Industry complaints bring BBC's iPhone news app plans to a standstill

Plans announced last month by the BBC to launch free news and sports apps for the iPhone have been halted by complaints from elsewhere in the news industry.

Back in February the corporation announced its intention to release applications for the iPhone and for other smart-phone handsets including the Blackberry, delivering news and sports content for free, beginning next month. The apps were expected to deliver content from the BBC News website, including news stories, video and blogs; as well as content taken from the BBC Sport website and 5 Live radio. "We are focussed on making BBC Online's core web propositions more user-friendly, convenient and accessible, and using existing content to create truly distinctive products around our core public service areas," said a spokesperson for the BBC.

However, the move was met by strong opposition from the industry, including the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA), which commented that the plans would 'damage the nascent market' for apps.  Now after what is being termed 'representations from industry',  the BBC's governing body the BBC Trust has asked the corporation to suspend plans while it carries out an investigation.

The question of whether the Beeb should be allowed to go ahead revolves, as always, around the terms of its service licence. When it started development of the apps, the corporation claimed that they fell within its existing parameters - but petitioners from the industry disagree, saying that it is entirely new ground; and not ground the BBC has any right to tread. If the BBC Trust agrees with that assessment, a more detailed study will be made into what public value the apps will have.