R2D2 here,
Apple can posture all they want. First it's sue HTC and now shut down WiFi apps. The Android revolution has just begun. Soon Jobs will go thru the entire competitive cycle and come to "acceptance." Every Borg knows that. Within two of your earth years, the Android army will have marched over your planet. You heard it here first!

I'm R2D2 and I know my Droids!!!

A devotee of Star Wars such as myself would never presume to debate the wisdom of R2D2. Having been nursing a cold the last two days, I've had plenty of time to smolder over Apple's heavy-handed tactics, as well as continue to mourn the loss of my beloved stumbler. I think I may have found a way, though, to recover my eWiFi without jailbreaking my iPod, but we'll see. Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly with your prediction, R2: tho I'm not a developer, I have been working in the tech field for 30+ years, and I know that when a platform is corrupted or otherwise made less than what users have come to expect and enjoy, it WILL be circumvented and ultimately discarded.

I remember when Jobs and Woz came out with the Apple in 1977; I've always had the utmost respect for their company and wished them well. As regards this latest letdown, I believe, and so do a lot of others, that it's not Jobs, but the bean-counters and pedantic lawyers at Apple who are responsible for the here-today-gone-tomorrow ephemeral nature of the Apps store. No matter; I too am awaiting with baited breath the coming Android takeover. Until such day, I'll just keep an eye out for the iPod 3.1.3 jailbreak....

This blows. I bought my iPod touch a week ago; eWi-Fi was one of my favorite and most used apps. Due to the fact that I am a first-time Apple user, and somewhat unfamiliar with iTunes, syncing to PCs, and the way Apple does things, I mistakenly let iTunes delete all of my new apps while trying to tell it not to sync the iPod on that particular PC. At any rate, I was able to download and reinstall all of the apps I'd had, both free and paid, with no problem. I suppose it's to Apple's credit that I wasn't charged twice for the paid apps. However, because this happened yesterday, on my birthday no less, I was unable to reacquire eWiFi. A little research showed me why. If this had happened two or three days previous, I'd have been able to get back what I had lost. I'm ticked at Apple, both for removing these apps from the Apps store, and for the way iTunes did not warn me about the consequences o turning off auto sync.

Live and learn, I guess, but if this is the way Apple does things, well, I'll think long and hard about buying or recommending another Apple product.

Apple rejected these apps because they use private APIs - a process which has been forbidden since the start of iPhone apps. Yes, some of them got through earlier, but Apple must have updated its scanning tools.

Frankly, I applaud Apple. They've created an ecosystem where things work well together. I can pick up a system running iPhoneOS and know it will work - and exactly how it's going to work. No worries about incompatibilities. No worries about security problems. No worries about apps crashing the system. No worries about every app behaving differently. It's a smooth, elegant system and they maintain it by enforcing their developer rules.

Developers who create useful apps are making millions of dollars on the App Store. If a developer doesn't want to follow the rules, Apple doesn't need them. It's that simple.

i agree with you. by enforcing the developer rule, i can pickup any iphone app and knows that it will not crash my phone.

i love the stability more... and that's why i choose iphone

I don't mind them removing apps that might cause problems. but I don't see them offering me a refund of my money for wififofum. I didn't use the app in an incorrect way. I went to a trusted app (the app store) and picked up something that cost me money. only to have it pulled from my use and now I'm left with nothing and my money being used for someones Las Vegas trip.

Not good Apple not good at all.

The Ipod Touch has been a blast, but my memory has been refreshed about why I'm not an Apple fanboy. I'm not interested in being locked into a highly controlled environment. Having to jump through hoops to get things on and off the device is ridiculous. You find something useful only to find out that it just got banned or functionality is removed because it crossed some boundary that keeps moving. I'm growing less fond of this safe and supposedly stable environment by the day. I'm starting to regret the money spent. I like having more choices and Apple appears to follow the Obama model with less choice.