The folks at Igneous Software, the wizards behind some superbly crafted Windows Phone apps, have been busy working on updates for the popular (and highly rated) BBC Podcast Lounge. In an official blog post, Richard Castle goes into depth about what the team has been up to, namely adding auto-subscribing and downloading for favourite programmes in BBC Podcast Lounge 1.4, which is just about to go into testing.

There's more though. The team have also been looking at new project ideas, one that they've lightly touched on in the article. Many of us (who reside in the UK) deeply desire iPlayer streaming functionality on Windows Phone from the BBC, but we're still yet to see anything. Before you get overexcited and imagine Igneous Software developing an actual iPlayer on-demandTV app, unfortunately this is still not yet possible.

Instead the team have been busy looking at a potential BBC iPlayer Radio app. A working prototype is currently being played with that enables the user to reliably stream the previous seven days worth of programming on any BBC national (and regional) radio station. Want to know something more amazing? This functionality is one step further than what's present on both the iPhone and Android, which offer only national stations. It's that much sweeter indeed.

So we've got the BBC Radio Player and BBC Podcast Lounge app maturing nicely with frequent updates and more functionality being introduced, and now we've got a potential BBC iPlayer Radio app on the horizon. Once they're content with how the BBC Podcast Lounge is heading, the team will look at turning this concept into a feasible app to launch on the Marketplace.

Keep posted for more updates and be sure to check out Igneous Software apps that are already available. We also interviewed Richard Castle, which is well worth the read.