Along with the release of the iPhone app, the iPad version receives an update today allowing it to stream over 3G data networks as well. An update for the Android app is also in the works, though the new version will continue to only stream over wifi.

The original app debuted in Britain in February, followed in July by the launch of a global version of the app in eleven countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland, with promises that Australia, Canada, and the US would follow by the end of the year. The app became available in Australia in September and Canada last week, but has still not come to America.

The iPlayer service launched several years ago and has become immensely popular in Britain, where iPlayer viewership has come to represent a significant percentage of total viewers, particularly of the network’s more popular shows like Doctor Who and Top Gear. The global app allows users access to all the same content as the British version, but for a fee. While British users’ viewing is covered by their country’s television license fee, users in other countries are required to pay a fee, either monthly or annually, to access the content.

This integration was accomplished through the creation of a new login called a BBC iD, and it’s supposed to offer a bit beyond the standard click-here-go-there functionality, effectively creating a "social recommendation ecosystem."

A post on the BBC Internet Blog explained, "[U]sers can then connect with Facebook, Twitter or any other social network that we choose to partner with in the future, . . .  Basically, we use your external social graph to connect you with your friends within the iPlayer site, and make it scalable for other BBC Online services in the fullness of time."

A whole lot of people will probably take advantage of this solution.  Facebook and Twitter are well-liked, of course, and since the iPlayer acts as a window to fun shows like Top Gear and Doctor Who, it also sees quite a lot of use.  Combining everything seems like a natural step.

Anyway, other new iPlayer features include a fancy "Favourites" feature, improved inter-device communication, and the option to sync a program’s playback among a group of friends.

After all, can you imagine what would have happened if the iPlayer only worked on Macs?  So in that sense, the claim of Ashley Highfield, the BBC’s director of Future Media and Technology, rings true.  Also, Highfield has indicated that increased compatibility is on the way.

“By Christmas we will have a streaming solution for Mac and Linux users,” he told Andy McCue.  The outlook for a download solution is also good, yet Highfield stated, “The point is, I’m not going to be able to commit to it until we’ve got our sticky mitts on it, tried it, tested it, worked out the cost implications.”

If the BBC were a normal company, we could probably leave the matter at that.  But due to license fees and a Royal Charter, “The BBC is run in the interests of its viewers and listeners,” according to its own website.  As a result, concerns that its iPlayer can’t be used by everyone might have greater validity.

Highfield was quite clear, though, on the fact that the BBC is not in cahoots with Microsoft.

Users who have accessed the iPlayer and downloaded a program will have up to 30 days to watch it. After the program has been viewed it will automatically be deleted. Users will be able to watch promotional clips of shows and link back to the iPlayer, allowing them to download the entire program.

"BBC iPlayer is a free catch-up service for UK license fee payers, your favorite programs from all the BBC’s network TV channels will be available to download over the Internet, and watch on your PC without advertising for up to a week after transmission," said Ashley Highfield, Director of Future Media & Technology at the BBC.

The BBC is in talks with a number of possible distribution partners, including MSN, telegraph.co.uk, AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo, MySpace, Blinkx and Bebo.

The BBC said they have plans to add other features over time to the BBC iPlayer, such as streaming on-demand and series stacking which allows users to download episodes from series retrospectively.

The BBC iPlayer is currently in closed testing with around 15,000 people. It will launch in Beta in July and have a full market launch in the fall.

When the BBC iPlayer launches it will include a display settings toolkit for the vision impaired and sign language for the hearing impaired. Subtitles and audio description will be added in the coming months.

In fact, it appears that the BBC is intent on making everything go well; the company has been focused on IPTV for quite some time, as this old Ars Technica article proves.  Also, in August of 2006, Ashley Highfield, head of the BBC’s Future Media, said, “We’ve got one of the world’s largest archives, if not the largest archive . . . .  We ought to liberate it and make it available, how, when, and where our audience would like to consume it.”

Today, the British Broadcasting Corporation described its new trial as a step towards that goal: “The pilot is part of the BBC’s plans to eventually offer more than a million hours of TV and radio from its archive.”

And Ashley Highfield again spoke on the subject.  “It will test what old programmes people really want to see,” he said, “from Man Alive to The Liver Birds, how they want to see them – full length or clip compilations, and when they want them – in ‘lean-forward’ exploratory mode similar to web surfing, or as a scheduled experience more akin to TV viewing.”

There was also news from the BBC relating to that sort of “TV viewing” – the corporation intends to make its much-anticipated iPlayer service (“offering catch-up TV via the web and cable TV”) compatible with Apple computers.

With all these UK-specific developments, it’s not a bad time to be a Brit.