The BBC have launched a new iPad application targeting 11 countries across the globe. The application is free, but to watch shows there is a charge of €6.99 a month/€49.99 for a yearly subscription.

Initially, the US is not included, with the organisation focusing on Western Europe, Belgium, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, The Republic Of Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal and Spain.

Expansion will include Candada, Australia and the U.S. by the end of the year.

The application will allow streaming over 3G connections and Wi-Fi and people can also download and store shows for viewing later, offline. The BBC have apparently worked closely with Apple in the creation of the new software package.

Mark Smith, global iPlayer launch director at the BBC Worldwide, spoke to the Guardian newspaper and said “The way the [iPad] works, though, is it hibernates and stops you from doing that: you wake up the next morning and only half a show has downloaded. We have managed to override that functionality, and Apple are comfortable with us doing that.”

Luke Bradley Jones added to the Guardian article “This is not a catch-up service: this is a video-on-demand service. We will have content from the last month, but also the best from the catalogue stretching back 50 to 60 years.”

There is also the possibility that the application can serve specific material to different global locations, suiting the demands of the market.

Kitguru says: It is sure to be a killer application

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