This month, The Associated Press celebrates the one-year anniversary of AP Mobile and announced that more than 55 million local stories have been read on AP Mobile, www.apnews.com, since its May 2008 launch. The AP Global Product Development team paved the way for the largest and most respected news cooperative in the world to enter the mobile apps market, starting with the creation of the first iPhone mobile news application, which made its debut during Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address at the 2008 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.
Since then, AP member participation has grown 887% with more than 1,000 trusted local sources choosing to distribute their news on AP Mobile -- compared to 107 AP member news organizations that signed up at the May 2008 launch. To this day, AP Mobile continues to be a leader in mobile news and is one of the most popular news applications, recognized by TIME Magazine, The New York Times and the Webby Awards.
"Delivering more than 55 million local stories demonstrates that this is the year of mobile for news consumers. The AP Mobile readership places a high value on news that is increasingly local and relevant to their communities," said Jeff Litvack, general manager for mobile and emerging products at AP. "Mobile is increasingly personal. Now, more than ever, consumers want access to news and information that affects their lives, and AP Mobile is here to fill this gap."
AP Mobile Reader Demographics*
* Age - 63% of AP Mobile users are in the coveted 18-34 age bracket.
* Income - 53% of AP Mobile users earn more than $75,000 per year.
* Gender - Men represent 78% of traffic to all subject areas, and 82% for sports.
* Ethnicity - AP Mobile users include members of virtually all ethnic groups.
* Education - More than half of AP Mobile users have bachelors or advanced degrees.
* Employment - 80% of AP Mobile users are currently employed.
"The audience of Americans accessing news and information from a mobile device has grown 58 percent over the past year," said Mark Donovan, senior analyst at comScore. "Efforts by publishers to deliver mobile-optimized content are paying off as increasingly, consumers rely on their mobile devices to keep them connected to their favorite local media outlets."
AP Mobile Traffic: News Mobile Users Choose*
* On average, AP Mobile users spend 17 minutes per month interacting with AP mobile applications and apnews.com.
* More than 50% of AP Mobile news accessed fall in the content category of Top Stories, followed by Local News (21%), Entertainment (9%) and Sports (7%).
* iPhone and BlackBerry users both average 7 page views per visit to AP Mobile.
* AP Mobile users access news consistently throughout the week - just as much, if not slightly more, during the first half of the week, including Sunday.
"From a technical standpoint, what we've learned is that consumers continue to seek news on-demand from a user interface that is simple and entertaining. The growing popularity of iPhone and mobile apps illustrate how, even during challenging economic times, consumers are looking for quality experiences," adds Litvack.
Recognizing the demand, AP forged relationships with a growing number of handset manufacturers including Nokia, RIM and Windows Mobile as well as wireless carriers such as AT&T and Virgin Mobile USA. In recent months, AP entered the international market with the development of French and English language versions of The Canadian Press Mobile and launched Noticias de AP a Spanish language app available on BlackBerry App World. AP tapped QuadrantONE to provide national mobile ad sales support. In April, AP teamed up with Marketwire to deliver the AP Mobile Press Release Channel.
AP Mobile was launched in May 2008 as the first product released by AP's Digital Cooperative, an initiative aimed at finding new digital outlets for news and information produced by AP members. AP Mobile currently covers the entire 100 top designated market areas boasting a growing number of content contributors to create a seamless, rich mobile news media experience. For a full list of AP member news providers contributing content to AP Mobile, visit http://ap.org/mobile/contributors.html.
About AP Mobile
AP Mobile is an award-winning multimedia news portal developed by The Associated Press, a leader in the mobile news market. AP Mobile gives users news they can choose and provides anytime access to international, national and local news. AP was the first to debut a dedicated iPhone news application in June 2008, offering AP's own worldwide coverage of breaking news, sports, entertainment, politics and business as well as content from more than 1,000 AP members and third-party sources. www.apnews.com
About The Associated Press
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. www.ap.org
*Sources: comScore, Verve Wireless