iPhone News Updated

Insisting on an iPhone App? Not So Fast

What You Might Want to Consider Before You Commit to the Latest Mobile Craze

As agencies herd their clients onto the iPhone-application bandwagon, brands are happy to climb onboard. After all, what marketer wouldn’t salivate at the engagement prospects behind the 800 million games, utilities and entertainment downloaded from the App Store? And with handset makers Research In Motion and Nokia set to launch their own app storefronts in the coming weeks, app fever is sure to get more fuel.

But the rush to apps has led to a backlash in some quarters, and a call for more measured thinking around branded apps. “There’s a lot of delirium surrounding apps right now,” said Tom Foran, chief revenue officer at Crisp Wireless. “There’s a certain mentality of people that look at apps as the end-all and be-all strategy, when it can’t obviously address the vast majority of users who access mobile content.”

Reasons to exercise caution
There are reasons for marketers to exercise caution. For all the stellar numbers Apple publicizes, the data on iPhone-app usage suggest a dimmer reality. The average shelf life of an app is limited, with usage declining by almost a third in the first month after use, according to Pinch Media, which has studied iPhone-app usage based on 30 million downloads. By the company’s estimate, only about 1% of downloads translate to long-term use — not exactly welcome news for marketers looking to nurture relationships with consumers.
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Tune in with iPhone

Here’s some good news for those WHRB fans who live outside of Cambridge.

Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co. Inc., the student-staffed and operated radio station on Harvard University’s campus, introduced its new iPhone App.

Now, station supporters who have an iPhone can tune in, with a second or two delay, from almost anywhere in the world.

The station, with its live streaming cellphone-based application, is among just a handful of Boston media with such a presence.

The Boston Herald, the Boston Globe and WBZ, as well as WBUR also have iPhone apps.

But according to WHRB General Manager Joseph Poirier, the eclectic, nonprofit Cambridge station is the first college radio station to court iPhone users.

“I’m very excited to see where this app can take WHRB,” Poirier said yesterday from his station.

To tap in, simply download the free application onto an iPhone.

A Harvard student designed the application, Poirier said, and the station paid an outside company to connect the application to the iPhone server.

He expects that most listeners outside of Cambridge will be Harvard alumni.

“A lot of them still listen,” Poirier said.

[Thanks: http://www.bostonherald.com]