What started as TechRadar cynicism over the Obama '08 iPhone app soon evaporated once we downloaded it and took a look at what is a slick, well judged add-on and a fairly clear sign of things to come.
Lest you think that there is still precious little room for politics in the world of technology, a look at the top of Digg soon proves that people are fascinated by the battle for the Whitehouse – with 'hockey mom' Sarah Palin and Barack Obama dominant.
Obama in particular has leveraged the world of technology in his campaign with admirable efficiency, and things like announcing his running mate on text and email managed to avoid looking like a cheap gimmick.
The App
And so onto the app; it's a relatively quick download, and the functionality is hardly a massive surprise – but it's a cohesive package that will send a message out to many politicians both in the US and in the UK that they need to be as slick with their technology as with their speeches.
Obviously some of the functionality is in the US only, but the options start with a Call Friends tab which allows you to promote Obama and keep up with who you have contacted and make notes on who may need further prompting.
At the time of review, the top caller has made 9,648 logged calls – nearly half of the total, but that's liable to shift as more people get involved.
You wanna get involved?
A Get Involved tab brings up your local office (using GPS) and nearby events – obviously more useful if you're in the USA and receive update is a quick sign up page to get the latest Democrat updates.
There's a live news tab and a media tab to get your Obama fix and a neat issues option that lets you bring up snippets of Obama speeches on key issues.
It's not an app that you are going to download to play around with, but it fulfils a function and does it well.
Political campaign has, it seems, finally hit the 21st Century, and it remains to be seen if Obama's tech savvy approach can give him the edge in what may prove to be a tight race.
