BBC

Lawrence Gripper, the well-known developer behind the BBC News Mobile app for Windows Phone, has published a new entry on his personal blog. The news isn't good, folks. Gripper details the removal of the app from the Windows Phone store, which is likely due to the entanglement between himself and the BBC. This announcement follows on from the hold on development.

This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. The BBC has announced, in a recent blog post about mobile and the iPlayer service, that a Windows Phone app is well on the way. Consumers who reside within the UK will soon be able to enjoy content on the catch-up service. This will prove to be a huge boost for Windows Phone as a top media provider looks to support the platform. So when can we expect to see the app arrive?

Just recently the BBC released yet more new apps for Apple’s iPhone and announced plans for more support of Google Android devices. The corporation has stated publically the need to make its content available to all in as many ways as possible but has persistently refused to develop a single app for Windows Phone. They now state they have no plans to support a Windows 8 app too.

The BBC have often cited incompatibilities in their chosen media formats with Windows Phone and the relatively small market share for the platform as being reasons not to make an app. In the latest statement from the ‘beeb’ it’s also apparent that market share and file types aren’t the only thing stopping them developing for Microsoft operating systems. Reason and logic don’t seem to come into play.

BBC News Mobile version 4 is yet again available on the Windows Phone Store. This latest version was previously pulled by the developer for having a bug that prevented the app from launching successfully. We reached out to Lawrence Gripper who revealed to Windows Phone Central that an update was on the way.

It looks like Nokia got a new talent agent because it has once again seen one of its phones get a walk-on role on a TV show. This time around, it's the cyan Lumia 800 in the BBC series Cuckoo, starring Saturday Night Live alum, Andy Samberg. Not only was it featured on the show, but it also looks to have gotten it's very own close-up.

During last night’s WPUG meet in central London, we got a chance to catch up with Richard from Igneous Software. BBC Podcast lounge is a must-have app for those that want to catch up on all the amazing and free content from Auntie Beeb. Richard was able to give me a quick walkthrough of the latest update that is currently in testing.

The current app is great but with this update, Richard looks to be taking a logical and very welcome next step. From 1.4 onwards users will be able to subscribe to podcasts. Great news, even better is that it offers options to keep up to 3 podcasts of each. That is very similar to the options presented on the Zune desktop client. Whilst the Zune music hub in Windows Phone is great, it’s not possible to subscribe to podcasts or even browse and download manually. The only way to get podcasts on your device through Zune is to first connect to the computer, subscribe to the podcast and then sync with your phone, once that’s done it will grab them. It’s a far from convenient solution, something better needed to be found.

The folks at Igneous Software, the wizards behind some superbly crafted Windows Phone apps, have been busy working on updates for the popular (and highly rated) BBC Podcast Lounge. In an official blog post, Richard Castle goes into depth about what the team has been up to, namely adding auto-subscribing and downloading for favourite programmes in BBC Podcast Lounge 1.4, which is just about to go into testing.

There's more though. The team have also been looking at new project ideas, one that they've lightly touched on in the article. Many of us (who reside in the UK) deeply desire iPlayer streaming functionality on Windows Phone from the BBC, but we're still yet to see anything. Before you get overexcited and imagine Igneous Software developing an actual iPlayer on-demandTV app, unfortunately this is still not yet possible. 

Instead the team have been busy looking at a potential BBC iPlayer Radio app. A working prototype is currently being played with that enables the user to reliably stream the previous seven days worth of programming on any BBC national (and regional) radio station. Want to know something more amazing? This functionality is one step further than what's present on both the iPhone and Android, which offer only national stations. It's that much sweeter indeed.

So we've got the BBC Radio Player and BBC Podcast Lounge app maturing nicely with frequent updates and more functionality being introduced, and now we've got a potential BBC iPlayer Radio app on the horizon. Once they're content with how the BBC Podcast Lounge is heading, the team will look at turning this concept into a feasible app to launch on the Marketplace.

Keep posted for more updates and be sure to check out Igneous Software apps that are already available. We also interviewed Richard Castle, which is well worth the read.

The BBC, responsible for a a number of entertainment sources, has released an official Top Gear app for Windows Phone. Should you be a fan of the motor series you'll want to check out this beauty. The app sports an intuitive interface, which is rich in Metro goodness. So what can one do when using the Top Gear app? 

From checking out the latest news and reviews, users can check out videos and galleries for a multimedia experience. Clips from the popular TV show can be viewed while reading up on the latest rants and opinions from the trio of driving action. As well as the usual integrated services, those who use the app are able to check out behind the scene exclusives from the team, not to mention previews of upcoming Top Gear related news / media.

When viewing videos, the multimedia can be downloaded and saved locally on the Windows Phone for journeys with little signal, or to save the pennies by preventing the data allowance being hit.

You can download the Top Gear app from the Marketplace for free. Thanks everyone who tipped us!

BBC Podcast Lounge has been released on the Windows Phone Marketplace. Developed by Igneous Software, who are responsible for the BBC Radio apps, the app enables users to browse and listen to an array of podcast programmes available from the BBC. From arts and drama to comedy and quizzes, the catalogue has enough content for everyone's taste.

Some of the highlighted features:

• Background audio playback
• Familiar interface with panorama
• Search by programme title
• List by category or station
• Ability to select favourites
• Ability to pin programme to start
• Full integration with music + video hub
• Playback continues under lock screen

We mentioned in our quick look at BBC Podcast Lounge that there was no functionality present to pin programmes to the home screen for more convenient access, this has been added for the v1.0 release. Check out our quick run through of the app in the below video.

You can download BBC Podcast Lounge from the Marketplace for free.