You’d think that with a tag line like “the Internet in your pocket,” you could actually get, um, the Internet in your pocket.

While the wired Internet — at least as we know it now — lets you watch what you want to watch and download what you want to download, it’s not so for the wireless Internet.

We already know that Apple and AT&T have hobbled iPhones to make it impossible to use Skype over 3G — which AT&T says competes with its voice serve — and even to use an app like SlingPlayer Mobile over 3G, which, as far as we can tell, doesn’t compete with anything, at least on the iPhone.

But now that the new Palm Pre can use third-party applications, some are speculating that Sprint and Palm are getting into the 3G throttling game as well.

GigaOM’s Jennifer Martinez reports:

Sling Media is developing a version of its SlingPlayer application, which allows users to access TV content from their mobile phones, for the Palm Pre that would work on both on Wi-Fi and 3G. But Sling’s hopes for 3G support could be dashed by the Pre’s mobile carrier, Sprint, which is currently locked in an agreement with privately held MobiTV to deliver mobile television content. That’s a shame, because allowing SlingPlayer on Sprint’s 3G network would help Palm gain more traction in the smartphone landscape — and give the Pre an edge over the iPhone.

Even Palm stands to lose from these exclusive content deals! Something’s out of whack when the public, the phone manufacturers and the content providers all lose out, but the carriers win.