It has been revealed that the BBC is to launch a number of applications for Apple’s iPhone. Offering sports and news content, the applications will be free and after the initial launch will be rolled out to further hosts including handsets with Google’s Android platform and RIM’s Blackberry.
A number of companies, including the Daily Telegraph, Sky and the Guardian already offer applications similar to BBC’s proposals, some being free whilst others require a small one-off fee. As the news industry continues to try and find modern ways to create revenue, the Guardian’s director of digital content Emily Bell exclaimed “Whilst the BBC’s impulse to enter an already crowded news and sport apps market place is understandable, the move belies the fundamentally competitive nature of the Corporation’s approach to new services. Applications are a long way away from being ‘broadcast’ media, and, unlike the web, they form a market which the BBC is seeking to disrupt.”
However, director of future media and technology at the BBC Erik Huggers disagreed, explaining that their modern audience “want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them. Today’s announcement means that we are catching up with our audiences.”
Including written, audio and video stories from the BBC’s news website, the application will be released in April. As well as offering versions for the Android system and Blackberry in coming months, they expressed that a specific iPlayer app may also be released later this year.
