The need to jailbreak your iPhone to stream television, music and video has ended now that Orb has released their official application to the AppStore.  Although the Orb app might fall victim to Apple and At&t’s rejection policies to the likes of Cast Catcher and Net Share, at the moment we have the green light.  For just $10 you can now stream video from a Windows PC to your iPhone with the pay-version of Orb.

Orb can deliver any video or audio that’s stored on the the PC, YouTube content and, most important, live television if you have a TV tuner installed on your PC. This places Orb squarely in competition with Slingbox, which provides a similar level of functionality but does not yet have a native iPhone application. With the appropriate tuner, Orb delivers on the “live TV anywhere” promise brought to various other mobile phones by Slingbox.

We have been long-time fans of Orb and have religiously used the software to stream to our Windows Mobile Phones.  Unlike Windows Mobile where the streaming is completed with the built-in Windows Media Player, the need for a standalone iPhone app has turned this previously free solution into a nominal fee.  We are going to hold off on making this purchase until Apple and At&t have enough time to reach a verdict on whether it falls under the guidelines of their terms and conditions.  In the meantime, there is also a free version of the software for download in case you’d like to see the performance over 3G.

Note: Orb is currently working on a version of its application for Mac and Linux computers, but at the moment a Windows PC is required (Vista or Media Center is ideal).