BBC to show World Cup matches via iPhones
Updated on 17 February 2010
Football fans will be able to watch all the action from the World Cup in South Africa on their mobile phone - one of a string of news and sport applications (apps) the BBC will launch this year.
Live sport will be one of the free video-on-demand apps the BBC is planning, starting with a news app in April.
The apps will initially be available on Apple iPhones and iPods, but similar versions are planned for Blackberry and Android operating systems later this year.
With smartphone sales predicted to rocket this year, the BBC said audiences are looking for more content on their mobile phones and the apps are planned to satisfy demand.
Speaking at Mobile World Congress - the world's largest mobile phone trade show - Erik Huggers, BBC's director of future technology, said: "It's been 12 years since the launch of BBC Online, but as media converges and technology accelerates, licence fee payers are increasingly using sophisticated handheld devices to access information.
"They tell us that they want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them."
Business advisory firm Deloitte believes by 2012 global smartphone sales could reach half a billion units a year.
