WilliamJones.info

I have to hand it to Obama and his campaign for leveraging technology in an attempt to get the competitive advantage.  I thought it was pretty cool when he used SMS to notify people of who he selected as his running mate.

Obama’s campaign has taken his use of technology to another level with launching an iPhone application.  The free application is called ‘Obama 08′ and was launched on September 28, 2008 in Apple’s App Store. 

With iPhone 3G sales potentially being 10 million, this is a good move for the Obama campaign.

The Obama 08 application features the following sections:

• Call Friends
• Get Involved
• Receive Updates
• News
• Local Events
• Media
• Issues

Call Friends – All of the contacts in your address book are listed by state, with key battleground states listed in order of priority.  The state order in my iPhone is Nevada, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Arizona, Arkansas, California, and Utah.  After calling a contact in your iPhone’s address book, you can select a status from the following: Have not called, Called, Call back later, Left message, Not interested, Considering Obama, Voting for Obama, and Already voted.  Another interesting feature is the ‘Call Stats’ option that allows you to view the number of call you made, nationwide calls, top caller, and total active callers.

Get Involved – this section of the application uses the iPhone’s GPS features to find information about your local campaign headquarters, including phone number, address, and map directions.  There is also the ability to email the campaign information.

Receive Updates – allows you to sign up to receive updates via SMS and/or email by entering in your email address, mobile number, and zip code.

News – read national or local news related to the Obama campaign.

Local Events – allows the user to view local events such as a debate party or neighborhood canvass.  The name of the event, date, distance, and details are listed.  Links to ‘email this info’ and map directions are also provided.

Media – this section allows the user to view videos and photos relating to the Obama campaign.

Issues – read the details on issues such as civil rights, defense, economy/taxes, education, energy, ethics, faith, foreign policy, homeland security, immigration, and many more.   

Lastly, the application displays an election countdown on the bottom of the application and a campaign donate button.

Overall, I think this is a very innovative approach for a campaign to take in order to engage more people, in particular the younger demographic.  I was really surprised at the level of thought that went into this application.