Thomson Reuters launches new iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry apps

“It would be a logical conclusion that there would be a paid element in time,” said Alisa Bowen, head of consumer publishing. “The ability to launch premium services is our ultimate goal.”

The company is also looking at a more comprehensive service for the Kindle, Amazon’s electronic reader. “We’re seeing a willingness to discuss [the Kindle business model] from Amazon,” Bowen said.

The new applications offer video and market data as well as headlines. They are tailored for the three devices’ different audiences. The iPhone/iPod Touch service plays up video coverage and photography for a consumer-focused user base, while its Blackberry service focuses on customised business reporting and data.

Both apps are being released free to BlackBerry and iPhone/iPod Touch users, but the company wants to turn them into products that generate both subscription and advertising revenue.

Chris Ahearn, president of media, told the website PaidContent that the company was still moving forward on Markets division CEO Devin Wenig's promise to invest $1 billion in building up its multimedia capabilities. That push revolves around ramping up its video capabilities for both TV and the web.

"The iPhone app is targeted to all business professionals, not just financial consumers, or users in legal or health and science. It's for Thomson Reuters professional audience writ large," he said. Ahearn said the company will roll out a number of other products this year. "You'll see a variety of multimedia offerings across online, mobile as well as the terminals over the course of this year. We're investing $1 billion in the middle of what is arguably one of the most difficult economic periods we've seen in decades."

"We learned a lot of lessons over the last two decades - the most important of which is to focus on delivering great user experiences," said Ahearn. "This app for iPhone and iPod Touch is an excellent way to give our business professional audience convenient access to Reuters content anytime, anyplace."

Key features and benefits of the mobile application include:

• News stories from a variety of categories including world, sports, politics, environment, health, and business
• Full story articles and photos optimised for easy reading on a mobile device
• Ability to select region - US, Canada, UK, or India - for localised content
• Up-to-the-minute market data including indices, commodities and currencies by region
• Designed to support offline use when users don’t have service or an Internet connection
• Personalised stocks tab so users can track only the stocks that they want
• Keywords and My Feeds tab that allows users to customised news feeds that are of special interest.

CLICK to download the iPhone and iPod Touch application from the Apple iTunes website.

CLICK to download the BlackBerry application from the BlackBerry website. ■