Hockey News BlackBerry app sees high download rate

By Giselle Abramovich

September 24, 2008

The puck stops here

After launching just one week ago, The Hockey News for BlackBerry has already surpassed more than 4,000 downloads.

With a history of more than 60 years, The Hockey News is North America’s No.1 selling hockey publication with 2 million-plus readers. Hockey fans can now receive The Hockey News’ latest stories, blogs, features and columns, including close-ups of their favorite stars and teams, opinions and analysis, team-by-team coverage and full-color action shots, directly on their BlackBerry smartphone.

“Over the last few years, we have seen a major shift in the media industry from print to online,” said Gaurav Jain, vice president of business development at Polar Mobile, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “Today, there is a new shift from online to mobile.

“Many readers are now smart phone users who want to receive timely content,” he said. “Pushing content through our mobile application means there is absolutely zero wait time.

“Smart phone users now have the fastest and richest reading experience wherever they are. Polar Mobile also worked with The Hockey News to create and execute a comprehensive user adoption strategy, targeting potential users through print, online and mobile.”

Unlike print and online publications, the mobile device is never more than 3 feet away from the user.

By delivering content via mobile, users receive content immediately, as it happens.

“With our mobile application, content is automatically being pushed to the user instead of being pulled manually like it is when users browse the mobile Web,” Mr. Jain said.

After being pushed, content is automatically stored on the device giving users single-click access to full article content anytime and anywhere – even without wireless coverage, such as on a subway or plane.

Polar Mobile, the creator of the application, has struck advertising deals with major brands who will soon be featured in the application.

But at the moment, the company is not allowed to discuss any further details.

With the Polar Mobile in-house developed advertising platform, advertisers can target users based on a large number of parameters such as country, handset type, carrier, content type, time of day and day of the week.

“The world of hockey is constantly changing, and fans want to receive timely updates,” Mr. Jain said. “Fans also want to get more than just scores and highlights.

“So, we focused on providing an addictive user experience by delivering premium content from The Hockey News such as in-depth analysis, blogs, close-ups of favorite stars and teams, opinions, interviews and team-by-team coverage,” he said. “With our application, fans will never miss a beat.”