BBC focused on dual screen iPad experience

EXCLUSIVE: Future media boss details iPad navigation for iPlayer

The BBC's director of future media has told Pocket-lint that the corporation is working on an iPad navigation platform for its online content.

Sitting down for a one on one with us at the BAFTA HQ in London after formally launching the BBC News app for Samsung TVs, Ralph Rivera explained that the convergence of online media, and the Beeb's focus on "One service, Ten products, Four screens", meant that a cross over between connected devices was inevitable.

"We, along with a lot of other people are seeing the emergence of the post PC world and we embrace that as an opportunity to deliver our experiences to audiences on whatever piece of glass they choose," he said.

"There's this notion of connected devices working in concert with each other, we refer to it as 'orchestrated media' - the notion that devices are aware of each other.

"Each take on a role in delivering an experience and so, if you have an iPad, and you're watching BBC programming and it recognises that, then the iPad becomes a complimentary device to what is showing on your big screen and might give you abilities to navigate to related content."

When questioned as to whether this was an actual service that the BBC's boffins were working on he stated that it was and said that "the dual screen is very much something that we're focused on for those sorts of experiences."

During his presentation for the BBC News app unveiling, Rivera also explained how the rise in tablet popularity wasn't going unnoticed at Auntie's HQ. He produced a slide stating that, although the PC was still the most common way to stream BBC iPlayer programming, tablet usage had gone up by a staggering 2500 per cent in a year.

"The iPlayer is on over 200 devices, but one of the things that I would point your attention to is the computer version may still have the majority - but if you look at the growth, it's in the device segment. The tablet is essentially becoming the second television in the home."

Rivera highlighted to Pocket-lint how the variation of standards between devices (no Flash on iDevices and the like) meant that the BBC had to be flexible to reach the maximum audience possible, but explained how this was inevitable.

"I think the tech space and the internet has seen fragmentation and convergence as the ying and yang - you can't have one without the other basically, so what we do to navigate through that is to set a certain set of standards. There isn't just one way to do it."

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Tags: BBC iplayer iPlayer Home Cinema iPad apps BBC

BBC focused on dual screen iPad experience originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:34:00 +0100

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