New phone app will put TV fans in the picture
Jan 7 2010 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
HAVE you ever found yourself watching TV and wondering ‘what else have they been in?’
Do you build your life around TV schedules, thrive on TV trivia and find it hard to function unless you’ve had your latest fix of whichever crime drama presses your buttons?
If so, then perhaps you need the help of a pocket-sized TV Genie, which contains a vast database of information on everything from Bagpuss to Blackadder, the A-Team to Z-Cars.
Just weeks after its inception, the North East’s newest digital agency has launched its first application for the iPhone and is already gearing up to take it into the US market.
The app, from Newcastle-based Shout Digital, gives square-eyed TV buffs access to a bottomless pit of information on programmes past and present, the actors that starred in them and episode plot-lines.
It was originally written for the iPhone platform, but the agency is now looking to adapt it for Google Android and Blackberry.
It has been designed for the general public, although a number of applications for specific vertical markets for clients who wish to compliment their web offering with a mobile equivalent will also be available.
Shout, which also develops websites, is now aiming to grow the business on the back of more globally-marketed mobile applications to follow.
The company aims to develop applications on behalf of businesses in several sectors and remains in negotiations with a number of North East parties who are keen to tap into the increasing popularity of mobile applications.
Technical director Gary Boon said: “TV Genie is targeted at the mass market and we will be doing more applications like this.
“We will also look at developing applications for certain specific vertical markets such as recruitment, motors and property.”
Shout initially aims to build a team of 10 members of staff at its Jesmond headquarters.
It was set up in the autumn by Gary Hosmer, the Newcastle resident who created the concept of comparison websites, alongside Ian Baggett, founder of the property development and investment firm Adderstone Group.
