After much speculation it seems that the BBC iPlayer will finally be available on the Apple iPad, the source of the news comes from the head of the BBC when he tweeted earlier today.
The Tweet said, “iPlayer App for iPad is being released this Thursday – 10th Feb. 3G connection is browse only. Browse+Playback requires Wi-Fi.”
Later an official statement posted on the BBC internet blog revealed more about the apps initial features. Users will be able to download the native app for free to watch live TV and radio which has not been widely available until now. The app will also give full access to the last seven days of TV and radio action, much like the full fat iPlayer.
According to the press release the app offers ‘a simple and intuitive design with high picture quality and personalised favourites’. The article also talks about future developments coming later this year explaining, “For iPad it’s straightforward, but for technical reasons we can’t bring the app to every single Android device.” For now this means Android 2.2 or higher and Flash 10.1 is required to run the app.
So no solid details on the future of the app but users will be hoping developers at the BBC will bow to growing pressure to allow downloads of content for viewing on the move. Users are also calling for support over 3G removing the stipulation that the app must run over Wi-fi.
Are you looking forward to using the native BBC iPlayer app? What features are you after?