If you live in the UK and you have an iPhone, you’re about to have a nice little treat added to the usual software functionality of your (probably) latest little gadget. The BBC is launching a version of their iPlayer software on the handheld as well as the iPod touch.
Both the iPhone and the iPod touch are able to stream shows from the normal iPlayer website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/) over wi-fi (or from a computer sending the signal). At the moment, the iPhone can’t stream BBC video over the cell network however.
Apparently, the reasoning behind choosing the iPhone was that it is a device that most readily supports high quality video programming – something that the BBC was concerned about in terms of output from the player.
The software itself is available in two versions – one that allows users to download and store to their PC, whilst the other is made for streaming. A version (sorely waited for by me as well as many others) will be hitting Virgin Media customers soon.
As always, this serves to highlight how much of a monopoly that Apple has on the market – as well as the quality of the product that they produce. It isn’t that often, after all, that the BBC jumps into bed with any other company.