The BBC have released an App for the iPad for BBC iPlayer. I have now used it a few times and to be honest, it’s just okay. I think it is better than the website version of iPlayer on the iPad and it seems to be a little more stable. A bit easier to go back to a video you have paused for example.
Navigation is slightly different to the website version you get on the iPad, but not much really too different.
This is the iPad App.
This is iPlayer on the iPad browser.
So my next question is why?
Why on earth did the BBC spend time and money on an app for the iPad if it adds virtually nothing to the experience that you get from using the website on the iPad?
So is the content different from what you get on the web on the iPad? As you know from my previous post what you see on the iPad is never the full iPlayer experience, and from what I can see on the App the availability is the same as you get via the web on the iPad, ie less than what you get in a full web browser on your computer.
So can you download content for offline viewing? Like when you are on a train? Something you can do on your computer. Well no, you have to have a decent internet connection to watch BBC iPlayer.
In the end I can’t see what the app adds that viewing on the iPlayer on Safari doesn’t have already, apart from “favourites”. What’s the point of that as most content disappears in under seven days anyway…
Hopefully this is version one.