If Apple’s 2.2 allows downloading of FREE podcasts that Apple makes NO money on, but costs them in bandwidth, then exactly what competetive disadvantage would Apple suffer by allowing Podcaster in? I say none. Now let’s flip the coin over. If Apple *had* let Podcaster in with no fuss, and then mere weeks later released their own functionality – do you think the Podcaster folks might get a bit miffed? Do you think that users who paid $9.99 for the app would be miffed if Apple then bring out the same capability for free?

My suspicion is that Apple acted to protect the developer – though clearly they could have handled things better. Let’s face it, in the lawsuit-happy U.S. of A. half of the economy seems to be based on what the other guy did/didn’t do.