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  • Why the FCC Wants to Smash Open the iPhone [View article]
    politics of this aside; AT&T's response is inaccurate, aside being arbitrary and discriminatory. Case in point as we outlined at the time to our readers: the SlingBox app. for iPhone. AT&T acknowledged at the time Apple had crippled (or limited) use to WiFi only and not 3G, at the behest of A&T, due to 'network demands'. This alone proves a point: AT&T did have an influence on Apple's approval process.

    Further, since then, both Major League Baseball (Chicago alone had more demands on AT&T's network from one game than all the bandwidth requirements SlingBox ever had nationally) .. MLB and now the forthcoming 'Sunday Ticket' access on DirecTV's app for the NFL, vastly exceed the bandwidth utilization SlingBox would.

    So, irrespective of whether DirecTV, Apple or AT&T ever intend to 'compete' with distant access (ie: no cost other than the app) for live or recorded (DVR) television; there is little doubt but that this was an arbitrary determination discriminating against SlingBox access (Sling now owned by the Dish Network, which obviously is DirecTV's competitor).

    I am not a lawyer but a stock market analyst (who predicted the 'epic debacle' right here on SA over 2 years ago).. so the point is that AT&T's own network permits SlingBox to operate via any Blackberry able to use their app; so this is clearly disingenuous when related to access on an iPhone. All Apple and AT&T have to do is open up 3G (which works according to hackers but I would never suggest that nor do so) as AT&T has on the Blackberry. In terms of the FCC inquiry; the answer is already in based upon the SlingBox crippling; which renders a note of caution to AT&T before they wrongly contend (as their preliminary statement implies) that they do not engage in app denial. Obviously SlingBox proves that indeed they do. Otherwise, AT&T's network has improved greatly in some areas (including Southern California near our Thousand Oaks office); but that is besides the point of open app access.

    cheers..
    gene inger
    ingerletter.com
    Aug 02 15:06 pm |Rating: +2 -3 |Link to Comment
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