A new application enabling Apple’s iPhone to share EDGE or 3G World Wide Web connections with other wireless devices briefly presented in Apple’s App Store, only to be pulled minutes later.

The Netshare app by Nullriver is based on SOCKS — an Web protocol that enables client-server applications to transparently employ the services of a network firewall. Netshare essentially converts any iPhone into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, with all Wi-Fi-enabled devices able to share a broadband Web connection wherever a cellular signal is available.

“We’re trying to get ahold of Apple right now,” said Nullriver spokesperson Maksim Rogov in an e-mail. “Until we build out from Apple, it’s hard to say what the real reason is, considering whether it was AT&T, well, AT&T is not the iPhone service provider outside the U.S.”

Not On AT&T’s List

Wireless carriers are understandably not happy about programs such as Netshare considering they allow users to bypass their cellular networks

and avoid data-access fees.

“The iPhone is not intended to be used as a tethering device and we have no plans to offer separate tethering plans for it,” said AT&T spokesperson Wes Warnock. “We offer LaptopConnect cards that you can use to access our wireless details network. Those cards offer typical download speeds as high as 1.7 Mbps.”

Warnock noted that AT&T wireless provides tethered access for a monthly fee on smartphones from LG, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Samsung and others, but the iPhone is not on the carrier’s list of supported devices. “For customers looking for a smartphone with tethering capability, we have many other options,” Warnock said.

Developer Mystified

Some media outlets were quick to propose that Nullriver had come under pressure when its Netshare product description was cleared from the Web site earlier today. But Nullriver says it is as mystified as everyone else as to why…

Original post by Top Tech News