Verican, Inc. launches its local community newspaper EE Reader for iPhone and iPod Touch, an iPhone OS app that distributes local news, calendar events, local weather information and classifieds to consumers’ iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
* Community Papers and Local Advertisers Can Reach Highly Desirable iPhone® and iPod® Touch Users.
* EE Reader iPhone App Provides Local News, Events, Weather, and Classifieds Integrated to Verican’s Email Edition and Classifieds.
The EE Reader iPhone App for newspapers allows local papers and its advertisers reach high-end iPhone and iTouch users in a cost-effective manner. According to AdMob’s June 2009 report, mobile ads have been served to over 25 million iPhone OS devices in the US. For an average 100,000 people community, there would be over 8000 teenagers and adult users using these devices.
“We aimed to create an application that community papers (daily, weeklies, paid or free) can use to strengthen their brand in their communities and sell advertising. The number of iPhone users is increasing rapidly and, newspapers can use some of the positive buzz created by Apple’s iPhone and have customers use their iPhones to retrieve coupons” explains Eric Buskirk, President and CEO of Verican, Inc.
With Verican’s iPhone EE Reader and Email Edition advertisers can reach readers that might not receive the printed edition. Verican’s EE Reader combines local news, events and Verican’s Classifieds for local community and is designed as an extension of the local newspaper.
The Email Edition newsletter creates high-revenue advertising space and drives traffic to newspaper websites. This is an ideal opportunity to better serve the Internet advertising needs of local businesses by reaching local readers interested in local news by email to complement the EE Reader delivery of news to mobile devices.
“Local advertisers can use the local newspaper EE Reader application to retrieve news and coupons that would attract younger readers or local movie information for high-spending iPhone users. Instead of printing another 5000 copies of the newspaper, our Email Edition and iPhone EE Reader can reach these iPod Touch carrying teenagers and high-end iPhone users much more effectively. ” added Andrew Sheh, Director of Product Management at Verican, Inc. AdMob also reports that 5 in 10 consumers on both iPhone and iPod touch devices use the mobile Web more frequently than they read printed newspapers. More than 40 percent reported using the Internet on their mobile device more often than using the Internet from their computers or listening to the radio.
Availability
EE Reader for iPhone is free for Email Edition customers. A limited version is available now for Classifieds customers. To view or experience a production application, go to the Apple Apps Store and search for “Alameda Sun” or “Verican”. Visit http://www.verican.com/
If you are community newspaper reader or advertiser, contact your local paper publisher and ask them to review Verican’s EE Reader application at http://www.verican.com
