I'd like to talk about the thinking behind this new feature, and the benefits it brings to audiences.

Part of the BBC's strategy for iPlayer in the past year has been to take it beyond the PC, and onto a host of different devices, from smartphones and tablets, to connected TVs and games consoles. BBC iPlayer is now on over 550 devices, ensuring you can enjoy BBC programmes wherever and whenever you want.

It's been something of a watershed year for on-the-go viewing: the Olympics, for example, turned into the "mobile Games" for many. For iPlayer, take-up on portable devices has been particularly impressive, with 30m requests for iPlayer content via mobile or tablet in July alone: this represented more than 20% of all requests for iPlayer programmes across all platforms.

The numbers in pink and white in the circles above represent percentages of the total amount of iPlayer requests for content on tablets and mobile e.g 34% of the requests on tablets was for Children’s content

More and more people are comfortable with watching TV across different devices depending on where they are and what they're doing. For example, our data shows that children's content is particularly popular on tablets, as they are devices kids can sit and play with wherever. BBC Three comedy is popular on smart phones, and is watched by young people while out and about or waiting for a bus or train.

Today, that barrier is lifted. With the launch of mobile downloads for iPlayer, on-the-go viewing is transformed. For the first time, you can watch BBC programmes on your phone or tablet even if you don't have a Wi-Fi connection or 3G signal. You can download multiple programmes to your device and store them for 30 days. Once you've pressed play you can keep watching for seven more days. Why not take your favourite shows with you when you go on holiday? You could watch them on the plane, on the beach, anywhere you want.

The new mobile downloads feature is initially available on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices running iOS 5.1. We will be bringing this feature to Android phones and tablets soon, and are looking at making downloads available on other devices in the future.

A mock up of how BBC iPlayer programmes look while downloading on an iPhone

Here is how you download your favourite TV show:

• Tap the Download option on the programme you want to save

• The programme will be added to your download queue

• When you next connect to Wi-Fi, open the app and the programme will automatically start downloading to your device

A download of Eastenders on an iPad

For those with kids who love watching Justin's House, a CBeebies favourite, they will now be able to enjoy Justin and his friends on a tablet or phone in the back of the car without the need for a 3G signal. And, people with smartphones can continue to enjoy the new series of Dr Who on the train or tube, without worrying about connections or data allowances - another benefit of downloading shows over Wi-Fi and watching them offline.

Today's launch is another big step towards ensuring BBC iPlayer and BBC programmes are available wherever and whenever you want. Download the app now and let me know in the comments what you've been watching and where.

The team would really welcome your comments and feedback on the downloads feature. When we Tweet about iPlayer we use a #bbciplayer hashtag, so if you would like to use this too that would be great.

I am always keen to know what you think and would love to hear from you.

David Madden is Executive Producer, TV & iPlayer Mobile, BBC Future Media

Some people have seen a black screen, with audio only, appear while playing a programme; while others have told us that programmes were suddenly restarting while you were watching. I understand how frustrating it is to have programmes interrupted in this way.

We always take operational issues seriously and our technical teams have been working hard to diagnose the cause of these problems.

Today we identified an underlying issue at the Content Delivery Network (CDN) which provides the BBC and some other broadcasters with video distribution over the internet. Our CDN partner has now deployed a fix which should resolve both the black screen problem and the programmes restarting issue. We are monitoring this closely over the weekend to ensure everything is working as it should.

Many thanks for all your feedback on this and we appreciate your patience while we investigated the problem.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager for BBC iPlayer on mobile

 

The BBC iPlayer Android app has achieved 1.3 million installs since it was launched in February 2011. Today we are releasing a new version of the app. This new version includes streaming over 3G networks and an updated Adobe Flash player, for improved playback.

3G Streaming

We have worked with the network operators to introduce 3G streaming to the BBC iPlayer apps so you can watch your favourite TV programme wherever you are or listen to the radio when you are out and about.

