A few adventurous local media outlets are mentioned in this Poynter article for going beyond the usual information you get from a phone app:
“WCCO-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul has developed a well-organized app clearly customized for their newscasts, highlighting regular segments like “Good Question” and “Good to Know.” The video quality is terrific. Since it was released, I have seen a number of other local television stations use the same interface for their apps.”
The Indy Star goes a step further by being location-aware:
“Kudos to The Indianapolis Star for creating a news app that uses your current location to customize its news feed. I believe this is going to be critical to all mobile apps, but particularly for local journalism, so having a site that makes an effort to provide news that way is exciting. The traffic maps are fast and functional, too.”
Yes, I know I posted about a $200 solution to turn your site into an app. And I think that’s a fine way to start. But mobile apps will have to do more than replicate your site, and these folks are on to something.
