Local news take heed - AP and Verve are showing how it’s done in mobile

Maybe one of the biggest success stories in publishing news content on mobile is AP Mobile. The mobile channel of the worldwide Associated Press news network, AP Mobile has over 1,000 local news sources on board. The app has been downloaded by over 2.4 million people, and AP claims that over 55 million mobile stories are read each month. Now the company has decided to make some money from the experience it has gained in mobile. In a partnership with Verve Wireless (another giant of local mobile news), the companies will be selling a “white label” mobile application creation service to make mobilizing easier for local news outlets.

A little history - who is Verve Wireless?

Verve is a mobile company set up by a Pulitzer-winning journalist, dedicated to moving print news onto the mobile channel. Verve strongly believes that the future of news is mobile, and there are some pretty strong cases to support its view. In July of this year, Verve was publishing mobile news for over 450 different local news entities, including newspapers and radio/TV stations. That number has since risen to over 600. At CTIA last month, Verve announced a deal with Nokia to publish news content apps on the Ovi store.

And AP Mobile?

AP Mobile launched in May 2008. In May 2009, one year after launch, AP announced it had over 1,000 news sources on-board with AP Mobile. That number has been growing since (in mid-September a further 30 were added, for example). Importantly, AP Mobile is available on all the major mobile data channels - it has a mobile site for browsers, as well as downloadable applications for all the major smartphone OSs.

What’s the new deal?

So, the two companies have joined forces to create a white label solution that will help other publishers to create and launch their own news apps. These apps will be based on the AP Mobile platform (sorry, the “award-winning AP Mobile platform” I should say), but will carry only the publishers branding. And, like AP Mobile, it will be available on all the major smartphones. The service is geared directly at reducing the amount of time and money it takes for a publisher to get their app out there, and to maintain and update it. All of that is handled through the service from Verve/AP, including the metrics and reporting that will follow.

What we think?

This is a very specific portion of the news market. It is the area where traditional print news is overlapping with mobile channels. The problems harrying print news are well-known by now, and mobile is being suggested as a possible escape route for beleaguered publications. And when it comes to “mobile print” news in the United States, Verve and AP have pretty much been the big dogs. So a joint solution from both companies, offered to anyone who wants it, could be the beginning of something big here. Also, it’s good to see the big hitters in a mobile market co-operating and working together instead of creating their own competing standards and trying to hoard everything. Bravo.

Two other things come to mind. First, there’s no mention of mobile browsing above - only applications. I know that there are many “mobile optimization” services available for those who want to make their on-line content available to mobile browsers… but the reliability of optimization isn’t guaranteed. It’s better to build mobile pages from the ground up, and AP must surely have some good experience in that area. Second, while the service is great, there’s no mention of how much it costs the mobile-interested publication. I can only imagine it’s a solid chunk of cash.