Almerica reports that Apple has rejected the hotly anticipated Podcaster iPhone application from the App Store:

Today I finally got a reply from Apple about the status of Podcaster.

Apple Rep says: Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.

That’s right folks, it duplicates the functionality of the desktop version of iTunes.

I find this a bit strange considering there are numerous apps that duplicate the functionality of other apps. For example, any calculator app is duplicating the functionality of Apples calculator app. Any app that tells you the weather is duplicating the Yahoo weather app. Any app that let’s you listen to music is duplicating the iPod portion of the iPhone.

There are also several apps that simply allow you to listen to a podcast (Diggnation and Mobility Today just to name a few) that are not denied from the app store.

This is exactly the sort of thing that the iPhone platform doesn’t need.

There’s a huge amount of interest in developing for the iPhone, and the iPhone already has the most interesting ecosystem of any mobile device.

Rejecting an app because it competes with Apple’s own software, though, sends the signal that people shouldn’t develop podcast-related applications for the iPhone.

This is bad for podcast fans, obviously, because they won’t have Almerica’s software available to them. But it’s also bad for the state of podcasting. Almerica or someone else could could have great ideas for mobile podcast software, and you’ll probably never see it because of this.

It’s also bad for iPhone owners, because it means that you’ll probably have fewer options available in other categories of apps that overlap with what Apple offers. Developers don’t want to spend time developing software that Apple is likely to reject.

Ultimately, it’s also bad for the iPhone platform. If developers aren’t clear on what they can and can’t offer through the App Store, they’ll put their resources elsewhere.