BREAKING: Obama '08 iPhone app now available

October 02, 2008 Filed under: Barack Obama

Early this morning, the Official iPhone app of the Obama/Biden campaign went live in the iTunes app store.

The application -- which I was able to help test over the last two weeks, under strict muzzle orders from its developers -- allows you to call your friends in swing states, find local events, and access Obama's platform at your fingertips, among other things.

An earlier version of the application also had a "Find Polling Location" feature, which was cut from this first release version, presumably in an effort to get the app to market as soon as possible.

And, while the application itself isn't extremely tied into the campaign, the developers did some interesting things to tie it into its networks of users.

For instance, when you make a call to a voter in a swing state (the app sorts your address book by swing state), it also uploads stats on how many calls are being made. Then, on the application's stats page, you can see how many calls have been made nationwide and how many the top caller has made.

While possibilities abound for how an iPhone app could be more integrated into a political campaign (door knocking lists and voter regisration come to mind), the Official Obama '08 iPhone app does mark a revoluntionary step in political/technological history. Clearly, bringing a campaign to mobile handsets is the future of electioneering -- where the key to winning campaigns is still door to door, location-based voter contact.

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