BBC's iPlayer to work on iPhone?

by Darren Murph posted Jul 6th 2007 at 4:52AM

Just as agreements between Apple and O2 have evidently been inked, it seems that the BBC may be ready to introduce the first big iPhone app in the not too distant future. A recent promotional video for the forthcoming iPlayer -- a software client that allows users to download and view episodes or entire series of BBC television programming on their devices -- actually shows an interface working on an iPhone. The application was originally designed to work on PCs (and Macs, eventually), but the surprisingly lengthy demonstration (seen after the jump) on Apple's handset certainly makes you wonder what's in store.

[Thanks, Chris S.]

BBC iPlayer from mauee and Vimeo.

Filed under: Multimedia, Peripherals, Software, Apple, iPhone OS

Tags: bbc, iphone, iplayer, mac, nintendo, television, tv, uk, virgin media, VirginMedia, vista, wii, youtube

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

mitch @ Jul 6th 2007 10:04AM

umm... the video shows the iphone rotated in a way that i don't believe it rotates! The lone button is on the left where as in real life, as you rotate the iPhone, the button is on the right. Is it fake??

Neutral

Judson @ Jul 6th 2007 10:34AM

it's not fake u can rotate either way in certain modes. the camera works this way. cool app though. maybe once version 2 comes out in the U.S. and with 3g or 3.5g we'll get an app that way. i bet the second version of the iphone will comeout here to coincide with the launch over seas.

Neutral

Pat @ Jul 6th 2007 10:51AM

the iPhone can rotate both ways

Neutral

Sean @ Jul 6th 2007 12:12PM

The BBC are working on different versions of iPlayer for different devices. The iPlayer is a catchup TV service that requires DRM so that the content is only used within the terms of service. Since Apple are unlikely to licence the iTunes DRM this is probably going to be a streaming service rather that a DRM download service. This is the quickest way that the BBC can bring iPlay to Mac's, Linux and other devices such as the iPhone.

Neutral

Dom @ Aug 14th 2007 1:16PM

I'd agree its fake. Since the plans for a Mac/Vista/Linux version are 2008, how, or why would they develop an iPhone app, and why would the Beeb deal with Apple? It just seems too unlikely. More to the point, why would they use coverflow unless they were running through iTunes which as of yet doesn't offer movies or TV.
While its a cool idea, and I'd love to be able to watch BBC, (although not to forget Channel 4, ITV, Five, and all the cable/satelite channels too) I don't think we'll be seeing that soon.
Oh yeah, and why wouldn't someone in the US thought about this too? Is the potential UK iPhone market really expected to be that financially profitable? Not likely.
I actually wrote a post about the iPlayer today at http://domster83.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/bbc-idont-player-very-well/

Neutral

Dom @ Aug 14th 2007 1:49PM

And what else just occured to me. If that demo video is true, then the application looks like its working fairly well. If thats true, they have a client for Mac OS X since the iPhone runs OSX. So why isn't the mac client available to beta test? Who knows.
I want to believe its true, but I'm skeptical.