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British media giant Guardian launches iPhone app

The Guardian, a British news publication, has launched its first official iPhone application.

Features of the application include editorial content such as news, features and opinion pieces, photo galleries and audio, all of which can be personalized for the consumer. The application was designed in-house and built by 2ergo and can be downloaded for $3.99.

?The iPhone is dominating our mobile traffic right now, so it seemed reasonable to open our emerging mobile app strategy on that platform,? said Jonathon Moore, mobile product manager at Guardian News and Media, London. ?We have to start somewhere ? and we have a great strategy of where we'd like to go next.?

The Guardian claims its Web site is the most visited British newspaper site, with 31,693,844 unique users in October 2009.

The Guardian?s mobile site at http://m.guardian.co.uk had 927,000 unique users in November. Nearly half of the unique users were accessing the site via an iPhone or iPod touch.

Monetizing the news
Consumers can browse the application offline and save articles to read them later.

The Guardian claims its application has an unrivalled news search facility.

Consumers can customize the homepage and flag contributors for quicker access to their latest articles.

The application also has a trending feature that lets users access the most popular Guardian articles at any given time.

The application does not currently feature advertisements, but Mr. Moore said the company has not ruled anything out.

Mr. Moore said that The Guardian was late to mobile and that it has changed its approach. Since the newspaper is not first to market, he said it has to be best in market.

In terms of demographics, Mr. Moore said The Guardian feels there is a big overlap between the demographic for its print and online editions and the iPhone demographic.

Mr. Moore said The Guardian?s journalism and content appeals to a progressive mindset, those who are interested in world affairs.

Chris Brassington, group managing director at 2ergo, Manchester, England said the application is not about customer acquisition.

?It was about providing existing Guardian readers with another medium through which to reach and interact with the Guardian on their iPhone or iPod touch,? Mr. Brassington said. ?We believe that together, we?ve created a truly outstanding application that will change the way people digest news and information.?

Mr. Brassington said from a user perspective the application needed to be intuitive and elegant in style.

The paid Guardian application announcement comes on the heels of the news about the partnership several media brands have made to launch a digital storefront for publications.

Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc. announced a much-hyped partnership to develop open standards for a new digital storefront to let consumers access media content on portable digital devices.

The venture will welcome other publishers beyond the various publications of the equity partners. Revenue is expected to be generated from mobile content and advertising sales, as well as from print subscriptions (see story).

The Associated Press and Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. have also been publically speaking about monetizing online and mobile news content.

Mr. Moore said The Guardian thinks a small charge for increased functionality that is specific to a single device is a really small trade-off, but he said the application has to be great.

?No one wants to pay for something below par ? so the challenge was to make it both beautiful and useful,? Mr. Moore said. ?If you were to ask me my favorite aspects, I'd say the ability to dip into quite niche content via the keyword pop-up, simple access to our great audio content and off course offline.

?I hope we've achieved something our Guardian audience will like,? he said. ?We'll find out.

?Initial reaction is really encouraging and positive.?