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The White House opens up to Android smartphones with new app

By | April 20, 2011, 8:10am PDT

Summary: The White House is opening up and reaching out to a new constituency today: Android smartphone owners.

The White House is opening up and reaching out to a new constituency today: Android smartphone owners.

There’s already been an iPhone and iPod touch app from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for over year now, so one could say that this Android-optimized app is well over due.

If you’re familiar with the iOS version, then there really isn’t much different on the Android edition. Users will be able to get instant news alerts, view behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and read news from the official White House blog and the Briefing Room.

The White House app for the Android is free and available to download from the Android Market immediately. Only Android 1.6 and higher is required. Now the question is, considering President Obama picked up the most secure BlackBerry ever, why no love for BB owners yet? They’ll have to settle for the mobile site version for now…or at least the game Battle for the White House.

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Topics

White House, Smart Phone, RIM BlackBerry, Android Smartphone, TK TK Considering President Obama, Handhelds, Mobile Operating Systems, Smart Phones, Cellular Phones, Hardware, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: The White House opens up to Android smartphones with new app
non-biased 25th Apr 2011
@pizzaman7 may be he figures he will create jobs for stupid projects like this.... I bet this app equates to 2,700 jobs created or saved. Of course there is no way to track them just like all the other created and saved jobs so might as well push that up to 65,000.
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RE: The White House opens up to Android smartphones with new app
pgsroadking 20th Apr 2011
really?
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Great! Time well Spent???
azoldak 21st Apr 2011
It's good to know that the White House is spending resources to gear up for reelection when the average American is paying over $4 a gallon in gas. I would respect the President much more if he spent more time actually doing his job. Right now I doubt I will vote for him again.
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RE: The White House opens up to Android smartphones with new app
kevinrs1 21st Apr 2011
@azoldak
you really think this took days of complete focus by the entire administration and congress?
This probably took some hours of work by a few staff that have no involvement in making laws and policies.
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wow !
pizzaman7 21st Apr 2011
our prez is sure a hip guy with an smartphone app. he plays golf while we have high-priced gas. I should put this on my phone so I can hear his excuses and propaganda 24x7....well I still have a job so I can't listen that often...at least while I keep my job.

may be he figures he will create jobs for stupid projects like this....
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RE: The White House opens up to Android smartphones with new app
non-biased 25th Apr 2011
@pizzaman7 may be he figures he will create jobs for stupid projects like this.... I bet this app equates to 2,700 jobs created or saved. Of course there is no way to track them just like all the other created and saved jobs so might as well push that up to 65,000.

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