The Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4 has beaten its public rival SVT in the approval of its iPhone application.
The appearance of the TV4 Play app in the iTunes store comes two weeks after SVT began its campaign in the wake of perceived delays in getting the necessary approval from Apple. Developed by Mobilab, the app allows iPhone users to view content from the catch-up TV service, search for shows, and bookmark favourite items.
“What we are seeing is a rapid development towards our viewers wanting to see our programmes whenever they want and wherever they want, so it is both natural, fun and important that we now take the step into the mobile world for real with the launch of TV4 Play for the iPhone, says Mattias Fyrenius, head of TV4 New Media, adding that it was the intention to later extend the feature to other mobile platforms.
Aware of delays that had also been experienced by TV4, SVT launched the Dear Steve Jobs website, also using Twitter and Facebook to encourage the Apple CEO to say ‘Ja’ to its app. The campaign has extended to a light hearted protest outside Apple’s headquarters in Cuppertino.
Dearstevejobs.com, which to date has clocked up over 380,000 visitors, offers a video demonstration of the application and invites visitors to record their own video ‘Ja’ for Jobs.