AT&T cripples SlingPlayer to give competitive edge to its own product?

We all know that AT&T defended its decision to cripple limit the iPhone SlingPlayer application with claims that such an application “would use large amounts of wireless network capacity” and “could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network”. The company further elaborated upon its stance by claiming that “applications like this, which redirects a TV signal to a personal computer, are specifically prohibited under our terms of service”. A Gizmodo tipster claims however, that these publicly proclaimed reasons are only half of the story and a more nefarious reason for a WiFi-only SlingPlayer exists. According to the tipster, AT&T is hard at work with a version of its own Slingplayer-like software, codenamed i-Verse. The i-Verse mobile application will reportedly interact with AT&T’s U-Verse television service and allow U-Verse subscribers to stream recorded video from their DVRs to their mobile phones. The i-Verse application was supposedly well-received when demoed last year and AT&T has been working overtime to get it up and running. Yeah, we can understand AT&T being sore that Sling beat them to the punch with its SlingPlayer app for the iPhone, but deliberately crippling a competitor’s application to give preference to its own app? That is a bit over the top and we hope for AT&T’s sake that this tipster is less than accurate in his claims.

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