Those of you who have been pining for a Mac version of the BBC iPlayer are in luck. Adobe and the BBC announced that a Linux and Mac-friendly streaming version of the iPlayer will be available for free by the end of the year.

What's more, the BBC has also struck a deal with The Cloud to offer the service for free via 7500 Cloud WiFi hotspots.

I know what you're thinking... and sadly enough, the answer is no.

16 Oct 2007

The Adobe iPlayer will be based on Flash. Which means no compatibility with the iPhone or iPod Touch, ironically.

There's still plenty of hope, though. First, there seems to be every indication that Flash will run on the iPhone before too long. If that falls through, Adobe's deal is non-exclusive, meaning others can still strike a deal to develop iPlayer software. Maybe Apple/O2 could decide to embed a player in the UK model similar to the YouTube app.