BBC News app gets go-ahead

I missed a significiant announcement while away on hols for the past two weeks: the launch of the free BBC News app for the iPhone and iPad.

The app was originally due in April, but the launch was delayed while the BBC Trust assessed the proposals and their impact on the rest of the industry.

According to Dominic Ponsford, editor of Press Gazette, "The concern the newspaper industry has is that the survival of our big independent news organisations largely depends on them being able to make money from new platforms other than print."

Of course, this is basically a reference to digital - both mobile, in the form of SmartPhones and apps, and the internet (in the form of ad-lead and subscription-based sites). It seems that iPhones and similar devices are the next big hope for the newspaper industry - although reports of the sector's death are 'greatly exaggerated' (as Mark Twain famously said in reference to his prematurely published obituary notice) since small business can still benefit from gaining coverage in the local media.

15 Useful Business Apps

Those smart people at BNET UK have published a great article listing 5 useful business applications for each of the iPhone, Android and Ovi (Nokia) platforms.

I haven't downloaded any for my iPhone yet, but the car mileage app looks particularly helpful since I can offset the cost of any petrol used for business - but need to keep track of those trips.

Anyway, here are the links to the lists for each platform. Choose the one(s) appropriate to your phone(s).

5 business apps for iPhone owners
5 business apps for owners of smartphones using Android
5 business apps for Nokia owners

When progress provokes anger

According to an article in Mobile News, Apple iPhone customers with 3G phones are annoyed about the launch of iPhone4 (although the gripes don't relate to the technical glitches endured by Steve Jobs).

The report suggests that these owners "feel duped" by Apple and "angry at purchasing new devices just weeks before [the] iPhone 4 announcement." I was in a similar position when I bought my own iPhone 3G in Autumn 2009, cancelling my Vodafone contract because O2 was the only UK provider at that time. Just a couple of months later, Vodafone starting selling iPhones too!

While severing my contract with Vodafone proved long-winded and problematic, I wouldn't use the word 'duped' or even 'angry' to describe my reaction to the situation. I assume they couldn't mention their marketing plans at the time of my request to leave due to the need for commercial secrecy. Fair enough - and the same can be said for Apple's surprise announcement about iPhone4.

Most of the time, technical progress is achieved through stealth; the result of closely guarded R&D. As consumers, we just have to accept that sometimes we'll lose out... but in the long-term, we'll win because the technology's improving.

Not a good week for Apple

Two Mashable reports from this week show that it's not been a good one if you're an Apple employee (or fan).

The first story revealed that the international launch of the iPad had been delayed, although admittedly this was because the pre-orders had been higher than expected.

The second is that an iPhone OS 4 beta jailbreak tool has been released, meaning that the hackers must have been busy as Steve Jobs was making the announcement! There again, in today's digital age, hacking rather than copying could be considered the sincerest form of flattery...

iPhone 4.0 Operating System: The Overview

In case you missed it, here's a short video showing Apple's Steve Jobs previewing the new iPhone operating system.

And here's the report from Mashable on the event, highlighting the most important development as the ability to multi-task (have more than one app running at a time). This had been one of the major drawbacks of past and present generations of iPhone, and certainly the one that persuaded many business users to stick with their BlackBerry (where multi-tasking is very do-able).

Jobs also announced iAd, a mobile advertising solution that's built into the iPhone 4.0 OS so that interactive video content can be included in an ad without taking the user out of the application. This is likely to increase click-throughs and generate income for apps developers, while keeping app-addicted users happy. Sounds like it's a good solution.

App Store Avalanche Continues

Yesterday, Apple announced that more than 3 billion apps have now been downloaded from the App Store.

Here's how some of the IT news outlets reported the announcement:
Information Week
TechCrunch
ZDNet

Not surprisingly, all of the items I've read suggest that the timing of this announcement was intended as a spoiler for Google's launch of the Nexus One smartphone, which it hopes to rival the iPhone at some point.

The question is, will the avalanche bury the newcomer without trace? I doubt it.

(Image courtesy of Maistora on Flickr)

Kindle app reaches UK

I've blogged elsewhere about electronic reading devices and digital books, but wanted to return to the subject here because one of the biggest players in the market, the Amazon Kindle, has launched an iPhone app in the UK.

PC Pro reports that users can buy their eBooks from the Kindle store and then read them via their iPhone.

This is a great move by Amazon, even if it is an admission that even the most gadget-crazed consumers may want to minimise the number of devices they carry around, rather than have multiple handsets with distinct uses.

I haven't seen/used the Kindle app yet - but it's FREE and I enjoy reading so will report back soon.