broadband will be apart of that. If so, offering tethering on the iPhone would cut into that... or perhaps Apple has their own tethering plan in mind.

The idea that Apple plans on enabling tethering via the iPhone makes sense. Netshare is a tiny application, comparable in size to apps that do very little (like Flashlight) or those that leverage existing capabilities (like Here I Am). It would seem then it doesn't take much to share an iPhone's Internet connection. On the Mac side, changing proxy settings in Mac OS X to take advantage of Netshare is simple. Windows requires a third-party solution.

Either way, there is a logical path for Apple to offer one or both of these mobile Internet solutions in the future, and it's possible Netshare was an obstacle on that path. Time will tell.
[+/-] Hide/Show Text
[+/-] Hide/Show Text