CNN launches iPhone app
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Nielsen has reported that CNN is the number one mobile news provider. That’s why it makes perfect sense that CNN would have their own iPhone application. The app provides a new experience that is multimedia centered including articles with photos and video. For those amateur journalists the application even includes the ability to upload reports to iReport.com which features user-generated content.
The app includes live breaking news video, push notification, localization, and personalization tools. “My CNN” gives users the ability to access local news, weather, and traffic based on a user’s actual location or through a user selected location. Other personalization tools include the ability to follow a story or topic with push updates to the device.
If you don’t have access to the Internet, the CNN iPhone app will allow you to save content so you can access the text of a story even when you are offline. Of course, CNN was also smart enough to include social networking features within the application. This allows iPhone users to share stories via SMS, Twitter, or Facebook. The app also takes advantage of navigation features by allowing articles to be flipped through quickly when the iPhone is placed horizontally.
The CNN iPhone app is available via the iTunes App Store and will retail for US$1.99.
Read more at the CNN press release and the CNN iPhone website
Brian’s Opinion
It’s nice to see a news organization actually takes the time to put out an iPhone app that takes advantage of the iPhone’s features. I love the fact that articles can be scrolled through horizontally like you can do with music albums. Also, it was smart of CNN to lean on the popularity of social networking by allowing articles to be shared via Facebook and Twitter. That’s not a bad way to market CNN’s news reports.
Another thing I like about the application is that the application is very visually appealing. Text is great for reading the content of a story, but it’s videos and photos which really draw readers in. Breaking news video is also enticing to draw viewers into CNN’s content.
Probably the best feature of the application is the ability to upload user content to iReport.com. CNN has really given users the tools they need to drive the user-generated content of the website
