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

The Netshare app by Nullriver is based on SOCKS — an Internet 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 Internet 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 hear from Apple, it’s hard to say what the real reason is, because if it was AT&T, well, AT&T is not the iPhone service provider outside the U.S.”