In case you haven’t heard, the BBC just released their popular iPlayer web portal for the iPhone platform. I decided to point my iPhone browser to the iPlayer to check things out. Here are my first impression:

1. It works
Life just keeps getting better and better, guys. We’re happy to report that the iPlayer provides a great portal to access some of the network’s most popular content with an intuitive interface. There really is no comparison for this release.

2. Content is limited
Aye, here’s the rub. Much like what happened with YouTube when the iPhone was first shipped, not all programs are available through iPlayer yet, as they are probably being re-encoded to the Apple codec. BBC says 100% of the content will be available soon. Plus, most programs can only be played in the U.K.

3. The radio (podcast directory) is the best part
Sure, watching videos is great, but we already have that with YouTube! The iPlayer radio opens up a whole new content area to iPhone users. Unfortunately, the iPlayer doesn’t work over EDGE, so you won’t exactly be able to rock out to British podcasts when you’re walking down the street.

For those of you with an iPhone, head over to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer to check things out for yourselves.