It seems like Apple and AT&T are beginning to hate all the hatred “concentrated” towards them caused by the controversies around the App Store and the apps approval process. In an earlier post we mentioned that the future of mobile is open so Symbian went open source, but Apple seems to think otherwise. Not only that the iPhone OS code is not open source, Apple is also putting a WiFi-only limit on some apps like Skype and SlingPlayer.

The first is now history as Apple confirmed that Skype over 3G is coming soon to the iPhone so this leaves SlingPlayer in the world of WiFi-only (among other thousands of apps, but we’ll talk about them later). Apple and AT&T repeatedly said that the restriction is not malevolent because the carrier’s 3G network cannot handle the traffic so until they expand the network, some apps will be limited to WiFi use. Anyway AT&T might have fixed some issues because the carrier has announced that users will finally be able to use SlingPlayer via 3G.

A SlingPlayer 3G app has been in the works since last year and the good results have finally payed off: the update to the current app is waiting to be approved and it should be released in the following weeks. SlingPlayer for iPhone costs $30 and thankfully the update will be free so you won’t pay an extra something for it. Just be careful on your bandwidth usage while watching TV on your iPhone via SlingPlayer. Thanks AT&T! See, we can be good to you, too, but for the right reasons!

SlingPlayer for iPhone

via NYT