Santa Cruz has launched the GoLearn Skateboarding app for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The skate and surfing company tapped Whagaa Software Inc., developer of instructional applications for mobile devices and the developer of the Interactive Mobile Instructional Platform, or iMIP. With GoLearn Skateboarding, consumers can learn different tricks, discover new skate parks and play music from their mobile device.

"Our goal was to bring action sports to mobile devices, and our partnership with Whagaa has been mutually beneficial -- we've got the content and connections in the action sports realm, we have the audience, and they have the technical expertise," said Danny Keith, CEO of Santa Cruz Skate Shop, Santa Cruz, CA.

"We wanted to build an app that was functional not just for our core demographic, but also for the parents of our demographic so they can locate skate parks in their surrounding area," he said. "We want to make skaters aware of tricks they might never know how to do and give them tips for board maintenance and repair.

"Our demographic is utilizing a lot of smartphone features, from texting and email to video and microblogging -- the next generation of mobile is right in front of us with this demographic."

The GoLearn Skateboarding app leverages GPS and identifies highly rated skateboarding locations in close proximity to the skateboarder.

GoLearn Skateboarding is designed for all skateboard levels from beginning to expert.

It is available for download in Apple's App Store for a one-time price of $4.99.

The app will have a subscription option in the future, and the partners plan to continue to add content to the app going forward.

"We wanted to build a functional app that we can add onto," Mr. Keith said. "We plan to add more skate park locations and tips, and build this thing out internationally."

Santa Cruz and Whagaa can also implement mobile advertising into the app, an option they are currently exploring.

"We're fostering relationships with different marketing agencies, the music industry and TV media, and we're considering placing a video of song playing between the intro to the app and the app opening and product placement within the app," Mr. Keith said.

"We want to be as nonintrusive as possible -- we want more of a subtle ad-supported app," he said.

To market the app, Santa Cruz is using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the word virally.

Santa Cruz is also running an iPhone/iPod touch giveaway sweepstakes and is launching a marketing campaign with online and print advertising.

Using the GoLearn Skateboarding app, skateboarders can learn tricks from experts, get help selecting the right board, learn proper safety methods and get repair and maintenance tips.

Santa Cruz claims that even the most advanced skateboarder will find the techniques useful.

The GPS-driven Skate Park Locator feature will be valuable to skaters traveling to find new skate-friendly locations.

GoLearn Skateboarding's features include an introduction, Tips and Tricks, Skateboard Mechanic, Skate Park Locator and more than 45 high-definition videos with slow motion, multiple angles and detailed instruction.

The app lets skaters see different tricks performed by different people in different places.

The app's content ranges from an intimate discussion of how to re-thread a truck axle to watching Josh Mattson and other professional skateboarder show how to do a Miller Flip and other tricks.

Action sports company Santa Cruz Skate Shop is a subsidiary of Santa Cruz Surf Shop Inc., founded in 1993.

The headquarters in Santa Cruz California -- birthplace of skateboarding and surfing -- enables a direct relationship with athletes, consumers, retail, wholesale and technology.

Santa Cruz's properties include Skateboards.com and Surfboards.com, as well as brands such as Live Oak Skateboards, Four Play Wheels, Fringe and SC Brand, all of which have multiple revenue channels.

Santa Cruz runs two retail stores, Santa Cruz Surf Shop and Santa Cruz Skate Shop, and specializes in athlete management, brand development, guerilla marketing and technology.

This release of GoLearn Skateboarding is the first of many new applications that will be brought to market via the partnership between Whagaa and Santa Cruz Skate Shop.

GoLearn Skateboarding leverages Whagaa's iMIP, which accelerates the delivery of content-rich applications to the iPhone platform.

Whagaa claims that GoLearn Skateboarding leverages the combination of instructional content, SQL database capabilities, Internet access and GPS to enhance the user experience beyond simply replaying video content.

Founded in 2002, Whagaa empowers traditional content providers by providing an accelerated approach to leverage their instructional content on smart mobile computing platforms.

Whagaa claims to deliver an application development platform that accelerates the combination of traditional content such as database, GPS, video, Web-enabled content and social networking with a stylized platform designed to enhance and enrich the user experience in a mobile environment.

The company gives consumers access to instructional content areas such as fitness, sports, cooking and do-it-yourself instructional content, historical data and tracking and all the other applicable iPhone functionality that is contextually relevant.

"This is all about mobile, bring skateboarding training and mobile together, utilizing the capabilities of mobile devices including database and GPS and building them into app," said Eric Florio, founder/CEO of Whagaa, Scotts Valley, CA. "This gives consumers a much richer experience than simply replaying video."

Whagaa says that the iPhone has created an effective platform for developers and marketers.

"We were happy when Apple came out with the iPhone -- it really changed the game," Mr. Florio said. "The mobile phone offers more than just contact lists and calendars, and Apple, with its marketing power, showed the world the true potential of what smartphones can be.

"We can use our expertise to compose a STK and build an app fairly quickly to accelerate our clients' time to market," he said. "We've established developer relationship with Apple, and the platform we've built with this composer is very portable.

"We can replicate this for other smartphones such as Google Android."