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More iPhone SDK Hints? BBC iPlayer, Gameloft Games

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Guardian.co.uk reports on BBC announcements about their iPlayer streaming television service, including usage stats. Amongst the announcements, however, is also the tidbit that the BBC will be launching their iPlayer service to be available on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch devices in "the next few weeks".

There are surprisingly few details about this iPhone version of the BBC's iPlayer. The BBC's iPlayer currently comes in two flavors: a web streaming version as well as a Windows-only downloadable version.

TheRegister.co.uk claims that this means that the BBC will be transcoding their shows from Flash into H.264 video just as Youtube has, and also claims the iPhone iPlayer will be Wi-Fi only and that the BBC has a deal with hotspot provider The Cloud to offer free access to bbc.co.uk and iPlayer. While the "next few week" timeframe corresponds to the scheduled release of the iPhone SDK, it's never explicitly stated that this version of the iPlayer will be a dedicated player. A DigitalSpy.co.uk article even notes that it is possible only "because of the devices' good web support", suggesting it may simply be a specially designed web portal.

Meanwhile, PocketGamer.co.uk posts photos from a Gameloft keynote speech in which an iPhone game is depicted. The image may simply be a mockup, however, rather than an actual peak at an upcoming iPhone game.

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Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/02/20/more-iphone-sdk-hints-bbc-iplayer-gameloft-games/
rockstarjoe

rockstarjoe

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2006
875
76
washington dc
Boy if they are actually going to have a special event before the end of the month they are going to need to get an invite out the door soon (by the end of this week, I'd imagine). So hopefully we'll know more soon.
 
Astro8973

Astro8973

macrumors regular
Jan 14, 2008
133
0
Bbc?

why the **** should i care about bbc and lame ass games? i want real apps! **** bad shows and cheap ass games :D
 
UCLA-Bruin

UCLA-Bruin

macrumors member
Feb 19, 2008
79
7
... and "iPlayer" how unoriginal and confusing when an application on the "iPhone". Do we really need any or some of the iPhone applications to have an "i-" prefix? Even "vBBC" would be a slight improvement?
 
H

hoppo99

macrumors member
May 8, 2005
74
0
London, UK
Sounds great. The iPlayer site currently uses Flash so unless, as theregister.co.uk suggests, the BBC will release h.264 versions of their programmes like YouTube this would mean that the iPhone will be getting Flash support. Streaming would only ever work in a wifi hotspot, though with a possible 3G iPhone in the works that may change.

There would be no point having an iPlayer app for the iPhone. What would be better were for the BBC to release programmes (for free for UK users) through iTunes so that they could be synched from there.

All I want now is access to the iPlayer site (for streaming) for :apple:TV - then I will buy one.
 
T

thecritix

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2006
284
0
West London, England
Astro8973 said:
why the **** should i care about bbc and lame ass games? i want real apps! **** bad shows and cheap ass games :D
Click to expand...

with the greatest of respect sir.. do you know how much crap i have to read about AT&T? If someone on the board farts its a MR frontpage item.

In the Uk this would be awesome, effectively meaning you can watch TV on your iphone. I don't have an iPhone but this would certainly make one more attractive.
 
I

iLeoMarc

macrumors regular
Jul 22, 2007
229
21
UCLA-Bruin said:
... and "iPlayer" how unoriginal and confusing when an application on the "iPhone". Do we really need any or some of the iPhone applications to have an "i-" prefix? Even "vBBC" would be a slight improvement?
Click to expand...

iPlayer is the name of their web serviced, which they used for a while now.
 
N

northernpaul

macrumors member
Feb 20, 2008
42
0
In the long-term, I think it's inevitable that storage-based devices will be redundant. All data will just stream from servers. In this respect, a flash based BBC iPlayer is advanced.

However, in the shorter-term, BBC really should look at using a system similar to that used for iTunes rentals. By doing this (perhaps with terms modified from 30 days/24 hours?) they'd be able to give episodes to people for free, whilst still retaining the ability to sell episodes in the future by DVD.
 
