American Idol Season 8 Exclusive app for iPhone

American Idol on iPhone and iPod Touch is a reality now. From now, fans of the hugely popular American Idol can watch exclusive clippings, videos and biographies of the American Idol contestants as they wind their way through the talent contest.

The American Idol Season 8 contestants: Now catch them in an iPhone app

How? iPhone and iPod Touch users can download an application called “American Idol Season 8 Exclusive” from the iPhone App Store for $1.99. The application will fetch the clippings, videos, biographys and behind-the-screen happenings from American Idol, which air on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. With just one click, iPhone/iPod Touch users with the American Idol App can buy and downloads songs from iTunes, Apple’s successful online music store.

The My Rankings feature on the American Idol App (Let’s name it that way – the actual name is too cumbersome) lets iPhone/iPod Touch users to predict the potential future of contestants on the American Idol program – who will win, who will lose, who will drop out and come back etc. The feature is time-stamped so that no one can cheat later that he knew who would win first.

Said David Luner, senior vice president, Interactive & Consumer Products, FremantleMedia Enterprises, North America:  “We are excited to partner with 19 Entertainment and FOX to create a truly unique American Idol experience in the palm of your hand. The American Idol App puts iPhone and iPod touch users in the driver’s seat and allows them to engage with the show anytime they want.”

Can I vote for American Idol on iPhone/iPod Touch

However, let’s be clear – the American Idol App is NOT live TV, which will broadcast the Idol contest on iPhone and Touch. For the same reason, you cannot vote for your favourite contestant on the iPhone. We hope Apple and the App producers will bring in a voting feature later whereby we can vote for our candidates and contestants on American Idol — make it more interactive — rather than just passively watch the program’s clippings.

MTV did a review of the American Idol app and found it useful. The program is a basically a tracker. It will show the photos/pictures of the final 13 contestants. Every week, their rankings will change as the show proceeds. Three-minute video clips of the contestants are available through the application. Exclusive videos of American Idol can be downloaded with this novel App.

The eighth season of American Idol began on January 19. The auditions for the program were completed in July the previous year. There are more short half-hour shows and fewer drawn-out episodes during this season of American Idol. For the first time in the history of the Idol, there were 26 semi-finalists aspiring for the finals, with 12 of them performing every day.

The App Store is a service and applications suite created by Apple for users of the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Some of the applications available on the App Store are free, while others are available for a fee. Apple has said that it does not want to run the App Store as a revenue stream. 70% of the profit from selling an application goes to the application developer, while 30% goes to Apple. Apple App Store, which opened in July last year became an instant hit with the users of iPhone across the world. (quick note: The American Idol App can be used only in the US). There are over 20,000 applications developed for the App Store so far.

Apple’s App Store was the first effort by a mobile phone maker to host a shop for third-party applications. Till the App Store was opened, few iPhone users bothered to download applications even when they were good. By providing an authenticated, virus-free, quality store for iPhone-specific applications, Apple empowered the developer as well as the iPhone user. However, despite the enormous popularity of the App Store, which has made BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Mobile think on the same lines, it has been revealed that only a fraction of users who download applications from the App Store actually make use of them. Free applications and games have, obviously, more takers on the App Store; but even those applications purchased and downloaded by iPhone are seen to have few users after the first few days. Let’s hope the American Idol App for iPhone and iPod Touch will have a better success rate with users.

American Idol game for iPhone/iPod Touch

For American Idol fans, here’s some more. A new application has made its debut on the Apple App Store. Though there have been American Idol games earlier too, from Electronic Arts and Konami, here, you can play the role of an Idol aspirant. The Idol game will also feature 14 other “live” contestants with whom you have to compete and win the American Idol crown.

Names of the 13 American Idol finalists

Adam Lambert
Alexis Grace
Allison Iraheta
Anoop Desai
Danny Gokey
Jasmine Murray
Jorge Nunez
Kris Allen
Lil Rounds
Matt Giraud
Megan Corkrey
Michael Sarver
Scott MacIntyre