Apple removed Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil from the App Store last month shortly after it began offering the ability to AirPlay music from one iOS device to another, effectively making your old iPod touch an AirPlay speaker. Some thought the app removal was due to use of private APIs. Apple gave a statement on the matter:
From a post today, it seems pretty clear that Apple just did not want that functionality in the app and that third-party hardware vendors were to “blame.”
Perhaps as part of its costly AirPlay licensing, Apple gives speaker manufacturers exclusive rights to the AirPlay protocol. Maybe some of these makers cried foul when Airfoil allowed other iOS devices to sling audio to each other. Apple was then forced to remove it, otherwise breaking their exclusivity agreement. That does not seem too outlandish to me.
Oh, and there is a workaround.
- Apple removes Rogue Amoeba’s audio streaming app without reason (9to5mac.com)
