Obama iPad App Now Available

Jun

2010

Leslie Meredith, TechNewsDaily Senior Writer
06:09 PM ET

CREDIT: Organizing for America

Tech-savvy President Obama is giving Americans another first: an app designed for the new iPhone, iPad or iPod, available today in the Apple App Store. The free "Organizing for America" app aims to increase participation in the upcoming mid-term elections in November.

While this is not the first smartphone app released by the administration — President Obama released his first in 2008 as part of his larger social media strategy — this won't be the last according to the administration.

"This is just the beginning of what we’ll be doing with mobile this year," an Obama staffer told social media blog Mashable. "We have ambitious plans that we’re excited to show as this year rolls on."

"Organizing for America" says the app is part of an ambitious plan to reach out to voters this election season and — through the Vote 2010 campaign — reconnect with the millions of people who were inspired to participate in the political process for the first time in 2008.

As one App Store reviewer said, "Everything I want to know about the president in one place."

Slider tabs offer local and national news, local events targeted to the user's location including directions, and photos and video of the president including a selection of recent videos from Obama's official YouTube channel, which broadcasts nearly 2,000 videos. The app also provides essential talking points for Democratic issues including immigration reform, the Gulf Coast oil spill, and Wall Street reform.

And when it's time to call your representative, there's a tab for that, too. Select "Call Congress" and users will first be reminded to be polite, introduce themselves and prepared to address specific legislation. The local representative's name, number and photo appears at the bottom of the screen for one touch connection.

In addition to the tabbed topics, OFA app includes its own inbox called "AirMail" to deliver breaking news, and messages targeted to the users' locations including events and other ways to get involved with campaigns wherever users have a vote.

Additional features will become available in the run-up to voting day.

The OFA app works with the iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPod Touch.