The British Broadcasting Corporation is one of the several high profile app makers missing in action from the Windows Store, for the time being at least. But that does not mean it does not have a few unofficial representations.
As of this writing, there are several BBC News apps in Microsoft’s repository.
And as is the case with most major apps that are yet to appear on the Windows Store, several third-party software developers have jumped in to the rescue to create unofficial clients.
The only problem here is that the British broadcaster does not allow any other applications to access its services — and now wants them banned on Windows 8.
Lawrence Gripper is one person. Now a Microsoft employee, he created the BBC News app before joining Redmond. And he is asked by the BBC to remove his application both from the Windows Store, as well as the Windows Phone Store.
The BBC did not provide any official reason at first, but then in a statement to The Verge, explained the logic behind its decision. It reads:
“The BBC has clear terms of use that are designed to enable further distribution of BBC content and services in a way that is fair to all parties, and does not imply authorisation or endorsement by the BBC. These are available at www.bbc.co.uk/terms. In this case, the terms of use were unfortunately not met, and we have therefore asked for the app to be removed.”
Tough luck!
What this most probably means, going forward, is that unless the organization launches its very own application, and an official BBC app arrives on the Windows Store, it may become quite impossible to read their news without leaving the Modern interface.
Or starting Internet Explorer and visiting their website, of course.
Tough luck, indeed! Here’s hoping the official BBC app finds its way to Windows 8 soon.
