iPhonefreak width="190"

It seems that Apple has broken what seemed to be their golden rule when it comes to having third party applications receive their App Store approval. That golden rule, or at least one of them was that the third party app could not duplicate functionality that is already provided by an official Apple app. We have seen items such as Podcaster and MailWrangler get denied for that very reason.

Based on that it seemed that items such as a browser or an email client would never make their way into the App Store. Of course, Apple has just added some further confusion to the already confusing approval process with the recent addition of BdEmailer.

Just to clarify, BdEmailer is an email app, according to the item description this is “the first wide email iPhone app that supports client SMTP.” Of course, it also goes on to mention that “it is not a replacement for Apple’s Mail program” and that the Apple Mail client is still needed when using BdEmailer.

You see, while it does offer some similar functionality, it also offers some additional features, and even lacks one important item that would make it a full featured email client.

As far as that missing item, BdEmailer does not read incoming mail, it only gives you the ability to address, compose and send email. Perhaps the fact that it cannot read incoming email is why Apple allowed it into the App Store.

However, regardless the reason, BdEmailer does offer some nice features that should make it a worthwhile download. To begin with, it has the very desired landscape mode, and it also offers you the ability to save an unlimited amount of working emails as drafts to save you from having to type and re-type the same email. A very helpful feature to have for users that need access to form (or similarly worded) emails when on the go.

BdEmailer is currently available in the App Store and is selling for just $0.99.