White House launches iPhone app

by Mario on January 20, 2010 View Comments |

It’s official the White House has an iPhone app! I installed the app 1st thing this morning to see its features etc… The app is free and has no advertising associated with it. I’ve placed calls into my White House contacts to schedule an interview with the app developers. The app has a very clean design and very simplified interface. One feature that stands out is live video streaming. With this app you can watch White House public events live streamed! There are many times that I’d like to tune in to a press briefing or other live event and I’m not near C-span but I always have my phone with me.

For example later today I’ll be on the road but I’ll be tuning in to an 11:30 press briefing from my iPhone in-bewtwen meetings.

And next week it going to be interesting to watch how people react to viewing the President’s State of the Union speech next week on their phone. 1st State of the Union watched live from the 1-foot experience.

What are your thoughts on the White House making an iPhone app? Cool, a means for propaganda, useless, effective?

 


  • http://www.realtormarney.com Marney Kirk

    Mario, I think it is neat! You can get news, live feeds, plus the White House blog. I think the news one will be most useful…I don’t know how much/often I will use it, but I think it is a great idea — and love that they are keeping up with the times!

  • Mario Armstrong

    Hi Marney, great points & I totally agree with you that the news feature will probably be the most useful or widely used by people. And I hear ya on the usage! I don’t know how often I will remember to go back to the app to use it. Which, once you get past they hype of any app, the question is will I use it regularly, will it become a new habit? We will have to wait and see!

  • http://twitter.com/fittorrent Liana Lehua

    I love that this administration sees the value of integrating multi-media. Like you, however, I find it novel. Will I use it? Probably not, because I get my news via RSS and Twitter and subscribe to President Obama’s weekly address via podcast in iTunes. It will be nice to watch live and on-the-go, however, when I remember to open the app and have time.

    I feel like its value will come in the future IF the developers build call to action features. For example, President Obama is big on volunteering. It would be useful to find volunteer opportunities in my area.

    Thanks for the post and link.

  • http://twitter.com/marioarmstrong Mario

    @Liana, dead on target points you raise! Call to action features would be very useful for consistent app use. I love your idea of volunteer opportunities in your localized are etc…I remember when they launched Pres. Obamas campaign iPhone app and that had some of the features you are referring to. So maybe those additions will be coming.

blog comments powered by Disqus