The main reason I became excited about mobile technology—excited enough to quit my job and start a new company—was because of the potential for mobile technology to be something that can literally change the world.
With that in mind, I’m happy to announce the Official Obama for America application for iPhone and iPod Touch users.
This is a secret side project that I’ve been working on for the last couple of months. The development started in earnest in the middle of September. The application was developed in 22 days.
The application is a great example of how mobile technology and the iPhone in particular can be used to change politics. One of the things we are proudest of is the fact that it helps people become what we started referring to as two-minute activists. The application organizes your address book by battleground state and provides mechanisms for you to track who you called and what they said.
Have a couple of spare minutes? Make a quick call and get out the vote.
I’m terribly proud of this application. I’m also honored to have been part of making it happen. It’s not simply that we built something that we believe will empower people to bring change to Washington, but it is also the fact that we assembled an exceptional team.
It’s a rare opportunity in life to work with a great group of talented people who are working long hours on a tight timeline for nothing other than their belief that they can make a difference. Our ten member team consisted of:
- Raven Zachary: Blog | Twitter
- Jason Grigsby: Blog | Twitter
- Lyza Gardner: Blog | Twitter
- Jon Wight: Blog | Twitter
- John Keith: Twitter
- Tristan O’Tierney: Blog | Twitter
- Mike Lee: Blog | Twitter
- Aileen Jeffries: Blog | Twitter
- Dom Sagolla: Blog | Twitter
- Louie Mantia: Blog | Twitter
There’s much more that can be done with mobile technology to create social and political change, but for now, download the Obama ’08 for iPhone application and see the first steps in that process.
P.S. It probably goes without saying, but just to be clear: I don’t work for nor speak on behalf of the Obama campaign. I’m just a geek who wanted to help out. :-)
And the 10th member of the team: twitter.com/grigs
Ah, nice. :) Good work, it looks sweet. Now I need to go buy an IPhone.
Also check out http://www.Credoaction.com for a great “Text Out the Vote” campaign & tool. http://txtoutthevote.com/
This is a project of CREDO Mobile, a service of Working Assets the socially responsible phone company. It is super important to remind registered voters on election day to go vote. The more people who participate the better off we all are.
This is a tool to let you enter in your friends phone number and personal messages to them now, then CREDO Action will send it out on election day. I think standard text messaging rates still apply for the receiver. So enter as many messages as you want now, to ensure your friend get out to vote.
Here is a link: http://txtoutthevote.com/
this app is great! i’m just wondering how to POST information.. i’m helping out at my local office, but they aren’t on the app, and therefore, their events aren’t either.