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Companies lend their names to new programs for iPhonesDec 06, 2008 (Pioneer Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Stumped for a Christmas present? Target Corp. suggests giving that iPhone a shake. A new Target-branded downloadable application for the Apple handset lets users search for gifts in the Minneapolis-based retailer's database. Select a gender and age and then agitate the iPhone to activate its internal accelerometer. Presto -- the "Target" app provides a gift tip, via a nifty snow-globe effect. Target is among a stampede of corporations, celebrities and other prominent entities lending their names to iPhone apps (which typically also work on Apple's iPod Touch). As a result, the computerlike portable devices are becoming a hot medium for promoting a brand via clever software programming, courtesy of iPhone-app contract developers. Minnesota-based developers have snared several juicy contracts lately. CodeMorphic -- fresh off an iPhone-app arrangement with St. Paul-based American Public Media has just snagged a deal with Time Warner Cable to create an iPhone-based directory of on-demand TV programs. It "is treating the app as a pure advertising and brand play," said CodeMorphic co-founder Damon Allison. The Sony BMG music label recently contacted DoApp, another prominent Minnesota creator of iPhone apps, to create apps for two of its artists, the band Journey and David Cook of "American Idol" fame. The apps, modeled on DoApp's myLighter virtual concert lighter, build in options to send e-mails and buy the performers' albums. Mendota Heights-based ITR Mobile, meanwhile, has created a "Magic Show" app intended to publicize the magician Allen Valentine (though on Friday, the version of the app posted on Apple's online App Store still did not yet mention that celebrity by name). "Magic Show" lets users perform simple magic, aided by lighting and sound effects. On the App Store, "you'll find lots of applications for productivity, information and calculation," said ITR Mobile Vice President J.T. Starzecki. "You'll find few entertainment-industry apps. I'd say this will be one of the larger areas of growth in the next 24 months," where iPhone apps are concerned. Apps emblazoned with big brands are all the rage lately: --Amazon.com has released an app with shopping tools, including inventory searches and on-the-iPhone purchases, along with a photo-recognition feature that tries to match user-taken pics with products on the super-retailer's site. --Ford Motor Co. has a "Flex Photo Lab" dual-purpose app that lets users tweak their photos with fun effects while also providing promotional fodder for the Flex crossover vehicle. Both parts of the app are carefully kept separate. --The "Lightsaber" app uses the iPhone or iPod Touch accelerometer to simulate lightsaber duels with sound effects and blades of different colors, while also promoting LucasArts' new "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" video games. Branded apps aren't just for corporate America, either. President-elect Barack Obama released one as a candidate so supporters could be more involved with his campaign. The app used the iPhone's Global Positioning System feature to track down the nearest campaign office, for instance. The American Public Media public-radio giant has parlayed its CodeMorphic-created app, which provides Internet audio from Minnesota Public Radio's three Twin Cities stations on iPhones, into an assortment of apps. One of these, the just-released Public Radio Tuner, has audio streams from nearly 200 public-radio stations throughout the nation. The audio apps get public radio "writ large on an exciting new platform," said Melinda Driscoll, an APM new-media manager. They're intended to "build the APM brand, first and foremost, but any public-radio station can participate." To see more of the Pioneer Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.twincities.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |