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Apple approves Podcaster-like iPhone app

Months after rejecting an iPhone application that let users search and download podcasts, Apple has approved a similar application that uses RSS feeds instead.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit
The developer behind Podcaster--who has excellent taste in podcasts--has a similar application that apparently doesn't anger Apple. RSS Player

The iPhone developer behind Podcaster has found a way to get into Apple's App Store without invoking the wrath of iPhone Inspector No. 5.

The developer, who has a private Blogger profile but appears to go by Alex according to Uneasy Silence, has a new application called RSS Player that duplicates the basic function of Podcaster--letting you download podcasts to your iPhone or iPod Touch--but without some of the features that Apple appears to have disliked. For example, you can't search for podcasts through the app, you have to subscribe to the RSS feed for those podcasts.

Back in September, Apple rejected an iPhone application called Podcaster that allowed you to search for podcasts and download them to your device, which was a feature Apple later added to the iPhone. That was one of the first rejected apps to highlight iPhone developer frustration over a lack of communication concerning which technologies and features were forbidden from the App Store, and why.

The iPhone application review process still seems a bit nebulous, but the iPhone application business itself is booming. Apple announced two weeks ago that 15,000 applications are available on the App Store, and that those applications have been downloaded 500 million times, just six months after the store opened for business.