IUSA launches U.S. history research app
August 6, 2009
iUSA has from Bo to Lincoln and everything in between
It's not quite the whole world, but with iUSA, iPhone and iPod touch users can have the United States in the palm of their hands.
USA Interactive has launched iUSA, a new application for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. These two products were designed as a one-stop tool for consumers with a thirst for American knowledge.
"[The strategy behind the application is] really to present the U.S. on the mobile platform," said Larry Minikes, president of USA Interactive, San Francisco, CA. "So instead of focusing on history or just reading blogs from the White House, I took a look at everything that is available on the mobile platform and realized there was a huge vacuum for an app of this kind."
Along with iUSA, USA Interactive has iAmerica, a free subset of iUSA providing the history of each U.S. president and Public Speech, a free recorder, speech timer and practice aid.
The iUSA application aims to target a wide variety of mobile users.
Presidential history on your Apple product
"The target really is everybody, from citizens to people across the world who'd be interested in U.S., the history of the U.S. and how to navigate the U.S. government," Mr. Minikes said. "So, it's useful for students, diplomats and people who are traveling."
The application consolidates many resources and sites for teachers and Mr. Minikes said it's a useful tool for journalists performing research.
IUSA is the first portal for the U.S. government created in the private sector.
Billed as "The Pocket Guide to the United States of America - Her History, People and Government," the iUSA application is $4.99 in the Apple App Store and hopes to make it easier to gain information about the government and its inner workings.
USA Interactive said iUSA used information sources like the Library of Congress, the White House, USA.gov, Wikipedia and the National Archives.
Using eReleases to power its publicity campaign, USA Interactive hopes to generate buzz with additional features to iUSA.
"Assuming the first campaign works well, we are going to continue with a series of releases as we add a series of planned features and social networking components," Mr. Minikes said. "We have also contacted various members of the [Obama] Administration to make them aware of these efforts."
The iUSA application is advertisement free for the time being with USA Interactive depending on the free iAmerica to draw users to the paid application.
"The business model is to offer free high quality content via iAmerica that is better and more complete than any current competitive paid content to draw awareness and interest toward iUSA," Mr. Minikes said. "As you probably know, this dual-model approach is being utilized by several of the most successful apps."