Update: The iPhone version of the BBC iPlayer (Global) app is now available for free on the App Store - it comes as a universal app that runs on both the iPad and iPhone.
The global version of BBC iPlayer first began rolling out internationally five months ago and is now available in sixteen countries around the world. So far the video-on-demand service, offering BBC content to an international audience, has only been available on the iPad. That will change this Thursday when the BBC iPlayer app will become available for the iPhone and iPod touch.
The announcement was made by Jana Bennett, President of Worldwide Networks and Global BBC iPlayer who noted that “moving to iPhone and iPod Touch allows us to take the service to a significant new potential audience and deliver fantastic programme content from the BBC and the UK’s creative industry”.
This platform extension shows how Global iPlayer isn’t just about moving TV to tablet devices, it’s also about a mobile strategy – about truly getting TV everywhere in a way that it hasn’t been before.
Bennett also announced that programs from DRG will also begin to appear on the BBC iPlayer service in early 2012. DRG is a program distributor that owns programs such as Peep Show, Father Ted, Black Books and Shameless.
In a statement released today, the European Commission has revealed that it is opening formal antitrust proceedings to investigate the possible presence of anti-competitive practices within the ebook industry. The investigation will target a number of international publishers including Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster and Penguin. The Commission will also be investigating whether Apple has helped the publishers engage in anti-competitive practices.
The European Commission has opened formal antitrust proceedings to investigate whether international publishers Hachette Livre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holzbrinck have, possibly with the help of Apple, engaged in anti-competitive practices affecting the sale of e-books in the European Economic Area, in breach of EU antitrust rules. [Shortened]
The Commission will examine the ‘agency agreements’ entered into by the publishers — with concerns that they may breach EU antitrust rules that “prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices”. It isn’t yet known for how long the commission will run for.
The Commission will in particular investigate whether these publishing groups and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices that would have the object or the effect of restricting competition in the EU or in the EEA.
There have been a lot of twists and turns in the Apple and Samsung legal battle and the latest milestone saw a US judge deny Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop sales of some Galaxy devices in the US. What this means is that Samsung can continue to sell all their Galaxy devices in the US for the time being. Interestingly, Judge Lucy Koh noted that Apple will likely succeed in proving that Samsung’s Galaxy products infringe Apple’s patents, but she didn’t grant the injunction because it wasn’t demonstrated that it would cause irreparable harm to Apple if the Galaxy products stayed on sale.
The Verge got a statement from Samsung on the ruling:
Samsung welcomes today’s ruling denying Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction. This ruling confirms our long-held view that Apple’s arguments lack merit. In particular, the court has recognized that Samsung has raised substantial questions about the validity of certain Apple design patents. We are confident that we can demonstrate the distinctiveness of Samsung’s mobile devices when the case goes to trial next year. We will continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple’s claims to ensure our continued ability to provide innovative mobile products to consumers.
It was also revealed yesterday that Apple had given some work-around options to Samsung for how they could side-step their iPhone and iPad design patents. Matt Macari from The Verge has an excellent article that covers the issue in great depth and clarity. In short, Apple had to make a list of alternative design choices to make the argument that Samsung did have other choices when designing their smartphones and tablets and they chose to emulate Apple instead. Some of the alternatives Apple made include:
Front surface that isn’t black
Display screens that aren’t centred on the front face and have substantial lateral borders.
App Journal is a new series aimed at showcasing apps we have enjoyed using on our iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but decided not to feature in a standalone, lengthy review here on MacStories. App Journal is a mix of classic reviews, weekly app recommendations, and a diary of our experiences with apps that still deserve a proper mention.
This week’s App Journal doesn’t really have a central theme, except for the fact that all these apps were either released or updated in the past week. This journal is written by Cody, Don and myself (Graham) with Federico taking a break from the App Journal this week.
The Economist: The World in 2012
It feels like just yesterday that I was celebrating the start of 2011, and yet we have already entered the final month of the year. Being December also means the start of reflecting upon the year that was, and what next year will hold for us all. As part of that, The Economist is publishing a special ‘The World in 2012’ magazine this month and has also released a companion iPad app which includes some of those articles plus a number of videos and other interactive features.
There isn’t anything amazing about the app, it’s just a standard magazine app for the iPad (in other words mostly just static images that you swipe to and from) but its the content that matters. The Economist is a favourite publication of mine that deals with a whole range of economic, political, social and technological issues in an informed and intelligent manner - this special edition is no different. Some of the feature articles included cover the technological battlefields of 2012 (they believe it could be mobile payments, location and augmented reality), the continued rise of social (particularly for the US 2012 Presidential Election), the ‘Arab Spring’ heading further south and political change in China amongst a few other articles.
Interspersed between the feature articles are these panels which review some of the people to watch in 2012, events that are set to occur in 2012, economic figures for 2012 and what each month of 2012 will bring. Most articles also come accompanied with video as well as a few standalone pieces of video interviews with a range of people from different parts of the world - asking them what they think 2012 will bring.
Even if you’re not a fan of ‘magazines’ for the iPad, this free app from The Economist is well worth the download - it’s got great content that will give you something good to read and watch over breakfast for the next week.
