iTODAY a touch away
By Hedirman Supian, TODAY | Posted: 22 August 2008 1057 hrs

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SINGAPORE : Fans of TODAY will soon be able to access the newspaper in a brand new pocket-sized format on the Apple iPhone 3G and the iPod touch.

iTODAY, an application developed specially for Apple’s mobile devices, will fetch the latest news from TODAY, Singapore’s second most-read English newspaper, and reformat the content for fast downloads to suit the 3.5-inch touchscreens of these devices. You can use the touchscreen controls to select categories and scroll through stories intuitively.

“There’s a lot of buzz around these devices and a lot of people have been waiting for the iPhone 3G. When we heard that the iPhone was going to be launched here, we started developing iTODAY to give people more ways to access our content while they’re on the move,” said Mr Philip Koh, managing director of MediaCorp Radio division, Press and Media Research Consultants.

iTODAY is the first such newspaper reader in Singapore and will provide users free access to a three-day archive of content. Content will be stored on the device so it can be accessed even when you’re offline. This makes it apt for the iPod touch, which only has WiFi connectivity and lacks the iPhone 3G’s mobile broadband access.

More features for iTODAY are in the pipeline.

“This is only the first version of the application,” explained Mr Koh. “In the coming months, we’ll update it, adding search capability and increasing the size of the archive.”

The free application could also give readers an avenue to interact with the newspaper. Said Mr Koh: “We’re looking at how readers can interact online and enjoy an even more compelling experience with TODAY. Perhaps, they would be able to contribute news tips and post comments using iTODAY.”

The application has been submitted to Apple for its debut on the App Store in iTunes and will be released on the online software store soon. - TODAY/rose