Spectators at the beach volleyball this weekend were not satisfied with just watching live. With iPads balanced on their knees, they also had one eye on the road cycling and handball, as well as browsing Twitter and checking vital statistics of the athletes. This weekend the BBC’s Olympics app passed one million downloads and the official London 2012 app is top of the Apple store’s bestsellers chart.
London 2012 is the iPad Olympics. Technology means that, as John McEnroe said: “There’s so much to turn to that I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve got about 50 options.”
The BBC promised us we will “never miss a moment” of the Games, and Locog has produced apps for everything from medal alerts to a game where you can compete against Olympians, within the venues.
Using feedback from its Euro 2012 and Wimbledon coverage, the Beeb has endeavoured to make the free Olympics app indispensable. So you can choose from 24 live streams or catch up on past events; there are profiles of every competing country, sport and athlete and a detailed schedule and results for all the sports.
The app has also been designed for sharing, so emailing and tweeting stories, videos and results is a doddle. And before you panic, having no internet connection need not get in the way, the app allows users to download content they want to look at later when they are offline.
You can also set reminders and notifications so you won’t miss a ping pong ball or a flying javelin. And if you want to keep ahead of the Olympic news download the Evening Standard’s free iPad app which gives you the West End Final edition every day.
So if you don’t fancy bolting down to the Olympic park, or even if you do and want to keep on top of all events, pad around with your iPad.
