Romney promises to announce VP choice via mobile app
'We'll just need a little bit of information first'
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Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has yet to announce his choice for vice president, but when he does, he says smartphone users will be the first to hear about it.
On Tuesday, Romney's official campaign website unveiled Mitt's VP, an app that promises to send a push alert to Android and iOS devices as soon as the candidate declares his running mate.
"There's no telling when Mitt will choose his VP," reads a message on the site. "But when he does, be the first to find out with Mitt's VP app. Share with your friends and earn exclusive campaign gear."
The app is fairly simple. In addition to the "VP" button that will display the eventual nominee's name, it includes buttons to connect with the Romney campaign via Facebook, Twitter, and the campaign's own MyMitt organization, plus a button for donations.
Despite its limited UI, however, Mitt's VP has already set tongues wagging. Shortly after it was announced, Florida senator Marco Rubio took to Twitter to encourage supporters to download the app, adding fuel to speculation that he may be Romney's front runner:
Who will be
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 31, 2012@mittromney VP? Download the app and you’ll be the first to find out: mi.tt/PhhK0G#MittVP#MITT2012#sayfie#tcot
But whether Romney's voter base will respond well to the app is another matter. In a recent study, 49 per cent of smartphone users surveyed said that if the election were held today, they would vote for Obama over Romney. Only retired smartphone owners leaned the other way.
And then there's the problem that the app itself seems a little dodgy. Among early reviews, some commenters complained that the app crashes, while others say it requires access to too many permissions on their devices, including GPS tracking.
What's more, at 12MB on Android and a whopping 25MB on iOS, it's a bigger download than Angry Birds, and far less fun. What could such a simplistic app be doing that requires so much memory?
"Chuck," a reviewer from the Google Play store, thinks he might know:
Mitt may have my vote, but this app blows. Not only does it require Name and Email (acceptable), but also Street Address, Zip and Phone Number (not even close to acceptable) ... you can't opt out of sharing this information. On top of that, registration FAILS and HANGS. Sorry, Mitt ... I just don't care enough to put up with this garbage.
It seems that the Mitt's VP app may actually be less about giving smartphone users early notice of Romney's VP choice and more about collecting data for the campaign's all-important voter information databases.
That would hardly be a surprise for a political campaign, though. And lest you think the Republicans have a monopoly on using mobile apps to mobilize voters, El Reg observes that the Obama campaign also released its own iOS app on Tuesday. The Android version, it says, is coming soon - but there's no word on a Windows Phone version however. ®
COMMENTS
Vote ROMNEY 2012 Because Marie Antoinette never had enough cake....
I am admittedly one of the few Obama supporters in this forum but if Obama was the earthly reincarnation of Lucifer himself, I would have to vote for him over Mitt Romney.
What in God's sake is Mitt doing traveling out of the country in the first place, let alone generating a very negative picture of the Republican party (and America in general) in at least four countries? The Republicans always did a fine job of conveying what morons they are, without Mitt Romney offending half our allies.
This exactly what you get if you let nouveau rich people out of the country club or frat house.
Marie Antoinette revisited...only it's an "Ugly American Fratboy" instead. Even George Bush wasn't this bad.
Let the inevitable downvotes begin.
Might be a long wait.
He's got to have his head surgically removed from his arse first.
Re: Nobody
Even a mediocre candidate would make this an election a referendum on Obama's performance which given the current economic climate should make for an easy win. Sadly Mittens is such a weak candidate that he will end up pulling a Mondale and making this an election about his own unelectability the way things are going.
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