Today's update to the BBC iPlayer Android app includes 3G streaming for both live and catch up TV and radio programmes and works across all UK mobile networks.

The BBC iPlayer apps are a free service.

However, do be aware that your operator may charge you for the amount of 3G data you use. If you are unsure how much 3G data costs on your tariff, contact your network operator.

We currently redirect Android 3 tablets from the app to a BBC iPlayer mobile website that is optimised for the larger screen size. We have some more work to do on the mobile website to offer 3G streaming to Android 3 tablets and, for the time being, the mobile web experience on Android 3 will remain a Wi-Fi only service.

Updated Media Player

We have had a lot of feedback and Android Market comments on the video quality of the BBC iPlayer Android app. As a result of your comments a great deal of work has been done to improve the playback experience and this update includes an updated Adobe Flash player.

The app will, of course, evolve and improve as we refine the interface and add features.

The team would really welcome your comments and feedback on the app. When we Tweet about iPlayer we use a #bbciplayer hashtag, so if you would like to use this too, that would be great.

I am always keen to know what you think and would love to hear from you.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager for BBC iPlayer on mobile

Update; 6.30 p.m.

Some people have asked why the BBC iPlayer Android app asks for permission to access your phone's Network communication, Phone calls and System tools.

These are standard Android app permissions that are defined by the Google Android platform. The 3 permissions the BBC iPlayer Android app asks to use are:

Network Communication - full internet access.

Granting this permission provides the BBC iPlayer Android app with access to the internet so it can play programmes.

Phone Calls - read phone state and identity.

Granting this permission provides the BBC iPlayer Android app with phone communication status and notifies the application if the phone rings or a phone call is in progress. We use this to ensure that the BBC iPlayer app pauses if you receive a phone call while watching a programme. The BBC iPlayer Android app does not access or store any personal information, phone numbers or IMEI numbers.

System tools - preventing phone from sleeping, retrieve running applications.

Granting this permission provides the BBC iPlayer Android app with the ability to prevent the phone going to sleep when you are watching a programme.

Thanks.

iPlayer on iPhone

More and more people are choosing to watch their favourite television programmes or listen to the radio on their mobile phone or tablet.

There have been record figures for BBC iPlayer on mobile with 1.5 million installs on the Apple iPad and 1.2 million installs on Android devices since we launched the apps in February 2011.

In October 2011 alone 16.5 million programmes were watched on mobile devices and tablets, up by 129% from this time last year.

We want to make it a better and easier experience to catch up on your favourite programmes wherever you are and, today, we’re launching a BBC iPlayer app for the iPhone and iPod touch, and introducing 3G streaming across all mobile networks.

BBC iPlayer iPhone app

The BBC iPlayer app for the iPhone and iPod touch puts all of the BBC’s national television channels and radio networks in your pocket. You can now watch live television channels and listen to live radio stations wherever you are.

The app is available to download in the Apple App Store now and is compatible with iPod touch or iPhone 3GS and above, running iOS4.3 and above.

We have developed a neat live channel switcher so you can easily flick between channels just like on your TV or radio. If you want to see what else is on right now just tap on the ‘Live Channels’ button while you watch. So, if I’m watching BBC One on my phone and want to see what’s on BBC Two, I just tap on ‘Live Channels’ to switch over. It’s an easy way to see what’s on now and flip over.

The app is compatible with Apple AirPlay. If you are running iOS5, you can connect your iPhone or iPod touch to Apple TV and watch your favourite programme on your television.

You can listen to any of the BBC’s national radio stations in the app. To make this easier, we have enabled background audio so you can do other things on your phone, like check mail or surf the web, while listening to your favourite BBC radio station.

3G streaming

We have worked closely with the network operators to introduce 3G streaming and create a great mobile experience so you can watch your favourite TV programme wherever you are or listen to the radio when you are out and about.

3G streaming is enabled in the iPhone and iPad apps and will shortly be coming to the mobile web version of BBC iPlayer for all supported devices (go to bbc.co.uk/iplayer in your phone’s web browser).

