Obama 2.0 - the iPhone years

Davey Winder
Friday, 03 October 2008 16:36

Your IT - Mobility

Could a simple iPhone application, downloadable for free from the Apple App Store, really make a difference in a US Presidential election? The people behind the software obviously think it can, and here's how.

It reorganizes your iPhone contacts and sorts them according to key battleground state giving priority to those friends and acquaintances who live in areas where votes are needed the most.

It also keeps track, via a call stats feature, of the people the user has called to persuade them into voting for Obama and compares these totals with other campaigners in some kind of political pestering league table.

The campaign is quick to point out that only call totals are collected at Obama HQ, not who is called or the content of those calls.

Rather cleverly, iPhone Obama '08 will point the user in the direction of their nearest Obama for America campaign HQ and push Obama news out to them as well.

There's even an ability to set reminders about who needs prompting to go vote on election day itself.
 
Finally, the iPhone will also provide video footage and access to Obama policy statements.

While anything that helps motivate followers to build momentum amongst their friends and drive potential voters in the direction of their favoured candidate has to be a good thing for any campaign, I cannot really see this being a 'gamechanger' as the political pundits like to say.

Not even the iPhone has the power to pick a President of the USA...