I’ve been spending a lot of time lately using news and applications. I’ve installed and tried quite a few, so many in fact I filled up out two screens on my iPhone.
The Al Jazeera app is almost, but not quite, a single purpose news application. This is a good thing. Single purpose, in that it is the most aggressive of the International News Networks in promoting its streaming video direct from the cable feed. You can view news stories in text format (with toggle for Arabic and English) – but the kicker is in the live video feed.
The app itself crashed a few times when I tuned in, but this could have been my own hardware (16Gb 3G iPhone) which has been struggling lately. Nethertheless, the best apps are often the most simple.
As a publisher, if your strength is your reputation as a TV network then surely it makes sense to simply increase the number of screens you make this available on (monetising this through the same TV spots bought on air? In other words, publishers should first and foremost stick to what they are good at: in this case making the feed and app stable, and making as much video available as possible.
Competition is fierce in mobile news apps, so Al Jazeera would be wise to leave the image & text news apps to others from whom the audience already expects it.
Download it here for free: iTunes Link
Note: Using the app is reliant on having a generous data pack, or access to WiFi, as you will go through your data faster than usual.