Note that devices older than iPhone 3GS and iPhones and iPod touches that continue to access the mobile web version, will remain a Wi-Fi only service.

We have also done a lot of work to improve the playback experience on portable devices and have rolled out HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) video infrastructure for the apps, which uses adaptive bitrate technologies.

This enables us to detect the strength of your Wi-Fi or 3G connection and serve the appropriate video quality. If you have low internet signal strength then the video stream will adapt down to suit your connection speed; if you move onto a stronger signal then the video stream will automatically improve in quality. The idea is to give you the best possible experience wherever you are.

BBC iPlayer iPad app

The BBC iPlayer app for the iPad also receives an update, with iPad users also benefiting from 3G streaming and AirPlay.

BBC iPlayer Android app

We have also been working on the BBC iPlayer Android app. We have got a bit more work to do to improve the video playback experience and add 3G streaming and we will be releasing an update to the BBC iPlayer Android app in the new year. For the time being the Android app will carry on working with Wi-Fi connection only.

This is the first release of the BBC iPlayer app for iPhones and iPod touches and it will, of course, evolve and improve as we refine the interface and add features.

The team would really welcome your comments and feedback on the app. When we Tweet about iPlayer we use a #bbciplayer hashtag so if you would like to use this too that would be great.

I am always keen to know what you think and would love to hear from you.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager for BBC iPlayer on mobile

Here’s a quick demo of the new apps we’ve released today for Android (version 2.2) devices and for the iPad, both of which are available to download now from the Android Market and the Apple iTunes App Store.

Hope you enjoy the apps.

David Madden is Product Manager for mobile BBC iPlayer

The shortcut is a little downloadable app that places a BBC iPlayer icon on your Blackberry phone. This icon launches the BBC iPlayer mobile website in your phone's web browser.

The app is designed to give you convenient access to BBC iPlayer so you can enjoy BBC programmes on your Blackberry.

To download the app to your Blackberry phone you can either search for iPlayer in the Blackberry App store or visit this link on your Blackberry to install the app from the BBC mobile site.

Note that BBC iPlayer on Mobile is currently available on the Blackberry Bold 2 (9700), Storm 2 (9520/9550) and the Torch (9800).

For more on BBC iPlayer on Mobile and supported device see the iPlayer help pages.

You can also view BBC iPlayer on Mobile entry in the Blackberry App Store on your PC by clicking here.

We are working on other apps and shortcuts which will be launching over the coming months.

The team would really welcome your comments and feedback on apps. When we Tweet about apps we are going to use a #bbcapps hashtag so if you would like to use this too that would be great. We are always keen to know what you think.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager, Mobile Apps, BBC FM&T

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. The first of these apps is BBC News, and I'll be letting you know about the other BBC apps soon.

So, here's a bit more on the BBC News apps.

BBC News iPhone and iPod Touch app

The BBC News app puts the latest news from our journalists across the UK and the world in the palm of your hand. We've developed an easy to use design which lets you scroll through the latest headlines on your phone. The idea is to create a truly mobile experience that gives you quick access to BBC News on the move.

The app includes the BBC's top Stories, UK and International news, Business, Politics, Health, Education, Science and Environment, Technology and Entertainment stories as well as Features and Analysis from our correspondents around the world.

You can scroll sideways through each news category or up and down the page to access more BBC news sections. To refresh the stories in the app all you need to do is pull down on the interface with you thumb to load the latest news.

We have developed a neat personalisation feature which lets you re-order the news categories to suit your needs. The edit button, top right, reveals a customisation screen where you can add your favourite news sections by clicking on the green + icon and drag and drop each news category into the order of your choice. So, if you like technology news, like I do, you can move that section to the top.

The app includes a latest news banner to keep you up to date with breaking headlines and the BBC News Channel streamed live to your phone so you can keep up with the latest stories from the newsroom.

