Up until now, I could have believed that the BBC’s iPlayer platform strategy was plausibly based on customer reach. Thus, they targeted Windows first, then OS X and Linux and any platform that Adobe Flash supported, then the iPhone and a random smattering of other mobile devices.

But what about Android?

crickets

No Android, despite the fact that quite a lot of Android handsets have now been sold, and they’re all capable of playing video. The BBC did manage to make an iPad version before a single iPad had been sold in the country. But still no Android.

— Did you just tell me to go fuck myself?
— I believe I did, Bob.

(From here)

What a load of bollocks. The strategy isn’t based on anything measurable. It’s based on nothing more than the narcissistic gadget purchasing habits of the BBC executives.

Well, they’re a bunch of idiots. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing stopping the iPhone version of the iPlayer working on Android phones except for the fact that the BBC have specifically rigged it only to respond to devices manufactured by Apple, Inc.

It’s just regular HTTP with H.264 content. Except for the referrer/behaviour checks. If they’re operating under some misapprehension that the closed Apple platform prevents people from repurposing the content, then they must have been asleep for a couple of years.

The BBC say:

We’re currently waiting on Flash support on Android to deliver a service for that platform.

$DEITY wept. There’s no need to wait. Flash won’t save them (cough RTMPDump cough). Flash won’t run on most of the Android phones currently out there. H.264 will, and it’s practically there today, except for the boneheaded platform strategy.

Ah well. Their intransigence and disrespect gives me all the motivation I need to keep fighting.