BBC to launch its first iPhone applications

The BBC will launch its first applications for the iPhone, including the iPlayer catch-up TV service, as it looks to replicate its online content on mobile phones.

It is the latest example of traditional media organisations embracing the mobile phone to try to capture audiences that have started consuming content in different ways.

The BBC will launch applications based on its news, sport and iPlayer video services and will offer the content free. The move is likely to boost further the take-up of smartphones, such as Apple’s iPhone, and could put more strain on mobile networks that have struggled to handle the amount of data traffic, particularly bandwidth-heavy services like video.

The move will also intensify the debate about paid-for content in the media sector, with the BBC’s free applications potentially drawing audiences away from other media companies.

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The BBC has the second-most popular website in the UK behind Google and has already launched a number of mobile services, including the iPlayer on selected handsets, as well as applications for its Lonely Planet travel site and Radio Times magazine.

Although the BBC, which made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will initially launch the application on the iPhone, it is also looking to make it available on rival platforms, such as Google’s Android and RIM’s BlackBerry.

Erik Huggers, director of the BBC's future media and technology division, told delegates that it was trying to catch up with its audience by delivering its content via the mobile platform.

He said: “It’s been 12 years since the launch of BBC Online, but as media converges and technology accelerates, licence fee payers are increasingly using sophisticated handheld devices to access information. They tell us that they want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them.”

Many publications have launched iPhone applications and analysts argue that the BBC’s free applications will increase tension with companies looking to offer paid-for content.

Applications have been central to this year’s mobile industry conference, the largest in the world, with a whole hall devoted to showcasing interesting new downloads.

However, many of the giants of the industry have turned their attention to the task of upgrading their networks to 4G technology over the next two years to support the ever-increasing consumer and business appetite to use smartphones.

This has created a debate in the industry, with mobile companies, including Vodafone, keen to start charging media companies that offer consumers bandwidth-hungry services such as video to use the network and to justify the billions of pounds of investment in 4G networks.

A major theme at the Mobile World Congress has been the “democratisation” of the smartphone, with several major manufacturers launching cheaper alternatives to Apple’s premium device.

One mobile phone expert, Ernest Doku, of Omio.com, said that many consumers wanted the functionality that smartphones offer, but were unwilling to commit themselves to paying considerably more than on conventional mobiles. “Manufacturers are meeting them halfway with devices that offer social media with a high-quality touch experience in a more affordable device,” he said.

Deloitte believes that by 2012 global smartphone sales could reach half a billion units a year.