Clicking on story icons displays the full article on your phone. News stories include embedded video clips and social features so you can share each story via email, Facebook or your Twitter feed. In the article view you can either scroll sideways through each story using the navigation arrows at the top or swipe the story sideways with your thumb to move to the next article.

Finally, we have included a landscape view which you can access by turning your phone sideways. This view provides a handy way to skim through the headlines and get a quick summary of the latest news without having to jump in and out of each article.

BBC News iPad App

We have adapted the BBC News iPhone app for the iPad and developed a universal app that works both on the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad.

The BBC News iPad app uses the same design as the iPhone app to give you easy access to the latest news. You can scroll through news categories on the left hand side and personalise the experience by adding, removing and re-ordering the news in the Edit menu.

We have included live streaming of the BBC News Channel along with a breaking news banner and social features so you can share stories via email, Facebook and Twitter.

We have also designed a neat portrait view to give a larger reading experience when you turn the device sideways. In this view you can either swipe sideways through articles or click through the story icons at the top of the screen.

We have made a video demo of the BBC News iPad app which gives an overview of how the app works and the features we have developed.

This is the first release of the BBC News app in the UK and it will, of course, evolve and improve as we refine the interface and add features. Here's what we are looking at doing next:

1. Adding BBC Local News so you can get the full range of the BBC's regional coverage on your phone
2. Adding 3G streaming of the BBC News Channel so you can watch live BBC News when you are out and about. The live stream of the BBC News Channel is currently Wi-Fi only and we've got some BBC infrastructure coming online soon which will enable live streaming over 3G networks.
3. Further improvements, optimisation and enhancements to make the experience better and quicker

Blackberry Apps

A while ago we developed a series of launcher apps for Blackberry phones to give you quick access to the BBC News, BBC Sport and BBC mobile websites on Blackberry series 4.3 and above phones.

To install these apps on your Blackberry phone all you need to do is type this address into the web browser on your Blackberry phone and click on the icons to install the apps

If you have a BlackBerry Bold 2 (9700) or Storm 2 (9520/9550) you can download a short cut app for BBC iPlayer from this page as well.

We will be uploading these apps to Blackberry App World in the coming weeks so you can download them straight to your phone from the Blackberry app store.

The team have worked really hard to design, develop and launch these apps and we would really welcome your comments and feedback. When we Tweet about the apps we are going to use a #bbcapps hashtag so if you would like to use this too that would be great as we are keen to know what you think. Otherwise do post a comment on this blog post.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager, BBC Mobile.

• Read Erik Huggers announcement BBC Mobile Apps go live on the About the BBC blog and the statement from the BBC Trust on BBC mobile apps.

First, it's worth reflecting on what we are trying to achieve with the BBC iPlayer on mobile service. The BBC Online Service Licence, issued in May 2010, describes iPlayer's objectives as:

"BBC iPlayer should enable licence fee payers to access BBC programming quickly, easily and in a high quality format. In doing so, it should aim to be regarded as a high quality BBC service by its users and so contribute to their approval of the BBC.

BBC iPlayer should aim to maintain the BBC's overall reach and consumption levels, as usage of the BBC's linear services is replaced over time by on-demand consumption. In doing so, it should contribute in the long term to the BBC's ambition to provide services that are of value to all licence fee payers. It should aim at least to maintain consumption of BBC content by younger adults (those aged 16-34)....

...In fulfilling its other aims and objectives, BBC iPlayer should aim to contribute to the growth in the usage of rich media in broadband households. Within a reasonable timescale, it should aim to make the seven-day catch-up offering available on a platform-neutral basis, or at the least to be available on all major platforms subject to value for money considerations and as technology allows."

Given these overall objectives, BBC iPlayer on mobile is tasked with maximising reach on mobile platforms while delivering a high quality BBC service in a cost-effective way.

The big question, and it's a question being pondered by other content providers right across the industry, is: how do we scale services across multiple mobile platforms in a cost and resource efficient way?

