The Guardian has today launched its first iPhone app, allowing users to access news on the move, from a simple handheld device called a mobile phone. It's all been made possible by a technology called WAP...
...oh no, that actually was 2002.
Of course we've all actually been able to do this for years - the Guardian even admits it has nearly a million mobile users happily reading its content already - but this is different, says Emily Bell, director of digital content, Guardian News & Media (watch the video, right, to find out more).
"There is no other news app like it on the App Store," said Bell in a Guardian press release. "Users can personalise their homepage to get quicker access to the content most relevant to them, browse content offline, effortlessly flip through our stunning photo galleries and access every contributor; from Charlie Brooker to Polly Toynbee."
iPod Touch
While anybody who used to cache pages on their Palm handheld before leaving for the office may claim reading online content offline is not that new, and the use of 3G and wifi may be evolution not revolution, this is still a handy innovation for us iPod Touch users or even those using the iPhone on a commute with patchy reception.
Because while I tend to be a fan of serendipity, rather than simply getting what I think I want to read when it comes to reading a newspaper, getting news on the move is altogether different and still involves far too much time spent trawling through multiple pages or menus, watching content load.
I'm sure the Guardian's people behind this would admit they're not splitting the atom with this launch but rather simplifying something many of us do already. And that's why the app only costs £2.39 I'd imagine - a reflection that we're paying for convenience, not for a whole new way of life. To me, that seems a fair price for taking the hassle out of configuring multiple RSS feeds or simply removing a few stages of unncessary hassle from my morning trawl through the online news. The experience is also hugely more enjoyable than wrestling with a more makeshift option via RSS.
But while the price is no barrier to trying it out, it is perhaps just enough to ensure if users like it they'll be less promiscuous regarding where they get their online news, stopping the trend towards aggregation and masthead indifference. In that regard it's wonderfully forward thinking. While Murdoch believes it's all about paywalls and monetising commoditised news, the Guardian meanwhile realises it's actually about delivery, personal preference and user experience.
And the initial feedback looks good too:
@macTweeter: First Impressions: Guardian Launches iPhone App, And It’s Good
@charltonbrooker: Just downloaded the new Guardian iPhone app, like an obedient little boy
@nickludlam: The Guardian's iPhone app is extremely well thought out, and a fantastic first version
@paulosullivano: Good news for expats like me. V reasonable price too.
OK... I am trying to find some negative comment now...
@dangrabham: Won't buy Guardian iPhone app just as I won't buy Radio Times or National Rail - all things I can get through the browser for free
Speaks volumes that, because it's the Guardian rather than a Murdoch paper or similar that's charging for the iPhone app, everyone goes along unquestioningly behind and just nods approvingly.
Pretty much every other newspaper in the UK that has an iPhone app has managed to launch it, update it and provide content to it without imposing a charge.
That the Guardian have imposed one, yet continue to bleat and snicker about the idea of paywalls on other news sites, speaks volumes about the glaring hypocrisy which gets tolerated because it's GNM.
Posted by: Iain | Dec 14, 2009 at 14:13