BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10738882

Android version to come later in the year.

Hopefully Nokia are petitioning the BBC to include support for Maemo/MeeGo - such high-profile platform support (even if it is UK only) would be a great feather in the cap for Nokia and Maemo/MeeGo.

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

How is the App better than just going to the website? It's light on details, but it doesn't appear to offer anything more than an RSS feed and a web browser would.

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

You only need an app if you don't have a decent browser! Why on earth would you need a BBC app with MicroB (at least so long as BBC isn't running Flash 10.1)? That's kind of the whole point, no?!

If you want apps it's porbably best ot go Android or that other one ;)

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

Is this from your experience or did you just pull that out of your nether regions?

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

I don't have an iDevice so can't tell myself, however even if the functionality isn't significantly better than the web browser the point is that it's yet-another-app - and a high profile one at that in the UK - for the competition. And no mention of any support for Maemo (or even Symbian).

Hopefully Nokia are pulling the strings behind the scenes to ensure there is an equivalent app for Maemo/MeeGo/Symbian too - get it written in Qt, prove the "write once" credentials that are the future of both Maemo/MeeGo and Symbian.

Even if the app isn't very good the free publicity and acknowledgement from the BBC - who don't seem to know that Maemo even exists judging by their non-stop fawning coverage of iPhone and Android platforms - would be a good thing.

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

I can think of one legitimate reason why a news website might choose to make an app instead of just making a good mobile website that everyone can use.

I was reading this article and the comments and both sides had great points. http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2...r-your-health/

Micropayments.

But anyway there's little information about what the BBC News app does so the whole whether it should be an app or a mobile website can't be discussed until someone actually tries it, or we know more about it.

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

The real question is if that battle really is worth fighting. The app-for-a-site really is trying to reinvent the web, and so far it is not much more than a bubble, done only to give an image of 'technological advancedness', when in fact, you're reinventing the wheel. You cannot win that fight - there are just too many sites that are 'important' and are changing way too quickly. As soon as novelty wears of and sofware development reality kicks in, someone will realize IE/FFox quirks were a pain, but re-developing and maintaining your site in half a dozen technologies, and, worse even, optimizing it for various versions, screen sizes and input methods is a Mission Impossible compared to that.

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

The iPad version uses Quicktime instead of Flash. Obviously the iWhatevers don't support Flash (which is one of the few things I respect Steve Jobs for). Flash support outside of Windows is awful, and not that good on Windows either.

Anyway, I sent an email to the BBC complaints department a few weeks back saying that the BBC oughtn't rely on Flash for their iPlayer precisely for reasons of poor support outside of Windows, and if they can Quicktime versions for the iWhatevers, then why can't other devices access those encodings.

Their response was:

"We can't commit at this time to which devices we will make available but we are
working on other ways to make BBC iPlayer available. It is our aim to make it
available on as many platforms as possible.

Nevertheless, I can assure that I have fully registered your comments on this issue. They have been made available to those responsible for maintaining the BBC iPlayer service."

Which is a bit of a brush-off, but at least it adds another voice to the dissent.
I would suggest that other people also send a complaint to the BBC stating that they can't access the iPlayer stuff on their N900 (or whichever device). The more people that make it an issue, the more likely they are to consider more open standards.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

I totally agree, although to be honest if a web site has a feed - RSS or whatever - then it's app just becomes a consumer of that feed and represents the information in an (arguably) easier to access format in which case maintaining that feed shouldn't add much complexity or overhead, certainly it should not for a site like the BBC.

And while we all know we can access sites like the BBC in all it's glory on our N900s using MicroB, being able to do so doesn't bring any kudos to the platform in the same way that a multitude of silly and pointless apps does.

These Apps that re-represent web site content in a dumbed down format are without question a major selling point to the average consumer of high-end devices and it's an area where the N900 is losing out massively, since few high-profile developers are developing for it (or Symbian).

Whether we think apps (that replace web sites) have a place on Nokia devices or not is a moot point - Nokia needs them if it's going to avoid becoming the next Palm Inc.

Re: BBC News iPhone apps now available - what about Maemo?
 

No, I just pulled it out my nether regions. Pardon me for having an opinion.

Maybe try and get some friends/laid and see if that improves your humour you miserable git.