The BBC may be one of the oldest and most venerable broadcasting institutions known the world over, but even the British Broadcasting Corporation isn’t immune to the loss of market share to the mobile news business. With more people than ever turning off their television screen in favor of the mobile screen, the BBC is now investing time and resources into building up its mobile news presence.
This week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the BBC announced that a dedicated news app will be available and free to download this spring. The news app will be supplemented by the introduction of a BBC Sport app to launch shortly thereafter. In addition to the iPhone applications, the BBC is making arrangements to take their apps to BlackBerrys and Google Android-powered smartphones.
According to the formal announcement, the news app will “offer content from the BBC News website, including stories and blogs, as well as audio and visual content.”
Making the process an interactive one, users will be allowed to submit comments and even pictures directly to the BBC newsroom.
“[Audiences] want to access digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them,” says Erik Huggers, the BBC’s director of future media and technology.