The mobile landscape is very fragmented with a host of operating systems and a proliferation of screen sizes, resolutions, video codecs and web browsers. Developing for each platform soon becomes very expensive. Maintaining and supporting each variant requires more and more resource as each operating system releases new firmware versions and upgrades.

Rolling out new BBC iPlayer features across all mobile platforms would also be increasingly expensive as would the associated testing and support effort. As new phones and new operating systems enter the market, we would be obliged to support the new ones as well as the old ones adding to our support overheads.

To get an idea of the range of mobile platforms and the potential complexity of development see, for example, this Wikipedia article about mobile application development.

Given these development challenges, our approach has been to build a scalable website that works in the phone's web browser and can be easily tweaked to achieve that high quality experience on a range of internet enabled mobile devices.

The BBC iPlayer on mobile website is modular with a series of components that can be easily switched on or off depending on the phone's capabilities. The practical upshot of this is that if there's a feature which your phone can't handle, you won't even see it (rather than having something that's there even if it won't work for you).

The advantages of a web solution for BBC iPlayer on mobile is we can leverage the BBC's existing web technologies and software development skills while minimising the number of iPlayer variants and special builds we have to support. We just have to build and maintain a single website.

Our web approach also means that new features, like those rolled out with the recent Version 3 release, only need to be built once, rather than for each variant or operating system. We also benefit from infrastructure efficiencies by using existing servers, development environments and encoding and delivery systems. For more on the infrastructure behind BBC iPlayer see Marina Kalkanis's blog post.

We could have enabled the BBC iPlayer on mobile website on all video enabled phones without any restrictions or exceptions. This would have maximized our reach, but would have resulted in a very poor quality experience on many phones as video playback capabilities and web browser rendering vary across devices. Some users would have had a good experience while others suffered a sub-optimal service with features not working and poor video playback quality.

To maintain the consistently high quality service demanded by our service licence we have had to test the BBC iPlayer on mobile website on a device-by-device basis to make sure that everything works and we deliver the best possible user experience.

So, how do we prioritise which phones we test and enable BBC iPlayer on?

We look at the reach potential of a device to understand how many licence fee payers we can make the service available to through that phone. We also evaluate the resource and maintenance costs of enabling a high quality iPlayer experience on that device. In addition we assess whether we can apply technology solutions we already have to new devices with minimum effort, an example of this would be BBC iPlayer streaming on iPad as the tech needed is very similar to that which enables us to stream iPlayer on iPhones. This is driven by our overall objective of maximizing reach on mobile platforms while delivering a high quality BBC service in a cost-effective way.

We have limited resources on BBC iPlayer on mobile and therefore have to carefully prioritise development work to maximise reach and value. So, if, for example, I have 15 units of work I need to do on mobile iPlayer (support, maintenance, new features, new handsets etc) but only 5 units of effort available, I've got to focus on the high volume phones to get the service out to as many people as possible.

I hope that gives an overview of what the BBC is trying to achieve with BBC iPlayer on mobile and outlines the approach we have adopted.

I'd now like to turn to some of the specific questions raised in the comments on my previous blog post.

Tiggs questioned why the BBC took down the beebPlayer which worked on older Android devices and did not rely on Flash, and why we have replaced it with something that only works on newer devices and requires Flash.

The BBC's syndication policy, which governs how the BBC makes its services available through other parties, clearly outlines the criteria for using BBC content. BeebPlayer was not a licensed distributor of BBC content online or on mobile. The BBC routinely looks for unauthorised usage of our brand and our content across all platforms and when we encounter it we work to resolve the issue. If on investigation we find that a company's service proposition does not adhere to our standard licence terms and conditions, we will take steps to remedy the issue.

Why has the BBC replaced beebPlayer with something that only works on newer devices and requires Flash?

Using Adobe Flash 10.1 streaming on mobile delivers significant infrastructure efficiencies for the BBC, as we use our existing video and audio encoding plant to create the streams. We don't need to install any new kit or set up any new servers. We just use what we already have to offer a higher quality BBC iPlayer on mobile experience.

