BBC iPlayer will be on Nokia N96

Don’t tell anyone until tomorrow but the BBC and Nokia have teamed up to ensure that Auntie’s catch-up-TV service, iPlayer, will be available on the Finish phone-maker’s latest handset, the N96.

Sadly, the press release issued by the two companies instructs us that this information is under 'strict embargo' until midnight tonight, so whatever you do, don’t click the 'Read more' link below until precisely 00:01 tomorrow morning, okay?

It is Saturday morning, right? Right. You’re free to read on. The two firms have announced that an application has been purpose built for the Nokia N96 to enable owners of the phone to download and stream content from iPlayer, both over Wi-Fi and 3G.This application won’t be installed on all handsets by default (presumably for carrier/licensing reasons), but will be available to download via www.bbc.co.uk/mobile. Not that there's much to see there at the moment, of course, so you'll have to wait until midnight tonight.

Anyway, that’s about it. When Nokia’s Managing Director, Simon Ainslie, gets out of bed tomorrow morning, we expect him to say: "The Nokia N96 is going to provide a gateway to quality viewing on the move and will raise the bar for mobile screen and audio entertainment”.

Over Saturday breakfast, meanwhile, the BBC’s Director of Future Media and Technology, Erik Huggers is expected to utter: "Over the past eight months we have worked tirelessly to ensure BBC iPlayer is available on as many platforms as possible, from the PC and TV to games consoles and mobiles. This partnership is critical to ensuring we continue to reach out to audiences wherever they are and allow them to catch-up on their favourite BBC programmes."

[ BBC iPlayer and Nokia]