Spotify iPhone App Approved: Apple Relaxing Rules?

07.09.2009
Monday appears to mark an important Apple App Store milestone with the introduction of a European digital music service app called Spotify Mobile that competes squarely with iTunes. In the past Apple has barred programs from its App Store it viewed as offering features that duplicate functionality already available on the iPhone such .

It's too early to say for sure whether Apple may reconsider the approval of Spotify Mobile and yank the program. But for now, the approval has people wondering if Apple is changing its tune when it comes to its App Store approval process. Spotify Mobile is also available for the Android OS, and is currently only available in Europe and not yet available in the U.S..

Spotify Mobile allows you to stream music wirelessly to your iPhone from a library of music hosted with Spotify. You can also store playlists or specific songs to your iPhone for listening to when you are not connected to the Internet. The service offers a selection of 6 million songs and costs $16 per month. It competes directly with iTunes that allows you to buy and store music to the iPhone directly from the handset.

In the past several applications have been rejected from the Apple App Store because they , so how come Spotify Mobile went through?

Well, Spotify isn't the only app that would benefit the users though somehow duplicating iPhone functionality. got the Apple seal of approval as well last week, even though only with WiFi functionality, just like (due to ). Real Networks is also working on a .

Then, this weekend Apple also approved a Comodore 64 emulator called C64, which Apple rejected initially in June for violations of the SDK agreement (although rights were officially licensed from holders).