Its just come to my attention that the Associated Press and its new division AP Mobile announced today that they will be a launching AP Mobile Election Results via the mobile web. AP's Mobile Election Results will be powered by Crisp Wireless' mLogic™ Media platform, a powerful company and platform which has been the mobile power behind several big name companies (American Idol, Burger King, USA Today etc...) entering the mobile web market.

"The mobile device is rapidly becoming the tool for mobilizing social and political audiences, and the delivery of on-demand election information has tremendous political, social, and commercial value to a wide variety of customers," said Boris Fridman, CEO of Crisp Wireless. "The Mobile Election Results service combines content from AP, one of the premier global news organizations, and an easily-customizable news service that is enabled by our mLogic platform, for the delivery of a breakthrough mobile content service."

The application presents state-by-state results for national office races in 2006. It also allows for quick access by users to specific races. In the "Top Races" section, users will be able to see the results of notable races, as editorially selected by the provider. In the "My Races" section, users will be able to view "bookmarked" races for quick reference. The service will be available from September, for the remainder of the primary "season,” through the week of the general election in November.

What I find interesting is the choice of a WAP page using the mobile web instead of the much more used method of SMS. How AP will get users to visit the WAP page is not yet evident and we will probably have to wait until the next big elections to see the application is full show. But I would imagine that they would us some sort of WAP push marketing in which the WAP sites link address can be delivered to people's phone via SMS.

"The AP Mobile Election Results service marks a watershed in the maturation of mobile services in the U.S., just as the 1920 election results of Warren Harding’s victory as U.S. president marked a major milestone for the radio broadcast industry. It will help deliver critical information to the device that most people are never without – their mobile device," said Julie Ask, principal analyst with JupiterResearch. "There is tremendous interest in media companies offering plug-and-play mobile offerings to their end customers today, and AP Mobile and Crisp appear to have developed a clean, customizable service for a broad range of mobile customers. This is an ideal use of mobile services democratizing, literally and figuratively, information delivery whenever and wherever consumers want it."

Related:

Canadian Election Results Via SMS

http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/805

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