R

russellelly

macrumors regular
Jun 23, 2006
139
41
Glasgow, UK
WiFi is nowhere near ubiqutous enough for this to be seriously useful. Free download and use FairlPlay DRM ala movie rentals and we have a deal :)
 
S

Stig McNasty

macrumors regular
Sep 18, 2007
127
35
thecritix said:
with the greatest of respect sir.. do you know how much crap i have to read about AT&T? If someone on the board farts its a MR frontpage item.

In the Uk this would be awesome, effectively meaning you can watch TV on your iphone. I don't have an iPhone but this would certainly make one more attractive.
Click to expand...

Absolutely have to agree. As soon as something happens outside the US of A we have to sufffer *yawns* from the colonials... As for Apple TV rentals etc that have still to leave their homeland...

Mind you, Eastenders is toss, as is Catherine Tate, but there's more than enough good stuff to make the 'BBC on iPhone' brilliant for us Brits.
 
D

dopeytree

macrumors regular
Jan 9, 2007
149
16
UK
iTunes!?

come on we want to be able to download the tv shows free from itunes like pc users can and then put it on to ipods/iphones this makes sence and allows you to watch the shows when your far from wifi :)
 
P

Project

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2005
2,297
0
I think they should also ensure the live BBC News video player goes the same route. It comes with no DRM currently but uses a Windows Media codec, limiting it to devices that have the codec.
 
johnnyjibbs

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
Now we're talking! Forget about the new BBC Worldwide shows on iTunes - this is what we really want. It sounds like they'll be keeping it away from iTunes, therefore severing ties with the computer. But if it's just a web portal, what's to stop someone somewhere outside the UK (i.e. a non-licence-payer) hacking in and grabbing the content for free?

This could be a VERY good reason to drop some cash on an iPhone in the coming weeks... :D
 
Virgil-TB2

Virgil-TB2

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2007
1,143
1
Stig McNasty said:
Absolutely have to agree. As soon as something happens outside the US of A we have to sufffer *yawns* from the colonials... As for Apple TV rentals etc that have still to leave their homeland...
Click to expand...
I also am getting tired of the constant US-centric, Gamer-centric, SDK-centric slant of most posters on this forum. There is a world beyond the USA (it's quite big actually), and only a tiny minority of folks are really interested in playing "bad-ass" games on their pocket devices. Ignorant Yankies abound it seems. :(

Throughout all the flag-waving about iTunes and movie rentals and so forth, people should remember that iTunes *still* only has a tiny fraction of non-DRM music content, and apparently no new content being added. :eek:

They should also realise that outside of the USA, iTunes has *no* movie or television content at all except for a few (notably bad or poorly rated) TV shows in Canada and in the UK as a sop to those who have been complaining about this for years.

As a Canadian, I can't rent a movie through AppleTV, and the only TV shows available are 80% American (and they are the dregs of American TV). The rest are shows like "The Border" that stink so bad, CBC is throwing it on iTunes in a desperate attempt to generate interest.

Like as not BBC iTunes content will not be available in Canada, and almost certainly (based on their history), they will **** up the implementation in some way. But *any* announcement of *any* content is welcome to me.
 
P

pev

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2002
33
0
Near Bath, UK
I don't get this...

How does this point to the SDK?

Apple already has time-limited DRM content support in iTunes as used to do AppleTV movie rentals. It's pretty straightforward to assume theres no technical reason that these rentals couldnt be used with the iPhone/iPod. Given this mechanism, the BBC's iplayer model is just more video content but with a different 'rental' period. Same infrastructure, no SDK required.

Then again, given that the BBC are already using flash for the iplayer site, it could point to flash on the iPhone/iPod if you interpret the announcement a different way...

~Pev
 
johnnyjibbs

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
From the Register.co.uk

iPlayer availability on the iPhone will be via Wi-Fi only as O2's EDGE data network is too slow. However, the BBC has a deal with hotspot provider The Cloud to offer free access to bbc.co.uk and iPlayer.
Click to expand...
Could this be the strongest incentive yet to wait for the 3G iPhone?
 
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