Even though I’m hosting “Writing Right for the Web” webinars this week, I’m working behind the scenes on the research for an upcoming University Business column about the mobile Web and other cell phone based initiatives.
Thanks to a Twitter tip from @gilzow, I stumbled yesterday on the announcement of the MU iPhone Student Competition Winners, a contest organized by the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.
Launched in September 2008, this contest prompted journalism and engineering majors to create iPhone applications with a real-life purpose.
There were 2 winners for this competition: one picked by judges including ATT and Apple representatives and one picked by the people.
Both winning applications have a geolocation-based component, taping into one of the neat features of the iPhone: its GPS.
- Near Buy – the pick of the judges – is targeted to the real estate market (I’m not sure though what’s the journalism connection here). It allows iPhone owners to find home/apartment listings close to their current location – using Google’s big database. Real Estate agents can enhance their listings by including photos and get an idea of the performance of these listings by using the professional edition of the iPhone app.
- News Flash – the People’s choice – offers a local newspaper experience that can be entirely customized to the interest, needs and current location of the iPhone owner. It includes news from local sources, but also national and international news outlets.
What I found interesting in these applications is the fact they are trying to solve real problems and fill customer needs – which is always better ;-)
Apple recently celebrated its first billion of downloaded apps (a lot of apps are free, the others usually cost a buck or two), which shows there’s definitely something behind these little applications.
While many college students have developed very successful applications (including iStanford and the Duke iPhone Suite for example – both developed by the same team), most higher ed institutions seem to ignore these type of projects despite the marketing possibilities offered by these applications and other initiatives using the ubiquitous cell phones.
Is it too early?
Is it too complex?
Are the higher ed web and marketing professionals too busy getting social on Facebook, Twitter and the likes?
Why don’t we talk more about the mobile Web and its possibilities for our field? Please tell us what you think (or prove me wrong by sharing great initiatives) by posting a comment.