The BBC's free iPhone applications have been delayed after pressure from the publishing industry.

The BBC Trust has asked the BBC to postpone next month's release of news and sport iPhone apps while it assesses the corporation's smartphone plans.

A BBC Trust spokesperson said the body had decided to look at the mobile plans after "representations from industry". The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) called on the BBC Trust to block the apps when they were announced in February.

The NPA claimed the apps would not constitute an extension of the BBC's service but would be an entirely new service and therefore "undermine the commercial sector’s ability to establish an economic model in an emerging but potentially important market".

David Newell, director of the NPA, said: “Not for the first time, the BBC is preparing to muscle into a nascent market and trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers.

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The BBC Trust will examine whether smartphone apps constitute a significant change to BBC services.

It will assess:

The extent to which the change is likely to affect users and others

The financial implications of the change

The extent to which the change would involve the BBC in a new area of untested activity

How long the activity will last

If the Trust has concerns the apps could be subjected to a Public Value Test before they are introduced.

The BBC planned to follow the launch of iPhone apps with versions for BlackBerry and phones running Google's Android software.