Enabling Flash on Android 2.2 devices also means that all current and new devices that support Android 2.2 can get BBC iPlayer. These devices all use the same standard Flash player which means we can offer a consistently high quality playback across all of them. Previously we had to review and test BBC iPlayer on a device-by-device basis to ensure the right high quality experience. Now we can offer BBC iPlayer on mobile to a whole group of devices at once, which is clearly much more efficient.

Chris questioned why the BBC has chosen Flash over a more open and accessible standard.

Adobe Flash reaches an estimated 95% of PCs which means the BBC can use Flash streaming technologies to reach audiences on the internet right across the UK with a consistent video playback experience.

As soon as Flash streaming came to mobile, through Adobe's Flash 10.1 player on Android 2.2 devices, it made sense to make the most of our existing Flash infrastructure to bring that consistent playback experience to mobile as well.

Why haven't we enabled BBC iPlayer on mobile on any other Android phones apart from Android version 2.2?

BBC iPlayer on mobile's reach objectives mean we have had to prioritise other devices that offer the BBC wider reach over current Android phones.

The best way to bring BBC iPlayer to earlier versions of Android (which don't support Flash), is to develop an app. This would provide a single scalable version that could be offered to all Android phones.

The BBC Trust is conducting a review of the BBC's plans to develop smartphone apps. The BBC will therefore not be launching any Android apps or apps for any other smartphone in the UK pending the outcome of the BBC Trust review.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager for BBC iPlayer on Mobile.

BBC iPlayer on mobile adapts the new BBC iPlayer website design to the small screen and integrates a new Favourites tab for easy access to all your favourite programmes.

You can add any programme or series to your Favourites. If you add a series to favourites, BBC iPlayer will automatically add all new episodes in that series as soon as they are available in iPlayer so you will never miss your favourite programmes.

We are always looking to deliver the best BBC iPlayer experience on mobile. The new design aims to improve the user experience by introducing a cleaner layout with a simpler, easier to use interface.

As mobile phones become more and more powerful and web video technologies are extended to mobile platforms, we can offer an even higher quality mobile playback experience.

Over the last few months I've been working with Adobe to bring their new Flash 10.1 streaming to BBC iPlayer on mobile on Google Android 2.2 ('FroYo') devices.

We've adapted the Flash based embedded media player (EMP) that you see right across the BBC website to work on the small screen and created a 400 kbps Flash stream to provide a really good playback experience.

First off, we did some development work to scale down the Flash based embedded media player to fit the mobile screen and tweaked the playback controls to mobile friendly touch/tap input rather than the mouse click controls found on a PC.

We then embedded the Flash player into the BBC iPlayer on mobile webpage to enable playback in full screen and on the page.

Adobe did a lot of work to optimise the Flash 10.1 experience and get the BBC iPlayer on mobile playback quality looking really good. However, the 400kbps encode requires a powerful mobile phone processor and a Wi-Fi connection to ensure a smooth viewing experience. This means that only newer, more powerful phones connected via Wi-Fi can support the Flash 10.1 streaming experience.

Some commenters have objected to the BBC's use of Flash to deliver this kind of service. However, using Adobe Flash 10.1 streaming on mobile delivers significant infrastructure efficiencies for the BBC as we use our existing video and audio encoding plant to create the streams. We don't need to install any new kit or set up any new servers. We just use what we already have to bring a higher quality BBC iPlayer on mobile experience to mobile devices.

So, if you've got an Android 2.2 phone or can upgrade your Android device to 2.2 then point your phone's web browser to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer to access the new Flash 10.1 streaming experience.

You'll need to download and install the free Adobe Flash 10.1 player from the Android Market. This is easy to do - the installation can be initiated from the BBC iPlayer on mobile webpage.

