BBC plans news and sport iPhone apps

By Rupert Neate, City Reporter (Media) in Barcelona Published: 7:00AM GMT 18 Feb 2010

iPhones - BBC plans news and sport iPhone "apps" Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Erik Huggers, the BBC"s director of future media and technology, said a BBC News app will be available to download for free from April, and a BBC Sport app will launch in May. The corporation will also make versions for BlackBerrys and Google Android-powered smartphones.

The apps follow similar programs offered by The Telegraph and BSkyB. Mr Huggers said the news app will offer content from the BBC News website, including stories and blogs, as well as audio and visual content. Users will also be able to send comments and pictures directly to the BBC newsroom.

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The sport app, which will be released in time for the World Cup in June, will initially provide live football updates before expanding to other sports, including Formula One.

Mr Huggers said the BBC is also considering releasing a BBC iPlayer app, but noted that its introduction would increase the strain on mobile phone networks, which are already under pressure. He said the move was about BBC "catching up" with its audience, who are increasingly using mobile phones to keep up to date with news. Mr Huggers said more people now access BBC content on their mobile phone than via PCs.

"[Audiences] want to access digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them," he told the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.