BBC Sport launched a new iOS app in the UK, aiming to deliver news, live scores, stats, analysis, and commentary to sports fans.

The app is initially rolling out for iPhones and iPod Touch, and it offers 24 simultaneous live streams. It works on iPads as well, but it is not optimized for the popular tablet. The BBC Sport app, however, will not be carrying any streaming media itself, at least not at launch. Instead, Radio 5 Live and others such are accessible via a link to the mobile version of its live stream.

Subsequent updates to the BBC Sport app will add live and on-demand video and radio. Meanwhile, an Android version is slated to roll out within weeks. Basically, the app is an extension of the BBC Sport Web site, but it is optimized for iOS and, soon, Android.

When it comes to the sports covered, the app features a "Quick Links" section, which includes the most popular sports on the BBC: football, cricket, Formula 1, golf, rugby, rugby league, and tennis. Everything else, such as cycling, athletics, and other sports, is included in the "More Sports" section. For now, this section only offers shortcuts to the mobile Web site, but proper integration into the app is due within the next two months.

Users can personalize which sports they see based on their preferences - drag and delete until the preferred sport is at the top of the Quick Links.

Since football is a global favorite, the BBC Sport app features a new mobile football Live Scores section, which enables users to follow what's going on. This section displays a league-by-league overview of the latest scores and scorers, as well as dedicated match pages for more detailed information. Such in-depth info includes starting line-ups, post-game reports, match stats, and live text commentary (pull down to refresh).

Meanwhile, a new fixtures and results section aims to help users keep track of all major UK and international football competitions by selecting a specific day in the season from the app's calendar.

On the downside, the app doesn't offer dedicated pages for football teams like the Web site does, but subsequent updates ought to fix this.

The BBC Sport app is currently available exclusively in the UK, but the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, is expected to launch an international version eventually. UK users can grab the app from the App Store.