Apple pulls VLC media player from App Store

Tech giant Apple has pulled the VLC Media player app from the App Store, following weeks of speculation about whether the company would actually let the player stay on the store.

The VLC app was controversial because it allowed users to load on any type of media file, including .AVI files, and then watch them on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. App developers were surprised the app was allowed on the store at all, let alone left for several weeks.

One of the app’s developers, Remi Denis-Courmont, said on a blog post that the decision was not necessarily a surprise.

“On January 7, I was told by an Apple attorney that VLC media player had been removed from the App Store.”

“Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the App Store terms of use is resolved – the hard way. This end should not have come to a surprise to anyone, given the precedents.”