03/15/2010

AP Press Release

Associated Press innovations on deck at MIX10, conference keynote includes preview of new AP Mobile app for Windows ® Phone 7 Series

LAS VEGAS – This week at MIX10, Microsoft’s three-day conference for Web designers and developers, The Associated Press and Microsoft unveil new concept applications for the Windows ® Phone 7 Series, Microsoft Reader for Desktop and Laptop PC, and a Microsoft Pivot visual search tool that can be applied to support e-commerce and business intelligence. Featured in this morning’s keynote was a demo for an AP Mobile news app optimized for the Windows Phone 7 Series.

"With Microsoft, we are furthering AP’s exploration of new digital outlets, and our team is delving deeper into the development of products tailored to the digital lifestyle, offering a variety of ways for consumers to access top and local news across the full spectrum of emerging technologies,” said Jeff Litvack, AP’s general manager for mobile and emerging products, which developed the Windows Phone 7 Series and AP Desktop News Reader with Microsoft.

Content owners can participate in Windows Phone 7 Series and AP Desktop News Reader via AP Gateway, which will serve as the launching pad for news-consumer oriented products and services from AP, its members and other news providers. This initiative will offer a variety of ways for AP member publishers and broadcasters to take their content to market, both individually and collectively, directly and indirectly, taking advantage of new business models, including the wide variety of pay-model services now under development.

Here is an overview of the concept applications on display at MIX10:

• AP Mobile on Windows Phone 7 Series is powered by the Silverlight for the Windows Phone platform. Leveraging unparalleled access to news spanning a network of more than 1,000 local content providers, AP collaborated with Microsoft to create today’s demo, which will serve as a launching point for AP Mobile on the platform later this year as well as for the “White Label” mobile application publishing services that AP is offering through Verve Wireless, an Encinitas, Calif.-based provider of mobile publishing technologies to local media companies.

“Microsoft is excited to be working with the AP to create a unique and interactive application with Silverlight for Windows Phone,” said Brian Goldfarb, director of the developer platform group at Microsoft Corp. “By using Silverlight as the development platform for Windows Phone applications, customers like the AP are able to take their mobile solutions to the next level and provide a compelling user experience for customers looking to access content from the vast AP news network.”

• AP Desktop News Reader
AP is working with Microsoft to build a desktop news reader that will be a downloaded application that lives on personal computers. Built in Silverlight, AP Desktop News Reader creates a unique way for consumers to navigate the contents of a digital publication that will have the look and feel of a newspaper. The demo will also be used as a platform to build a “White Label” e-reader app that AP will make available to its members.

• AP Images Business Intelligence Powered by Pivot
This was first announced last November at Microsoft’s professional developer conference, PDC09. AP is working with Microsoft Live Labs to develop a powerful visual discovery tool built on the Pivot platform. This tool can be applied to a wide range of consumer- and enterprise-facing applications from e-commerce to research and business intelligence. The MIX10 demo illustrates visual searches across an AP Images database of Academy Awards winners from 1928 to present.

About AP Mobile
Developed by The Associated Press, a leader in the mobile news market, AP Mobile is an award-winning multimedia news portal. AP Mobile gives users news they can choose, offering the most apps optimized for today's latest and most popular devices and platforms. Initially launched in May 2008 as a mobile WAP site, www.apnews.com, AP Mobile now leads the market in offering consumers anytime access to AP's own worldwide coverage of international and local breaking news, sports, entertainment, politics and business as well as content from more than 1,000 AP members and third-party sources. Consumers can visit http://getapmobile.com to find the latest mobile apps.

About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from AP. On the Net: www.ap.org

Contact:

For more information on this release and AP global product development initiatives, please contact:

Lynn Trono
Linden Alschuler & Kaplan
ltrono@lakpr.com
212.899.4743