The UK Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) has raised concerns over the BBC's plans to launch free news, sports and iPlayer iPhone applications, which it believes will harm the commercial market for such software.

“Not for the first time, the BBC is preparing to muscle into a nascent market and trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers," the NPA's statement reads.

"The market for iPhone news apps is a unique and narrow commercial space, which means that the potential for market distortion by the BBC is much greater. This is not, as the BBC argues, an extension of its existing online service, but an intrusion into a very tightly defined, separate market."

Similar concerns have been brought up over the BBC's online dominance of sport and local news which makes it difficult for commercial publishers to monetise their digital content.

The BBC, which is funded by a UK TV licence fee, insists there's no evidence that its applications would have any impact, and says there is no requirement for it to submit its mobile plans for approval.