Did Apple Tell Times to Shove Its App-Takedown Letter?
Apple has re-instated the popular iPad news-reading application Pulse. The move seems to overturn a decision earlier today to remove the app because of objections from The New York Times that the app violated its terms of service by encouraging readers to read the Times.
Apple did not respond to a request for explanation, but it looks to be sticking a finger in the eye of the Times, which it has heavily partnered with to promote the iPad.
The Times objects to the news-reading app because it includes it as one of five default publications whose RSS feeds can be read. The Times also objects that the two Stanford student programmers charge for the app, which the Times says violates its non-commercial license for the feed. And it objects that the app launches links from excerpts of its stories to the full Times site in a browser window inside the app, rather than to an external browser.
