14 DAY TRIAL // BBC is one of the companies that can no longer find a reason to maintain an app for Windows phones given the dropping market share of the platform, and the firm has started notifying users of its decision.
A notice posted in the official BBC iPlayer app for Windows phones tells users that “we’re moving to your browser and this app will stop working on April 3, 2017.” A link included in the notification redirects to this website, where BBC provides more information on its decision to abandon Windows 10 Mobile and how users could continue connecting to its service even without an app.
In just a few words, BBC says that Windows phone owners can continue using iPlayer with Microsoft Edge browser, as the website is specifically optimized for mobile devices.
“When the BBC iPlayer app was originally created it was not technically possible to playback BBC programmes via the browser. As it’s now possible to playback via the browser it’s no longer cost effective for the BBC to maintain a BBC iPlayer app for Windows mobile devices. And by using the browser version of BBC iPlayer, Windows phone users will get the benefits of the web version as it evolves,” the company says.
Windows 10 Mobile, the only option for Windows users
Internet Explorer is not supported by the BBC iPlayer, which means that Windows Phone 8.1 users cannot play content from the service, but on the other hand, they are allowed to play radio programs. BBC says that Windows 10 Mobile is the only platform supported by BBC iPlayer.
On the other hand, BBC’s app will continue working on Android and iOS just like before, so it’s pretty clear why the company made the decision to remove the Windows Phone client.
Unfortunately, this is a decision that many other app developers are making these days, mostly because the market share of the platform is collapsing without Microsoft doing anything about it.