Note that the BBC Trust is conducting a review of the BBC's plans to develop smartphone apps. The BBC will therefore not be launching any Android apps or apps for any other smartphone in the UK pending the outcome of the BBC Trust review. This version of BBC iPlayer is web browser based, rather than an Android app.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager for BBC iPlayer on Mobile.

Our aim is to develop core public service apps that bring some of the BBC's most popular and distinctive content to mobile in a genuinely user-friendly and accessible way.

Mobile apps offer us a great opportunity to extend the reach of BBC Online to people on the move. As more and more of us come to rely on the mobile internet for up to the minute information, the BBC needs to offer its existing web services in a more mobile friendly format to ensure we keep delivering value to the licence fee payer.

In designing these apps we haven't created any new content or developed any new services. It's just the same BBC Online content repurposed to provide a better experience on a mobile phone.

According to M:Metrics, the BBC mobile site is currently the second most popular UK destination on the mobile internet, attracting more than six million visitors a month. As mobile phones become more powerful and connectivity more accessible, mobile has become an increasingly important outlet for the BBC.

So, a little bit more about the apps themselves.

BBC News

We've put together a demo of the News app to show you what it looks like and how it works. Please bear in mind that this is an early version and the final app will be tweaked and improved as we refine the design.

Click with your mouse, or use the right cursor arrow on your keyboard to move through the screens.

The main screen uses a carousel structure so you can quickly catch up on the news by sliding each row sideways to skim through the latest stories. You can also personalise the experience by reordering the rows to put your favourite news section at the top. So, if you like technology news, like I do, then you can easily move that section to the top.

You can read full stories by clicking on any thumbnail. Stories include embedded video along with options to share stories with your friends and send your pictures and video straight to the newsroom from your phone.

We have also developed a neat landscape view which lets you scan through the headlines when you turn your phone sideways. The idea is to provide a handy way to flick through the latest news without having to jump in and out of each story.

The BBC News app will be released in April and more features will be added throughout the year. You can find out how this will fit into the BBC News offering by reading Pete Clifton over in BBC News blog.

BBC Sport

The app will be released in time for the World Cup with Live, competitions, News, and Audio and Video sections. We will add further sports to the app, such as Formula 1, later in the year. Brett Spencer 5 live's interactive editor talks a bit more about the app and 5 live content on mobile on the 5live blog.

BBC iPlayer

Variants of each app would be developed to ensure they are properly optimised for different mobile platforms.

In other news:

• Mobile IQ are designing and developing the first variant of the BBC News and BBC Sports apps in the Apple SDK.
• For the BBC iPlayer apps we're looking at using Adobe Flash Player 10.1 streaming, and are trialling on the Google Nexus One and Motorola Milestone. Flash 10.1 streaming offers a high quality viewing experience and means we can start using the BBC's flash based embedded media player (EMP) on mobile phones.

It's an exciting time for the BBC's mobile team, and I'll blog more about this in the coming months.

David Madden is Executive Product Manager in the BBC Future Media and Technology Mobile team with responsibility for BBC iPlayer on mobile and mobile apps.

We've developed a downloadable app which you can install by going to https://meleleh.pages.dev/iplayer on your Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB or your Nokia E71.

Catch Up TV

The mobile app combines the BBC's iPlayer catch-up TV service and live TV and live radio. As on desktop iPlayer, you can browse through Highlighted or Most Popular shows or view the last 7 days of BBC programmes by channel or category. We have also included a handy search function and channel listings for the last 7 days.

You will notice that catch-up radio is missing from BBC iPlayer on mobile on the Nokia N95, N95 8GB and E71. The reason for this is we need to do a little more work testing the catch-up radio encodes. I didn't want to delay the launch of BBC iPlayer on mobile on the Nokia N95, N95 8GB and Nokia E71 while we waited for the catch-up radio encodes and we will be adding this feature imminently.

Live TV and Live Radio

The Live TV tab includes the BBC TV channels, each accompanied by a simple Now and Next listing. All you need to do is click on the channel logo to watch TV on your phone. Similarly, the live radio tab lists all of the BBC's national radio networks, which you can now listen to where ever you are.

