VLC is one of several big-name applications planning to launch applications on Ubuntu for Phones and Tablets in the near future.
The popular media player, which is a one of the most popular applications available on the Ubuntu desktop, already supports the Android and iOS mobile platforms.
Developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf, who also heads up the VideoLAN project, describes porting VLC to run on Ubuntu for phones as being “very easy”, adding:
“The fact that the phone and desktop are so much alike means lots of saved development time making features simple to port.”
In addition to VLC, the cross-platform password manager LastPass say that they also intend to support Ubuntu Touch. This, they say, will ensure that “users can access their critical passwords on the go”. LastPass are no stranger to Ubuntu Touch having previously planned to offer free one-year subscriptions to backers of the ill-fated Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign had it proved successful.
‘Porting VLC to Ubuntu for Phones has been very easy’
8tracks is also planning to launch an app on Ubuntu Touch. Director of Partnerships, Jonathan Barnes, says the company is “delighted to be launching our app on this engaging new mobile OS” in order to bring the “variety and depth of selection” of their music library “to even more listeners around the globe.”
Content, Content, Content
But it’s not all app related news. Canonical are betting big on the content surfacing and discovery feature ‘scopes’ that make up the home screens of Ubuntu Touch as being a key draw in differentiating itself from competition. But scopes will only be as good as the content they provide.
To this end, Grooveshark music results will be searchable from the Music Scope, as will tracks from African service Spinlet. News hounds will be able to see content from Euronews through a new multilingual scope.
Developers
In other news, Ubuntu Touch developers will soon be able to use Mapbox APIs in their applications, while AND Maps say they will ‘offer location technologies via the AND Location Based Services (LBS) Platform for the Ubuntu OS.’
Last year both Evernote and The Weather Channel gave permission for Ubuntu developers to use their APIs in community-built applications for the OS.