Update: The iPhone/iPod touch version of the BBC’s iPlayer has boosted traffic to the TV catch-up service by 10 percent. One in 20 who came via the handset used the hack contained in the iPhone-specific service prior to last week, however, BBC future media and technology director Ashley Highfield wrote.
Original post: The BBC has begun targeting podcasts at Sony (NYSE: SNE) PSP users and plans to offer customizable mobile podcasts comprised only of particular presenters, genres or guests. The PSP interface to the corporation’s podcast directory – but Auntie has also rolled out a version for Nokia Nseries handsets and other mobiles, all of which work by calling up the main podcasts URL in a mobile browser. As a new N95 user, I can testify that the over-the-air podcast experience (in contrast to connecting my iPod to iTunes via a cable) is a delight. BBC Radio Labs’ Simon Cross, in an interesting post, writes that imminent transfer of the podcasts directory in to the newly-pretty BBC Programmes catalogue will mean users can subscribe to custom casts based assembled from a range of meta data.