You may notice that some Live TV or radio programmes are marked 'programme unavailable'. This is because the BBC does not have mobile rights to all of our programmes so we have to remove those shows from the live streams.

At the moment, the BBC only has the technical capacity to encode the national radio networks and the BBC London version of our TV channels on mobile. This means BBC iPlayer on mobile doesn't yet offer live streams of BBC local radio stations or the BBC television channels for the regional nations like, for example, BBC One Scotland or BBC Two Wales. These will be coming in due course.

You will also notice that Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra are not included on the Live Radio section of BBC iPlayer on mobile. This is because the BBC does not have the mobile rights to some of the sport coverage provided by those radio networks. We therefore would have to remove those programmes from the live streams and we don't yet have the systems in place for doing this on radio. This is coming soon.

Downloading Programmes

You can download full TV programmes on the Nokia E71 and watch them any time you want for up to 7 days, after which they will expire. This is really great if you commute on the train or the tube, like I do. Each week I've downloaded The Apprentice on my Nokia N96 to watch on the tube on my way home from work. We've optimised the picture quality on downloads and it's so convenient to download your favourite programmes to your phone and watch them any time you want for the next 7 days.

The BBC only has the rights to make TV programmes available in iPlayer for a limited number of days after the original broadcast. We therefore have to use Digital Rights Management (DRM) software to ensure downloaded programmes expire after 7 days. BBC iPlayer on mobile uses OMA 2.0 DRM for its download service. For the OMA 2.0 DRM software to work, special authentication certificates need to be installed on the phone when it is manufactured. Nokia pre-installed these certificates on the E71, but not on the N95 or N95 8GB. So, unfortunately, we can't offer programme downloads to the N95s.

Streaming over Wi-Fi and 3G Networks

The BBC has a committed to giving our audiences convenient access to our programmes wherever you are, and, from the outset, we designed BBC iPlayer on mobile as both a streaming and download service. We also decided to only offer BBC iPlayer on mobile to phones that include a wireless broadband, or Wi-Fi, connection. This is because the BBC can deliver higher quality streams and provide a much richer playback experience over Wi-Fi.

If you have a phone that is compatible with BBC iPlayer on mobile, and are connected to Wi-Fi, then you will be able to access BBC iPlayer on mobile regardless of which mobile network operator your phone contract is with.

So, if you are a 3 customer, or a Vodafone contract customer, then you can play full BBC programmes over either your Wi-Fi or 3G connections. If you are a customer of any other UK mobile network operator you can still use BBC iPlayer, but only when your phone is connected via Wi-Fi.

Here's how that works on your phone. If the BBC detects a phone accessing BBC iPlayer on mobile over 3G on a network other than 3 or Vodafone, we will display a 'switch to Wi-Fi' message when you come to play a programme. This will prompt the user to connect via their wireless broadband (Wi-Fi) connection before being able to play the programme.

The BBC are working to get BBC iPlayer on mobile accessible across more 3G networks in the UK and will let you know when we have more news on this.

If you have a Nokia N95, N95 8GB or a Nokia E71 I hope you try out the BBC iPlayer on mobile application and enjoy watching BBC programmes whenever and wherever you want on your phone.

Try watching a downloaded programme on the train or listening to the radio when you are in the park or out for a walk. Or have a go connecting your phone to your home Wi-Fi and catching up on your favourite BBC programmes.

Interestingly, our initial research suggests that many people enjoying using BBC iPlayer on mobile in bed at night. It's always nice to catch a bit of your favourite programme before you turn the light out.

You can install the BBC iPlayer on mobile app by going to https://meleleh.pages.dev/iplayer on your Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB or your Nokia E71. BBC iPlayer on mobile is also available on a range of other devices.

David Madden is the Executive Producer for Mobile Media in the BBC's Future Media and Technology, Audio and Music and Mobile team.