iTether is Back With HTML5 Version

Amidst a chaotic scene on the web (AT&T ranting, Tether's site going down with all the traffic, tweets and posts everywhere), Tether's $15 iTether app, which let you tether devices to your iPhone without a monthly charge, was somehow allowed on the app store (even though Apple actually came to the CEO's house to test out the app, and said they would let it in). It reached the Top 10 app downloads list in a matter of hours, but 20 hours after they accepted the app, Apple removed the app from the store, likely after complaints from AT&T and Verizon.

 "It was clear from our initial application iTether, there was enormous demand within the iPhone ecosystem," says Tim Burke, CEO of Tether. "It was unfortunate that Apple decided to remove our application, only 20 hours after we launched. However, this caused us to innovate. Our underlying patent-pending technology behind Tether for iPhone is unlike anything on the market."

Tether's new version for the iPhone is purely based on HTML5 and creates a completely wireless connection over AdHoc. This circumvents the need of buying the application directly from Apple's App Store and allows any iPhone or iPad with a data connection to allow tethering.
Well, Tether now has a new solution; an entirely HTML5 based tethering system. Their new system, which is available from Tether's site for only $30 per year, uses HTML5 in a completely wireless system (thanks to AdHoc), where you don't need to download anything from the app store to tether for much cheaper. Yes, there is a yearly charge this time, but it's much better than AT&T's $20/mo. tethering plans.

Apple Allows Free Tethering App iTether, Then Pulls it Hours Later

Believe it or not, Apple briefly allowed iTether, an app that allowed you to tether other devices to your iPhone, in the App Store before pulling it. In the few hours that the $14.99 app was available, it almost instantly became the top grossing app in the entire store. The app was so popular that all the traffic made the Tether website go down, making it impossible to run the iTether app because the app connects to the website on every run. People who got the app before it was pulled will still be able to use the app.

Tether is an application that allows your Mac and PC to take advantage of your smartphone's data plan, providing you access to the Internet on your laptop anywhere there is cellular coverage from your smartphone.


Tether is easy to install, easy to use, works practically anywhere, and is very cost-effective.


To download the PC software visit:
http://tether.com/i/Tether-iPhone.exe


To download the Mac software visit:

http://tether.com/i/Tether-iPhone.dmg

 It is certainly possible that Apple pulled this app when carriers of the iPhone objected to their approval of this app. This seems likely because Apple asked the developers a lot of questions and asked for a demo, so they certainly knew what the app they were accepting was capable of doing. However, carriers have been known to hate free tethering apps. A few months ago, AT&T started to send out text messages to users who had been illegally performing free tethering on their iPhone by jailbreaking it and using apps like MyWi that can only be downloaded on jailbroken phones.

This scene seems almost identical to 2008, when Apple approved a similar app called Netshare that allowed you to tether devices to your iPhone, but very quickly pulled it. In a few years, Apple would allow tethering on the iPhone, but only with additional plans starting at $20/month.