Not long after the iOS 6 beta was released, inquiring listeners wanted to know, what happened to podcasts? AllThingsD's Peter Kafka appears to have the answer: Apple is planning a standalone app for podcasts in iOS 6.
This follows a move by Apple to split video out of the iTunes app in iOS 5, as well as iTunes U gaining its own app. Also missing from iOS 6 appears to be the audiobooks area of the iTunes app, which makes me wonder if it's either getting its own app as well or will be folded into the
