CNN is full steam ahead with paid mobile content.
The venerable cable news network is out with a new dedicated iPhone and iPod Touch app that aims to give users the full CNN experience on their mobile device.
Building upon former efforts in the mobile channel, the CNN app now allows users to more comprehensively sift though articles, images, and video clips in the news organization’s archives. As one would expect, the app also streams live breaking news in addition to offering a plethora of personalization and notification features, including the ability to participate in CNN’s iReport by capturing and submitting your own photos to the network.
Although there appears to be more style than substance to the app, CNN is making inroads at customizing the mobile experience and allowing for greater user interaction, a goal ultimately at the heart of effective mobile content distribution. In this regard, CNN is aiming to make users not only observers of the news, but participants in the reporting process.
Although all images and video endure a “vetting process” before they reach CNN’s iReport library, one of the tangible goals of this latest venture clearly contends with making users – at least in theory – a part of the CNN family of news participants. Essentially, it’s “Wolf Blitzer: The Home Game.”
The ad-supported CNN app rolls out this morning in the App store for $1.99.
