BBC iPhone apps approved, news app due today

The BBC announced on Friday that its iPhone apps have been approved for release in the UK.

The BBC originally announced the iPhone apps back in February but due to anti-competitive concerns, the BBC trust were forced to review the situation. Erick Huggers, direcor of Future Media & Technology at the BBC, announced the launch of the BBC Mobile apps in a blog posting today. "We know that increasing numbers of you want to access BBC output on-the-go and the rapid growth of internet-connected mobiles and smartphones in the market means we can cost-effectively provide our content and services on these devices, and this is a really important way for us to deliver online services in the future," he said.

The BBC is making the news app, for both iPhone and iPad, available later today. The app will also be available for Blackberry and Android phones in addition to other devices later in the year. "Our aim is to develop a set of core public service apps that bring some of the BBC's most popular, distinctive and original content to mobile in an easy to use and convenient way," said David Madden, Executive Product Manager at BBC Mobile.

BBC iPlayer and Sports apps will follow soon, featuring live TV and radio and user generated content. The BBC News app will be available in the Apple App Store later today. For more information on the BBC News app features, please visit the BBC Blog.