Apple’s injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia was overturned today in a unanimous decision by the Australian Federal Court. Things are a little more complicated though, because Apple will likely appeal the decision all the way to the High Court of Australia. Consequently the presiding judge has ordered that the ruling be stayed until Friday to give Apple some time to lodge the appeal. One must also remember that this was only a temporary injunction before the full trial starts around March next year.
The Verge has gotten an official statement from Apple regarding the ruling:
It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.
On a related note, Apple yesterday asked a German court to ban Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1N - an altered version of the Galaxy Tab that was specifically designed to work around the European design registrations that Apple holds for the iPad. If Apple is successful with this preliminary injunction, it will be the fourth variant of the Galaxy Tab that they have been successful in temporarily halting sales for (previous versions are the 7.7, 8.9 and 10.1).
Microsoft may be working on creating iPad versions of its popular Office Suite apps according to The Daily. The Daily’s sources say that the apps would likely work with Microsoft’s new online service, Office 365, and be price-competitive with Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote iOS apps which are sold around the $10 price point. The move wouldn’t be completely surprising given the fact that Microsoft has already developed a number of iOS apps, including the impressive Bing iPad app.
No detail is provided in the report about how powerful the iPad versions of Office will be — nor about what kind of interface would be used. A release date is not known either, but they could potentially launch in the first half of 2012.
The report also notes that a new version of Office is also in development for OS X Lion, with a release date of next year sometime. However typically the OS X releases of Office have experienced a one year delay after the Windows version is released. Consequently, with the next version of Office for Windows not expected until sometime next year, a 2012 release for the OS X version as well would buck the recent trend of Office releases. It should also be noted that Microsoft has already signalled that an update is coming for Office for Mac 2011 that will bring support for a number of Lion features.
Late yesterday Apple released the first beta of iOS 5.1 to developers and over the past few hours a number of people have been digging around to see whats new. A few readers and contributors to 9to5 Mac have found that the new beta includes references to a new Apple TV, a new iPhone and a new iPad.
The unreleased Apple TV that is referenced in iOS 5.1 features an identifier of “3,1” and a codename of “J33”. As for the iPhone, a new identifier of “5,1” has been found - that if it comes to fruition, would suggest a new iPhone with major internal changes. Finally, two new identifiers have been found for new iPad models. First there is a “2,4” model, one that 9to5 Mac suggests could be for a WiMAX Sprint iPad or potentially a TD-LTE model for China. The other new identifier is “3,3”, which follows on from previous discoveries of the iPad “3,1” and “3,2” identifiers that have been found earlier this year.
Whilst these references are added purposively, it is important to remember that not all the references will correspond to a device that Apple actually launches in the future. Furthermore, little if any information is revealed about the potential devices by these identifiers - except for the fact they exist to some degree within Apple.
MacStories Interviews was a series of interviews with well-known developers, bloggers, journalists and geeks that we published late last year. We’ve revived the format to interview Ryan Rigney, author of Buttonless, a new book about iOS games that is launching on December 13th. We’ll have a full review of the book when it is released, but in the meantime we thought it would be interesting to hear more from the author himself.
MacStories: Hey Ryan! Could you introduce yourself to the readers who haven’t heard about you or haven’t read any of your work before?
Sure! I’m a freelance writer who has written for a number of gaming outlets, most notably GamePro, PC Gamer, and Gamasutra. I’ve mostly written about iOS gaming, but I’m also a big console gamer so I’ve done a good bit of writing about those types of games as well. Just this week GamePro published my review of Minecraft!
MacStories: So tell us a bit more about your new book, Buttonless. What made you decide you wanted to write this book?
Over the past few years I’ve been so focused on iOS and written so much about iOS games that it’s become something of an obsession. I’ve reviewed hundreds of iPhone and iPad games, interviewed scores of developers, and purchased far too many apps. I pretty much came to the realization that I possessed enough experience and knowledge to write a book, and then began brainstorming ideas. It took a while for me to figure out that I wanted to put so much of the focus on “the stories behind the games,” though.
MacStories: Did you find it difficult finding a publisher willing to help you write this book given it is such a new industry that may appear very “niche”?
Actually, A K Peters/CRC Press was the first publisher I approached. In my pitch, I shared with them a bunch of numbers that I had stumbled across––how many hundreds of millions of iOS devices are out there, and how many people are buying these games. The truth is, it’s really not a niche. iOS gaming is now the most popular form of portable gaming, and it’s only getting bigger. Maybe if I had tried to write a book about 3DS games, the publisher would have needed more convincing haha!
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal today, Apple has been looking to recruit senior-level executives “with backgrounds in Web-based software” to bolster the talent pool at Apple for iCloud and their other cloud and web based services. Curiously, the report also notes that Apple is also considering new iCloud apps that will “reduce the need for people to carry around numerous devices at once”.
The company doesn’t have specific Web-centric positions in mind, and it is looking broadly for talent to fill director-level positions and above, including senior executives if they find a candidate that is a good fit, this person said.
As the article notes, Apple has been hiring a number of lower-level staff for their web and cloud offerings since 2010 - including poaching web engineers from companies such as Quantcast and Yahoo. This move also follows on from Eddy Cue’s recent promotion to the role of Senior Vice President Internet Software and Services after leading Apple’s iTunes, App Store, iBookstore and iCloud offerings.
