The Husky Basketball 2010-11 iPhone Mobile App costs $2.99 at the app store. It is a product of the Seattle Times where it was featured in half page ads this weekend. It was developed a company called Bottle Rocket, that also developed NPR’s apps.
There are four menu items at the bottom of the page. The ‘News’ section features a ‘Latest’ tab with Times stories and links to other times stories at the Times web site. The stories crafted for the app are readable but the web site is not optimized for mobile. The tiny fonts are difficult to read even after blowing up the text. Although the app is billed as ‘Men’s Basketball’ it also has stories on the Husky women’s team.
There is also a tab with Times sportswriter Percy Allen’s blog and twitter feed, and a tab for coach Lorenzo Romar. The coach section features a bio and a link to news stories but they seem to be the same as the stories offered in the ‘News’ section.
The ‘Games’ menu button opens up an ‘Upcoming Games’ tab with a list of opponents and line-ups. There is a photo and capsule description for each Husky player, but rosters for opposing teams only have names and jersey number. The ‘Scoreboard’ tab is a week by week listing of major NCAA division basketball games. ‘Rankings’ is a list of AP, ESPN/USA Today, and RPE ratings for top teams across the country.
The ‘Stats’ button has biographical and performance information for each player, a comparative ranking of Husky team stats, and standings in all the NCAA divisions.
The ‘Fan Guide’ button includes a tab for ‘Offers” with a chance to win Husky tickets, ‘Arena’ with a guide to the Husky home court Hec Ed Pavilion, the lyrics to the Husky Fight Song (‘Bow Down to Washington’), and a food and drink guide to the University District with a Google map and each bar and restaurant signified by a purple push pin. Purple and gold are the Husky team colors.
Under a ‘More’ button there is a feature that’s supposed to play a Husky Bark when the phone is shaken but did not work for me. That was the only feature I had a problem using.
For the avid Husky Fan the app seems to offer easily accessible information for not much more than the cost of a paper program. Baseball is a game of stats and there’s so much down time in a game, a sports app like this would be useful to pass the time between innings or when a new pitcher is called in from the bullpen. Basketball has a much quicker pace and fewer interruptions. My only question about the app would be whether fans would be willing to take their eyes off the action long enough to use it.
The app is overtly labeled 2010-2011 season which appears to be a set-up to sell it annually and collect another $2.99 per customer.
